GEMS Book of the Month: November 2011

Faithful
by Kim Cash Tate




Selected by:
Sharon Hall




Synopsis:

Cydney Sanders thought she knew God's plan for her life. She'd marry, have kids, and then snap her body back into shape by doing Tae Bo. But she's celebrating her fortieth birthday as the maid of honor at her little sister's wedding...and still single. Now her life is suddenly complicated by the best man. He's the opposite of what she wants in a husband...and yet, he keeps defying her expectations. Starting with a lavendar rose--symbolizing enchantment--each rose he sends her reflects his growing love for her.

Cydney's best friend Dana appears to have the perfect marriage--until she discovers her husband's affair and her world goes into a tailspin. Then there is Phyllis--who is out of hope and out of prayers after asking God for six long years to help her husband find faith. When she runs into an old friend who is the Christian man she longs for, she's faced with an overwhelming choice.

Life-long friends with life-altering struggles. Will they trust God's faithfulness...and find strength to be faithful to Him?

GEMS Book of the Month: September/October 2011

The Deal, The Dance and the Devil
by Victoria Christopher Murray



Selected By:
Ty Davis


Synopsis:

What would you do for five million dollars? Adam and Evia Langston have lived in their own little garden of Eden since the two married at the age of seventeen. Working their way up from the humblest of beginnings, the Langstons have thrived beyond anything they could have ever imagined. Now they live in the finest home, drive the best cars, and indulge in all the trimmings that signify their massive success.

But then the recession hits and rips apart the family’s financial stability. Unable to support their three children and other relatives, Adam and Evia find themselves drowning in financial trouble and teetering on the brink of complete disaster. With nowhere to turn, the Langstons have no idea what to do.

Until Shay-Shaunté, Evia’s multimillionaire boss, comes to the Langstons with a five-million-dollar offer that seems so hard to refuse. Will the Langstons make this deal? Or will they recognize that the glitter of five million dollars may be far from gold?

Upcoming Events: 2011 National Book Club Conference

Join Author and Founder of Literally GEMS Book Club, Marguerite Benjamin Parker, for an amazing weekend of fellowship between authors and avid readers at the 2011 National Book Club Conference in Atlanta, Ga, July 29-31.

Upcoming Events: Black Pearls Magazine Chocolate Social

Join Author and Founder of Literally GEMS Book Club, Marguerite Benjamin Parker, for an elegant and exciting night of literary celebration at the 2011 Black Pearls Magazine Chocolate Social in Atlanta, Ga, on July 28.

GEMS Book of the Month: July 2011

Mrs. Big
by Maryann Reid


Selected by:
Gwen Barnes


Synopsis:

Loletta Hightower likes to live big: exotic vacations, designer clothing, trips to the spa. But it gets harder and harder to support her lavish lifestyle working the reception desk at a luxury car dealership. And though Loletta can con athletes, celebrities, and wealthy businessmen into taking care of her bills for a few months at a time, she wants the holy grail of every gold-digging businesswoman: the ring.

When she runs into Kavon "Big" Jackson, an NBA player and former college classmate of hers, she finds it really isn't so hard to snag a high-profile husband. But it sure is hard to keep him satisfied. "Big" lives up to his name in every way, including his temper and his libido—-neither of which Loletta can control. As violence and infidelity escalate in their home, so does Loletta's resolve. She's got a few surprises up her own sleeve, and the drama is just beginning.…

More about the author: http://www.maryannreidinc.com/

GEMS Book of the Month: June 2011

The Help
by: Kathryn Stockett



Selected by:
Amy Staton






Synopsis:

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own. Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed. In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement...

About the Author:

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. She currently lives in Atlanta with her family. The Help is her first novel.

http://www.kathrynstockett.com

GEMS Book of the Month: May 2011

Wench
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez


Selected by:
Marguerite Parker

Synopsis

wench \'wench\ n. from Middle English “wenchel,” 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child.

Situated in Ohio, a free territory before the Civil War, Tawawa House is an idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their enslaved black mistresses. It’s their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at the resort, building strong friendships over the years. But when Mawu, as fearless as she is assured, comes along and starts talking of running away, things change. To run is to leave everything behind, and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances— all while they bear witness to the end of an era.

An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery.

Biography

Dolen Perkins-Valdez's fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, African American Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and the Richard Wright Newsletter. Born and raised in Memphis, a graduate of Harvard, and a former University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Perkins-Valdez teaches creative writing at the University of Puget Sound. She splits her time between Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington. This is her first novel.

Courtesy: bn.com

GEMS Book of the Month: April 2011

Perfect Peace
by Daniel Black

Selected by:
Ty Davis


Synopsis:

The heartbreaking portrait of a large, rural southern family’s attempt to grapple with their mother’s desperate decision to make her newborn son into the daughter she will never have

When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain’t what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gon’ be a boy. It’ll be a little strange at first, but you’ll get used to it, and this’ll be over after while.” From this point forward, his life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events. Meanwhile, the Peace family is forced to question everything they thought they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment.

About the Author:

DANIEL OMOTOSHO BLACK teaches at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned a Ph.D. in African American Studies from Temple University then returned to Clark Atlanta as a professor with hopes of inspiring young black minds to believe in themselves.

GEMS Book of the Month: February 2011

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
by: Pearl Cleage



Selected by:
Cathy Roberts

Synopsis

Ava Johnson was living out her dream in Atlanta: fabulous career, high living, and the promise that things could only get bigger and better. Then Ava's future crumbled -- she tested positive for HIV. Believing her life to be over, she returns to Idlewild, Michigan, the small town of her childhood. But home is not what it used to be, and Ava's homecoming is anything but the sorrowful end she expected. Big-city problems have made their way to Idlewild, and Ava finds a new beginning in working with the town's troubled black youths. Oh, and then there's Wild Eddie -- nothing gives a gal a new lease on life like falling in love!

Biography

Pearl Cleage is the author of Mad at Miles: A Black Woman's Guide to Truth and Deals with the Devil and Other Reasons to Riot. An accomplished Playwright, she teaches playwriting at Spelman College, is a cofounder of the literary magazine Catalyst and writes a column for the Atlanta Tribune. Ms. Cleage lives in Atlanta with her husband. What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day was her first novel. Her newest title, Till You Hear From Me was released in April 2010.

Author's Website: http://www.pearlcleage.net/

GEMS Book of the Month: January 2011

A DEEP DARK SECRET

by Kimberla Lawson Roby



Selected by:
Rondica Melvin

Synopsis

With sensitivity and grace, New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby addresses a very real and serious issue in an inspiring tale of one family’s mission to shed light into the darkest corner of their lives.

On the outside, twelve-year-old Jillian Maxwell is the perfect child—a straight-A student, helpful and cooperative, never getting into trouble. She seems to have everything a girl could want: a big, beautiful new home, an adoring little sister, a mother who cares about her, and an attentive stepfather.

But inside, Jillian harbors a terrible secret.

Too frightened to tell, convinced that her friends and loved ones, especially her mother, won’t understand—and worse, will blame her—Jillian endures her pain in silence. When her dilemma only intensifies with time, the bright, hardworking girl turns sullen, becoming increasingly disinterested in her studies. But on the verge of losing everything, Jillian will discover she has more strength than she ever imagined . . . and the power to change her fate.

Biography

Kimberla Lawson Roby is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen acclaimed novels, including Be Careful What You Pray For, The Best of Everything, and One in a Million. She lives with her husband in Illinois.