Book Review- I Stand Accused

Monica Frazier Anderson
Publisher: TyMac Books
Copyright 2007
Cost: $12.95
Pg: 242
ISBN: 978-0-9786378-1-1

If books were food and I was starving to death, then I Stand Accused would definitely be the meal to fill me up. I was really surprised at how good this book read. I can honestly say (and I don’t say this about many books) that I would read it again and again.

James Adams is the eldest brother of eight siblings, he’s a successful optometrist, he has a nice home a good dog and somewhat of a close family but the past has come to shake up his life.

James has a total of eight brothers and sisters and he tries to look out for them all but some of them just can’t be reached and others need a push to get on the right track. He already has his family to worry about then he meets his first love Sooty Mae...they are great at first, but then drama unfolds.

James is having nightmares about a past he just can’t get rid of and in order to fix this problem he has to finally look back and face what he did, but it isn’t easy. Some parts of his childhood he just can’t remember like who and how his father died. While he is trying to figure it out, family problems arise and since he’s the eldest he has to fix the problem. His youngest sister Bethany comes home drunk often, and his sister Tina is having the same nightmares that he is having. In addition to all of this a woman is spreading a rumor that he is gay.

James has to buckle down and address these problems before they overwhelm him. With the help of his family and best friend Ren, he makes it through and becomes a better person.

I Stand Accused was funny and entertaining. It had drama, and love. I couldn’t put the book down I just had to know what happened next. This is definitely a book to grab off the shelves.

Agasa Elitou-Reviewer

Fashion Week- Is Philly the New Fashion Week Location?

Everyone wants to go to fashion week! Although Philly is known for its artistic talents, it has never been known as a fashion mecca. You have to go to New York for that. As of lately, Philly has been doing it new and wild. Thanks to entertainment dudes making a name in the City of Brotherly Love, Fat Boy Hype Entertainment has listed some of the hottest fashion names in Philly and New York along with new designers to put on some of the hottest fashion shows you could every see.

Philly Fashion Week was held in the courtyard of City Hall which had an awesome appearance to onlookers. The set up was multihued with flashing lights and a long black runway for the models to strut their stuff. It was thus far one of the best thus far tried in Philly.

The highlights:
*A portion of the proceeds was given to One.org

*Miasha author of Mommy’s Angel was there giving away her books
*There were several great fall collections especially Anthony Eastwick
*There are plans for one next year
*Jade Cole of America’s Next Top Model is really nice in person

The low points:
*Designers had too many fashions displayed causing the show to last too long
*Jade, who was to serve as host came after the event
*Some of the models did not look like models including the one that walked too slow and drunkenly

List of designers at the show:
Teranchula, Anthony Eastwick (stylist to Mary J. Blidge), James Nelson (stylist to Jill Scott), DivaSperg of Philadelphia, Candy Cane, Seiman Furs, Ebony and many others.

Since this is the first of many to come, I would say that it was a good show and it can only get better with time.

Check out my my iView with Jade Cole!

What is life like after America's Next Top Model?

It's been great. The exposure was great and that was the best part of the show. I have been pushing myself with modeling and acting. I am living my dream traveling around the world.

How do you like being home in Philly?

I love it, this is my hometown even though on the show they made it seen as though I was from New York which where I currently live, I always represent Philly.

What are you doing now?

I have been traveling a lot because it opens my third eye and I love meeting new people and everyday I write.

What advice do you have for young ladies that are interested in becoming models?

Be sure that you educate yourself about the business because there are a lot of bad people out there. Stay focused and be sure to ask questions.

iView & Review by Tweety Elitou

Literary Review- The Vixen Diaries by Karrine Steffans

Title: The Vixen Diaries
Author: Karrine Steffans
Genre: Autobiography
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publishing Date: September 2007
Price: $24.99
ISBN-10: 0-446-58226-3
Pages: 182

When Karrine Steffans released her first book “Confessions of a Video Vixen”, I didn’t get it. Like others I assumed that the book was written to expose the lifestyle of some of the African Americans elite in the entertainment industry. To a degree I still feel that way.
The idea served as harmful to families of these famous people and surely caused a lot of heartache and disappointment (especially towards the author).

On several occasions because of the international controversy within the pages of her confession, Karrine appeared on several media outlets explaining her reasoning behind her book. She has stated that she had concern for young women who thought that the lifestyle of rappers, videos, and bling wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Being a video (ho) was costly and could put you in danger, not to mention that it could also ruin your reputation causing doors to close to your future. I thought that listening to her explanation (especially when she appeared on Oprah) and experience made since. What we do is for a reason—be it good or bad, but you can always bet that the cause and effect will always follow.

On September 25, 2007 Karrine Steffans followed up her story with The Vixen Diaries which is much different than her first release. This book shows the change of a young girl who made foolish and costly mistakes to a woman who has learned from her past and is moving forward into a better day. She touches on how she felt that she was attacked by many journalists, including Tyra Banks about her past lifestyle while forgetting to understand the message in her book. When it came to Tyra, Karrine was annoyed by her hypocritical comments as she has stated that Tyra mingled in the same circles of men naming her “Hollywood Bounce”.

Karrine goes on to talk about the love of her life Bill Maher who she separated from but she still seeks his guidance and wisdom. According to Karrine he is the one who helped her greatly in her transition from vixen to business woman.

She has also cleared up the many rumors about some of the people that she was said to be linked with intimately and some of the new friendships that were founded after the release of her book.

The most interesting story was that of her and Bobby Brown. She gives us information on a man that is good at heart and troubled in sprit. One must wonder what will happen to this fallen artist after so many blows. Will he ever be the star that he once was? Will he change his ways? Will he get over the divorce between him and Whitney in a healthy way? We could only hope and pray, but according to this book, prayers are in vain.

At some points I understand Karrine and felt her frustration behind being truthful because when people ask for the truth they usually want it sugarcoated. At other times I felt like, what did she expect? When you are known as a person of betrayal because they trusted you enough to confide in you the details of their life and you put it on paper, people are going to be pissed and you are going to wear labels.

One must ask, in the book that was previously written, did she not think of the families of these men? According to Vixen Diaries, she was making a point and that is definitely understood but to whose expense? Was there another way that she could have taught the lessons without naming names?

Overall, The Vixen Diaries is a very good journaling of life after “Confession of Video Vixen”. She is not exposing anyone, but she does share life lessons in a different manner which includes naming names. She has lived with the Scarlet let A on her chest (or, V, W) for now and she hopes that one day it will finally fade and she is seen as the new woman (not the young girl) that she once was. Everyone deserves a second chance. Karrine has used her success and made changes to help other and create a better life for her and her son.

My question is this: if we are able to forgive others beyond their sins, isn’t she too worthy of forgiveness?

I would love to hear your opinion on the book.

Heather Elitou-Reviewer

Literary Review-Torn

Author: Keisha Ervin
Publisher: Triple Crown Production
ISBN: 978-0-9778804-9-2
PUB Date: 2007
Pages: 384

Torn is about two lovers who are so in love with each other that they cheat (sounds crazy right). Mo has been in love with Quan, her hustler boyfriend for ten years and she would do anything and everything for him and says that she can’t picture life without him.

Quan loves Mo but temptation comes knocking at his door numerous times and he never ignores the call. Mo knows that Quan has and is cheating on her because of his late night arrivals in their bed, the smell of perfume that she doesn’t wear, and not answering her calls.

Finally, with all of the evidence that she has Mo confronts him about his wrongdoings, but the arguments usually end up with them in between the sheets and her trying to forget what he had dome to hurt her.

Now Mo wants to prove her point and pain to Quan by sleeping with his best friend West, but that doesn’t work… Quan continues to cheat and West has been hospitalized.

What made this book most frustrating is that Mo is supposed to be an educated lady who doesn’t take crap from anybody. He family and friends tell her that Quan is not worthy of her time but she stays with him.
What stood out most in the book is that although there looked as if there was no sanity coming from Mo, I realized that the author was showing how complicated love can be and how complicated we make it. You can love a person so much but that doesn’t mean that they will love you the same way.

Mo and Quan’s have a yo-yo love that continues through most of the book which left me dizzy. The book was definitely a good effort, but it wasn’t my favorite. Again the book had a message that was appreciated, the author is very detailed in writing, but from this reviewer’s opinion, relationships are what we make it and to go along with so much suffering from someone that does not appreciate you is a bad direction to travel.

Agasa Elitou- Reviewer

Book Review- Forever My Lady

Lately we have received a lot of good books from our literature affiliates but recently we received a novel that was an excellent read. Jeff Rivera’s, Forever My Lady is one of the best youthful novels written for the year. Forever My Lady main focus is on young love and what happens when life is not guided properly.

Dio Rodriguez is a seventeen year old that lives in Las Vegas and is a member of a gang that he considers his family. His mother is an abusive drunk and she taking care of his little brother who he fears for; his father is no longer with them. There is one person that he has a lot of love for and that is his childhood sweetheart Jennifer.
Jennifer is the one person that can see through his tough exterior and knows that he is a good person brought up in a bad situation and he needs to do what he can to turn his life around.

Jennifer doesn’t have an easy life either. She is verbally abused by her parents and when she feels that she can’t take it anymore, she becomes a prostitute who works for a pimp named Wiggie who is definitely not the kind of guy you want to be a friend or an enemy. When Dio confronts Wiggie and says that she will no longer be working for him, Wiggie mouths off and Dio decks him pretty good and threatens his life. This is something that Wiggie will never forget.

A tragedy occurs and Dio finds himself in a correctional boot camp and told that he must turn his life around if he ever wants to see the rest of the world again. While away, he meets people who he will become friends with and they will teach him valuable lessons in love and life choices. He meets enemies that will teach him through their wicked ways that life is no worse for one man than it is the other, and that revenge only amounts to karma.

There are so many thoughts that go through the head of Dios that you almost feel like you are in his head. You feel the love that he has for his lady Jennifer; the disdain that he had for his mother; the questions that he has about the other campers, and his strength and determination to get out of the camp but will he make it?

Again, this is one of the best stories thus far for the year 2007 and time is ticking. You can appreciate that the book did not just focus on sex, deceit and backstabbers but it focused on real life problems that affect us all. That’s not to say that backstabbers aren’t real life problems it’s just not the only problems that surround us.

This book is highly recommended for teenagers.

Be sure to check for the interview with Jeff Rivera coming soon. In the meantime get the book and tell me what you think.

iView with Jeff Rivera

You have a very interesting cultural background, can you tell the readers about it?

Sure, my stepfather is Filipino which is why my last name is Rivera. Both my grandmother's were half-American Indian and half-Black American, my cousins are Puerto Rican so I guess that makes our family a big mutt United Nations mix!

What made you decide to write about the issue of teenage gangsta love?

I'm very passionate about telling stories about people that are overlooked and wouldn't get a second chance... one of those groups are those involved in gangs. When I was growing up I always had friends that were involved with gangs in someway, but I never judged them and saw them as human beings first. So in return, they acted like human beings not the gang stereotypes that other people saw them as. Love is universal, I don't know what it is. I guess I'm a hopeless romantic at heart.

Why do you think that this topic was important?

I feel like even though I don't come from that background, I've been chosen in some spiritual way to tell their stories. To let people know that at the heart of things we're all the same.

The idea that most of the conversation between Dio and Jennifer via letters made it a good read, why did you choose this style?

Thanks, well I think is some way it was a subconcious decision because that's how my mom and stepdad met and communicated... through letters. He was in the Philipines and she was in America. She would read us those letters when we were little before she actually met him in person.

When you wrote about Dio, what did you think of him?

Well since Dio is very much a part of me and my little brother I didn't judge him. He was always a human being that happened to be in a gang.

Was Dio based on someone that you know?

Yes, Dio is based on my friend Claudio, myself, my brother and my friend Sergio.

The ending had an interesting twist, do you think it will lead to a book two?

That's my hope-- that the story continues into a trilogy.

What character was your favorite character to write about?

I LOVED writing Louise because she was so salty and down to earth. She's my favorite. The one I had the most fun writing.

What are your plans for 2008?

My plans are to crank out book after book and to continue on my school book tour throughout the year. I'm having a great time speaking to young people and meeting fans. Many of the schools are making the novel required reading.

Will there be other books?

Definitely, besides the sequels I'm working on other stories some urban, some historical but always with an element of love.

Be sure to check out Jeff's website at: www.jeffrivera.com

Agasa Elitou-Interviewer & Reviewer