January 5, 2009
RAWSISTAZ - Five on the Fifth (January 2009/ Black Book Reviews
Happy New Year and Happy Anniversary to The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers!
I can’t believe it’s been 8 years since we started our review team. 5000+ reviews later and we’re still here, doing what we set out to do: educate the literary community on the great number of Black writers who may not be as well known as those we see reviewed in major magazines and newspapers.
It’s been a great experience and we’d like to thank our readers, writers, and the publishing industry for your support! Here’s to 8 more years! For more reviews, visit our site at http://www.blackbookreviews.net or by clicking HERE for our Amazon.com reviews.
January 2009 Features:
Once You’ve Touched The Heart by Iris Bolling (Romance)
The Hood Life: A Bentley Manor Tale by Meesha Mink and Denesha Diamond (Street Fiction)
What Doesn’t Kill You by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant (Fiction)
Zora Hurston And The Strange Case of Ruby McCollum by C. Arthur Ellis, Jr., Ph.D (Non-Fiction)
Moving The Furniture by Barbara Joe Williams (Non-Fiction)
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Once You’ve Touched The Heart by Iris Bolling
When Jeffrey “JD” Harrison first met Tracy Washington, she was the college roommate of his younger sister. The effect she had on him was unsettling, but he considered her too young. Years later, they are reunited as JD takes a case, as the District Attorney, that involves her brother. This time he takes the role as Tracy’s protector and eventually, her lover. JD is a womanizer and Tracy has no experience in love, but, despite several odds, they manage to build a relationship that most folks only dream of. CONTINUE READING 
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The Hood Life: A Bentley Manor Tale by Meesha Mink and Denesha Diamond
Mink and Diamond have a way of bringing the entertainment that will keep readers entranced. In their latest offering, THE HOOD LIFE, they weave a tale around the men of Bentley Manor. Currently taking up residence in the hood is Rhackmon, a pretty boy who preys on his female lovers. When he turns on his current love interest, he learns the consequences of biting off the hand that feeds him. Demarcus is recently released from prison after doing time on drug charges. Known on the streets as a killer, he tries hard to live the straight and narrow, but it is hard to fight against his nature. CONTINUE READING 
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What Doesn’t Kill You by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant
Thomasina (Tee) Rodgers knew she was in for it when she woke up, the morning after her daughter’s wedding, in bed with the best man, her son-in-law’s cousin. How did she get there? Well, it all started when she divorced her husband while her daughter Amber was a baby. Having to make a way for the two of them, she meets entrepreneur Olivia Markson and begins an employment association and friendship that would last until Olivia’s death. Because of their friendship and what Tee felt was a partnership, Tee thought the business would always be there, but Olivia’s daughter had other plans. Soon Tee finds herself unemployed, planning a lavish wedding and only probable prospects for the future. Hence, a night of too much champagne and dwindling hope has Tee reeling as she wakes up in bed with Ron. CONTINUE READING 
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Moving The Furniture by Barbara Joe Williams
Whatever happened to ’til death do us part’, are they just empty words? Sometimes I wonder. Statistics show people between the ages of twenty-five to thirty-nine represent over 55% of all divorces. Do you ever ask why? MOVING THE FURNITURE: 52 Ways to Keep Your Marriage Fresh, may have some answers. Ms. Williams knows marriage is a job, and couples should work on it weekly so she offers 52 tips on simple things to do in a marriage. From urging couples to continue to date and share one-on-one time, to suggesting that they do something different together. She also reminds them to realize each person is an island and as such needs ‘me’ time. CONTINUE READING 
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Zora Hurston And The Strange Case of Ruby McCollum by C. Arthur Ellis, Jr., Ph.D
ZORA HURSTON AND THE STRANGE CASE OF RUBY MCCOLLUM by C. Arthur Ellis, Jr., PhD is the gripping story of what really happened in Live Oak, Florida in 1952 to Ruby McCollum. Ms. Hurston was hired by the Pittsburg Courier to cover the story of a wealthy Black female on trial for murdering the most prominent White man in Suwannee County. It was the Jim Crow South and everyone knew for a crime such as this, the only outcome would be the death penalty. Zora Hurston was hoping the judge would at least be fair, and the reasons behind the killing would surface. The prosecution objected to almost everything the defense offered and the judge sustained it. The prosecution’s witnesses seemed to have been closely coached so their testimonies were almost exactly the same. One of the women who claimed to have heard so much was deaf in one ear. What would become of Ruby? CONTINUE READING
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