Naima Coster

Penelope was horrible, her mother even worse. It’s hard to root for such unlikeable characters.

I chose this for the book group I lead and going into the discussion I had very mixed feelings. I didn't think there was enough substance but my group proved me wrong. One woman pointed out the role that housing played which I found accurate and interesting. We talked about motherhood, lack of fathers and the humanity of all the characters, however flawed they may be.

This was so close to a DNF for me. The only reason I finished was so I could count it as a book I’ve read. Bleak, long winded and painfully boring, it was nothing like the description and was full of unlikeable characters and awkward disgusting sex scenes. Terrible!

Allow a day and a half for this NC17 contemporary small-town interracial soap opera romance, set mainly in the Piedmont of North Carolina.