Celeste Newsome is a good time girl with plenty of personal demons. The beautiful dancer holds them at bay with late night benders, plenty of hooch and the company of the opposite sex.
Determined to never let anyone change her bad girl ways, and risk discovery of her Achilles heel, Celeste is turned inside out when Shane Brennan walks into her life. The handsome prizefighter slowly chips away at the hard-hearted Celeste’s defenses and becomes the only man capable of taming her wild heart.
After the most recent racist backlash over a Cheerios commercial featuring an interracial couple and their daughter, I was even more interested in reading this book. The premise of the story revolves around Miss Celeste Newsome, a talented and popular dancer. I must say that the first chapter portrayal of her and the chapters there after was a bit of a 180. In the first chapter, Celeste came off as a high maintenance, flighty, much like Kristen Bell's character, Nikki, in Burlesque, but lacks the mean spirit. In the next chapters, Celeste is seen as an emotionally scarred young woman who returns home after the death of her father. There's no love lost between the two. Her father, the "Reverend," presumably hated Celeste for killing her mother in childbirth and continues to belittle her until he finally kicks her out of their home when Celeste becomes a dancer. Who the hell nicknames their daughter "jezebel"? From here on out, Celeste is an independent dancer and a rising star. Initially, I hated the Reverend and the contrasting stories about him. Celeste herself said that he would donate shoes and food to the needy and had a good reputation in the town, but how could someone like that throw out his own daughter?
Celeste comes back home to pay her respects to her father with her cousin Trudy, who, like Celeste, was cast out because she was different (in the sense that she was a he who dressed and acts like a she). At the wake, Celeste meets Shane Brennan, s prizefighter with a mysterious past and even more mysterious connection with Celeste's father.
Shane Brennan, extremely good boxer with secrets up the wahzoo. Despite Celeste's reservations, they become closer and romantically involved. I loved the fact that despite the bigotry and racism around them, the couple come together and thrive, but their bliss doesn't last for long. Shane and Celeste's past comes back with a vengeance and Shane's most devastating secret will destroy any foundation he and Celeste have built.
Overall, I really liked this book. I don't really see too many books featuring interracial couples so it was a refreshing change of pace. The characters were humanly flawed and the scenes between the two as HOT, HOT, HOT! I did think that the ending lacked a bit of resolve. The issues that came between the two are not discussed, but I guess a romantic chase across cities, in lieu of a full blown declaration of love and devotion was acceptable. I give this book a rating of.....
About the Author
Koko Brown is the pseudonym for a quintessential erotic romance junkie, who once read over 200 Zebra Club novels the summer before her senior year in high school.
Koko's writing career began at the tender age of nine when she self-published and distributed a newspaper to her fellow classmates. Unfortunately, her principal put her out of business after one best-selling issue.
Undaunted, Koko continued to write and read everything she could get her hands on. She honed her writing skills as a staff writer for her college's newspaper and even wrote obituaries for the local newspaper. One day, while daydreaming in bed, Koko came up with the idea for her first erotic manuscript.
Koko lives in the great sunshine state! She loves to travel, shop in thrift stores, ride motorcycles, and serving as a volunteer.
Buy links: kokobrown.net/
Contact links: kokobrown.net, facebook.com/authorkokobrown
1 comments:
Thank you so much for the great review!!
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