Series Sunday: Love After Midnight

(The Coldest Winter Ever #3) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author and series name.

My Series Sunday pick is Love After Midnight, the third book in The Coldest Winter Ever series by Sister Souljah. There was a time when Winter Santiaga was that bitch. Allow me to re-introduce this classic character. Winter was the oldest daughter of a Brooklyn drug kingpen. Reigning hood loyalty until everything fell apart. Fast forward fifteen years and Winter was released from prison, only to be shot and sent to hell in the sequel, Life After Death. (A book that I DNF'ed with no regrets.) 

In this third installment titled Love After Midnight, Winter is brought back to life with a mission to find out who shot her while trying to capitalize on newfound fame as the star of a reality TV show and creator of legitimate businesses.

"Fame is a hard life." ~ 68%

I expected Love After Midnight to be a redemption novel. It started off better than the sequel but quickly became hard to follow, disjointed and confusing. There are no smooth transitions between chapters. New characters are introduced but not fully developed (or truly named). Winter's narcissistic antics and shallow behavior is almost comical. I don't even know what genre to categorize this book. The best I can describe it is urban fiction with themes of fame, revenge and relationships.

I can no longer try to figure out Sister Souljah's purpose for this series. Is it to prove that fame comes at a cost? To point out the difference between heaven and hell on Earth? To jumble readers' brains? Love After Midnight is written like Sister Souljah wrote random dialogue and narrative on index cards, shuffled them and transcribed to paper with no clear direction. The ending even seems out of place and incomplete, not in a traditional cliffhanger kind of way.

"I knew that none of this fits my personality, or my way." ~ 96%

This review feels very much like a break-up. Very "it's not you; it's me." The whole time I was reading Love After Midnight, I was thinking that I'm no longer interested in Winter's shenanigans, ghetto princess behavior, hood friends and nonsensical actions. Girl, grow up! Evolve. Learn. Listen. Mature. I want to see Winter win but it's time I hop off this journey. This series is no longer for me.

Happy Early Pub Day, Sister Souljah! Love After Midnight will be available Tuesday, October 8.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

Title: Love After Midnight

Author: Sister Souljah

Published: October 2024

Pages: 429

Edition: Galley

Genre: Urban Fiction

Rating: 🖤 

First Lines Friday

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Grab your current read(s).
• Share the first line(s).
• Include the title and author.

"The average life expectancy for a Hell Diver was fifteen jumps. This was Xavier Rodriguez's ninety-sixth, and he was about to do it with a hangover."

~ Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Join the Sistahs Be Readin' Book Club on Patreon!

Gift from Virgo

♍︎ LiteraryMarie.com is on a break during Virgo season for obvious reasons.

True Gretch

"That woman from Michigan." ~ pg. 9

Gretchen Whitmer—adoringly referred to as "Big Gretch" in these Detroit streets—is the trailblazing Governor of Michigan and a proud Democratic. True Gretch is a political memoir written with Whitmer's sense of humor, wit and straight-to-the-point style. In less than 200 pages, she tells a candid account of her remarkable life and career, including decisions made during the pandemic, public showdowns, the kidnapping assassination plot and her opinion on parting hair in the middle. 

"Get shit done." ~ pg. 112

I am already a supporter of "Big Gretch" but reading True Gretch made me aware of certain laws and confirmed that the State of Michigan is currently under good leadership with her as Governor. I thank her for rising in opposition. For being brave enough to share her deepest secret to protect women's rights and freedom. For doing the best she could during a pandemic while being bullied, threatened, questioned and ignored. Gretchen Whitmer comes from a long line of public service; she is most certainly making her family and constituents proud.

"...an unremarkable moment in one person's day might feel like a life-changing event for another." ~ pg. 41

True Gretch may be a quick read but I felt inspired after finishing in just one day. She stands true to her beliefs, finds the good in people and makes an impactful difference in the community in which I live. The lessons within span from the secret to dealing with bullies to power colors. Whether or not you are a politics junkie, I am confident you will gain something valuable from reading this nonfiction book. If nothing else, you will laugh at her funny tactics, marvel at her strength and gain insight into the challenges that Michigan has faced.

Title: True Gretch
Author: Gretchen Whitmer
Published: July 2024
Pages: 176
Edition: Hardcover
Genre: Political Memoir
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

Such Charming Liars

"There's a certain kind of bond that got imprinted on us at a young age in an extreme situation, and...maybe it stuck." ~ pg. 74 

Mother-daughter grifters? Heists and con artists with a history? Yes please!

For the longest, it's only been Kat and her mother Jamie. Except that time when Jamie was married for 48 hours in Vegas to a con man named Luke and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. Now Jamie is a jewel thief and vows to live a straight life after one last job. Kat has figured out a way to tag along. Neither mother or daughter expect to run into Luke and Liam...it's been twelve years!

"Because the thing about breaking points is, you don't realize you've hit yours until you're already well past it." ~ pg. 188 

Kat and Liam find themselves in a pickle. One witnesses a murder. The other tries to stop a disaster while crushing on the mark's nephew and dodging a killer. They can't trust anyone except each other...but they're both very charming liars so can they really?

Karen M. McManus does not miss! When it comes to young adult mysteries, she knows how to draw readers in with charming relatable characters, unique storylines and realistic dialogue. There is hardly any fluff between the pages. Clues are dropped making it easy to figure out the mystery but it's still entertaining.

"I've lost track of what letter I'm on at this point, but I might as well call this Plan H, for Hail Mary." ~ pg. 225

I read most of Such Charming Liars in a day. Even though it is meant for a younger audience, I was all tangled up in the schemes on a lazy Saturday. This new novel is a great buddy read with the teenager in your life, Bookhearts!

Title: Such Charming Liars
Author: Karen M. McManus
Published: July 2024
Pages: 386
Edition: Hardcover
Genre: YA Mystery
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

The Collected Regrets of Clover

"Grief is just love looking for a place to settle." ~ pg. 304

Clover Brooks was exposed to death at age five. She witnessed her kindergarten teacher drop dead and lost both parents. After her grandfather who raised her dies alone, Clover becomes a death doula. She ushers people peacefully through the end of life. And she does it well. Maybe too well.

Clover spends so much time with the dying that she doesn't have time to live herself. Until a feisty old woman's dying wish encourages Clover to chase a love story. The cross-country trip allows Clover to reflect on romance, friendship and what she really wants out of her own life.

"Be cautiously reckless." ~ pg. 268

Even though The Collected Regrets of Clover is told in a heartwarming tone, the topic of death is heavy. It surrounds Clover and consumes her thoughts, actions and feelings. The most unique part of her job as a death doula is notating last messages of clients as they were dying, which fall into one of three categories: advice, regrets or confessions. I won't spoil the novel any further but romance works itself into the picture too.

"Was it possible that our encounter on the library steps was...a meet-cute?" ~ pg. 34

The Collected Regrets of Clover was highly recommended by a Bookheart. She never steers me wrong with fiction so I knew this would be a page-turner. What I didn't expect was for onions to be cut up and for my eyes to sweat. This novel dealt with grief in such a unique way that was unexpected and greatly explored. It is written so beautifully clever! 

There is a reason The Collected Regrets of Clover was nominated for two (2) Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Debut Novel and Best Fiction in 2023. Don't sleep on this one, Bookhearts! Read it now; you won't regret it. In the meantime, I will be on the lookout for more books by Mikki Brammer since this debut earned every bit of 5 🖤.

Title: The Collected Regrets of Clover

Author: Mikki Brammer

Published: May 2023

Pages: 314

Edition: eBook

Genre: Chick Lit

Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤

Series Sunday: Murder at the Cellar

(Read Between the Wines #0.5) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author and series name.

"You city folk are so used to crime and murder that you see it around every corner. There is no such thing here." ~ pg. 17

My Series Sunday pick is Murder at the Cellar, the prequel in the Read Between the Wines cozy mystery series by Dani Simms.This short eBook includes wine pairings, irresistible recipes, a golden doggie, a small town and a murder mystery with more twists than vines. 

Join the Sistahs Be Readin' Book Club; sleuth it out with us for our August selection!

Title: Murder at the Cellar

Author: Dani Simms

Published: January 2023

Pages: 120

Edition: eBook

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤