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| September 6, 2011 |
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
The Bitch Series,Thug Series, and Wifey Series Order
Ever wonder what the order of Deja King's Bitch Series, Wahida Clark's Thug Series, and Kiki Swinson's Wifey Series are? Well here it is!
The Bitch Series Order Wifey Series Order
1)Bitch 1)Wifey
2)Bitch Reloaded 2)I'm Still Wifey
3)The Bitch is back 3)Life After Wifey
4)Queen Bitch 4)Still Wifey Material
5)The Last Bitch Standing 5)Wifey 4 Life
6)Bitch:A New Beginning
7)Boss Bitch
7)Boss Bitch
Thug Series Order
1)Thugs and the Women who Love Them
2)Every Thug Needs a Lady
3)Thug Matrimony
4)Thug Lovin
5)Justify My Thug
Murder Mamas First Chapter
Hi Everyone,
I thought you may like to know that authors Ashley & Jaquavis has released the prologue and first chapter of their new book Murder Mamas which will drop September 27, 2011. Here is where you can read their work www.scribd.com
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Shyt List
Shyt List is one of those books that will shock you, there are events that comes completely from left field you didn't even see coming. Yvonna is a young woman suffering from a mental disorder whose wreaking havoc on those who did her wrong. The things she does and serects revealed will make your mouth drop. I recommened reading Shyt List because it is beyond boring and holds your attention from beginning to end. The novel has four parts to it but believe me each book is as good as the last. It seems to constantly evolve and answer questions. I like the way each book includes new aspects to the storyline without taking away from it, like a puzzle everything fits no matter how many new sisuations or characters the author adds.
This novel will keep you reading and wanting to finish it the same day you started. So take my advice, read Shyt List and don't stop reading the books until Reign decides there will be no more.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Borders Going Out of Business
The bookstore Borders has been around for over 40 years and now it is closing. After filing for bankruptcy in Feb 2011 and deciding to close down 200 stores the company has come to the decion in July to close every store and have Borders become nothing but a memory.
Borders was in dept by $1.29 billion dollars and failed to quickly adjust to the new generation of e-reading. In the Bloomberg, Tiffany Kary and Linda Sandler wrote in their article Borders Files Bankruptcy, Is Closing Up To 275 for Stores on February 16, 2011 that the company "raced up losses by failing to adapt to shifts in how consumers shop. It's first e-commerce site debuted in 2008, more than a decade after Amazon.com revolutionized publishing with online sale. The worlds largest online reader beat it again by moving into digital books with the Kindle e-reader in 2007, a market Borders entered in July." And Doug Schorrp stated in his article All Waldenbooks, Borders Stores Closing for the QC Times that the company was "sunk by crushing debt and sluggishness in adapting to a rapidly changing industry, officials said previously."
The company simply couldn't keep up. And not to mention many people who frequented the store seemed to only skim the book shelves and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere instead of actually buying something, David Magee explains in the International Business Times Borders Closing:Why the Bookstore Chain Failed. It is unfortunate that Borders seemed to no longer sit at the table with the popular kids. Businesses such as Amazon and Barnes & Nobles are staying in the game by drawing customers in with their e-reader devices known as the Kindle and Nook. And not to mention the fact that Amazon is an internet store with low prices is always a plus for many people.
Borders closing down hurts an already wounded economy. There was over 600 Borders stores and now with all of them going out of business hundreds of jobs are lost and authors and publishers have to work harder in order to find places to do business with. With Borders gone that is less places for publishing companies books to be sold and authors to have their book signings at. In USA Today's Borders Closing Signals Change in book selling industry by Mae Anderson, executive director of publicity at Grand Central Publishing in New York, Jennifer Romanello stated that the loss of Borders is "one less outlet to use in promoting our authors." When Borders filed for bankruptcy Romanello stopped sending authors for book signings to a number of Borders. Borders going out of business is affecting everyone. It's a domino affect.
With this store closing it's one less place where adults and children can frequent and be in a calm, educational environment . One less place were people can work and the public can be reminded that books are still alive and e-devices has not taken over. People are in shock and disappointment with the outcome. Will there and could there be a new up and coming bookstore in the future? I hope so.
Below are the links to the articles mentioned in my post.
Borders Files Bankruptcy, Is Closing Up To 275 for Stores
All Waldenbooks, Borders Stores Closing
Borders Closing:Why the Bookstore Chain Failed
Borders Closing Signals Change in book selling industry
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Urban Fiction in Libraries
Urban fiction novels are now on the shelves of libraries. The popular genre of books are no longer found just on the tables of street vendors but on display for all to see in Barnes & Nobles, and libraries everywhere.
I work in a library and I am proud to say that I was apart of creating a section of African-American books called Black Experience where urban fiction was included. Being in charge of the section I watched it grow and was a witness to a number of people plucking books off the shelves in order to check it out. Patrons come to my job and inquire about the books, asking wither or not we have a specific novel. People take out a number of books at a time and come back for more.
Urban fiction is taking the world by storm, almost everywhere you look people are indulging in the books, on the trains, in book stores, and in libraries.Urban fiction has their own sections and wall units. After doing research and reading articles based on urban fiction novels in libraries, I have come to learn that urban fiction are big in libraries in general.
In The New York times article From the Streets to the Libraries written by Anne Barnard in 2008, Lora-Lynn Rice the director of collections in York County's Martin Library stated that there are people who are reading for the first time who never came to the library now entering asking for urban fiction books. Within the article it explains that some readers read the genre because they can relate to it. A mother and wife by the name of Shonda Miller said "I read what I can relate to. They're writing about what I've experienced. It's easier than reading about Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive."
Barnard writes that Ms.Miller did not experience the harsh, fast pace life that many urban fiction novels speaks about, but instead she recognizes the characters nights of clubbing and wearing door-knocker earrings. Along with their misfortunes and desire for a better life.
Two weeks ago I went to Barnes & Nobles and I stood in the isle looking for a urban fiction book to read. Reading the back of K'Wan's book Eve a woman walked into the isle with me. In her hands I noticed she had a hand full of urban fiction books, I thought to comment on the novels since I'm such a big fan but thought against it. I continued to read the back of the book when she said "that's a good book." After that we chatted and I put her on to books that had a part three and we ran to get her Dirty Divorce 3 so that she could catch up. Just like me she was an urban fiction fanatic.
At work there are a few of us who reads urban fiction, we let each other know when the library get a new urban book and race to get a copy. When co-workers are not sure about questions relating to the topic they direct patrons to me and I take it from there, happy to help. I even recommend books and let readers know what books were made into sequels.
Libraries everywhere are getting a number of patrons searching for these books. Urban fiction books are out there, libraries, book stores, publishers, and online stores are all trying to get in on the craze. Kindles and Nooks offers urban fiction books, you still have street vendors selling the books, displays of the genre grace books stores, and libraries. Their not a secret, their everywhere.
If your intrested in reading The New York Times article From the Streets to the Libraries by Anne Barnard check out the link.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Modern Day Romeo and Juliet
Hi All,
Just a few minutes ago I finished reading Ashley & Jaquavis book Murderville. I have read a few opinions based on the novel and 9 out of 10 stated that is was sad. I guess it's now 10 out of 10 because I have to say ,the book was sad. Murderville reminds me of a modern day Romeo and Juliet. There's love, poison, and the desire to be together until the end of time all wrapped up into one.
Muderville is a story about a couple fighting to stay together. A couple whose been through hell and back. The novel includes human trafficking, betrayal, and more than anything else pain.The world is against them but they refuse to be torn apart. A'shai and Liberty fight to hold on to one another when the man Liberty was sold to when the two separated as children refuses to give her up without a fight. But things gets worse when Liberty is diagnosed with a heart condition known as cardiomyopathy, she is dieing and there's nothing the love birds can be but hope a new heart comes to her rescue. With death in the air and A'shai and Liberty constantly being forced to jump multiple hurdles things only seem to worse, along with the pain.
One thing that I really liked about the book was the fact that the Garza Cartel and Murder Mamas were in it. As a big Ashley & Jaquavis I've read all of their novels, so Garza and the Murder Mamas are from previous books. I don't know if many people remember, but the Garza Cartel is the Mexican Cartel responsible for taking down the Diamond Family in The Cartel 3. Now think back to the Cartel 3, Breeze, Carter's sister was led into prostitution just like Liberty and if memory serves me corrected Breeze boarded a boat which led her to that nightmare that I now believe was Murderville. These books are connecting.Trafficking and prostitution was also written about in Ashely & Jaquavis other books. I love reading about characters from past novels entering into the current. That is one thing that kept my interest in the book.
Murderville reminded me of their other novel Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.It will make you feel several emotions, you'll experience heart ache, surprise and anger. When a book makes you feel emotions that means the authors are doing their job and its a good book. That is how I grade a book, it all depends on the emotional roller coaster that it sent me on.
The reason why I enjoy Ashley & Jaquavis books are because their novels or unique. Their story lines are something that you cannot pick up in just any book. Allot of people have told me what bothers them about urban fiction novels is allot of the books has the same topics. So I tell people "you want something different, read Ashley & Jaquavis" they put a spin on things. And I must admit they keep me on my toes. Since I'm writing my own novel, after reading theirs I always think to myself "I want my book to be good like theirs. I want my book to be original" and that right there keeps me thinking, keeps me working hard. So if you want something different, something interesting and out of the norm pick up one of their books.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Secret Society
Hello All,
After much thought about what I will speak on in this post I decided on Miasha's Secret Society. If there's one thing I can appreciate and look for when picking out a book to read is originality within a topic. Although I have read novels which included transsexual characters I have to say, I have not come across any novel besides Secret Society that is primarily based on that topic. There was never a dull moment within the novel. And I have to say, Miasha choose a very challenging topic to write about. The reason I refer to the topic as challenging is because when people read the novel they are always looking to see if it’s realistic for transsexuals to have sexual relations with other men without revealing their true gender. Whenever I mentioned the book to people I always hear the same question “how do men sleep with them and not know their guys?” Writing this book had to take a lot of thought in order for it to come across as believable.
I applaud Miasha for not writing something that takes much time and thought, this is not something you can just scribble on paper and hand over to your publisher. This must be well thought out, and even researched. I like reading urban novels which aren’t revolved around the same topics, but gives you something to think about and always keeps you guessing.
Miasha went on to making Secret Society a trilogy, and I read them all. But in my opinion Secret Society was better than Never Enough, and Til’ Death. If the other two novels would have never been written I would have been fine with it. Secret Society is a good novel with an ending that will make your jaw drop.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Teri or Kwame?
Anyone who is into Urban Fiction has discussed the third and last book of the Dutch series. Teri Woods and Kwame Teague has both came out with their own version of Dutch 3 and everyone who has picked up Teri Woods version (which came out years after Kwame's) has one thought and thought only, "whose version is better? hers or Kwame's?". And I must say, in my opinion Kwame's version is better.
There was so much to Kwame's story, so many twist and turns. I liked the fact that Angel was jealous of Dutch and Nina's relationship and fact that it was revealed in the end that Angel was carrying Dutch's son. The story was far from boring and held many issues. However, Dutch's character in Teri Woods version wasn't the Dutch we all grown to know in Dutch 1 and 2. His personality wasn't the same, I didn't understand how he could work for Odouwo. He didn't seem like his own man. By fare Kwame's book took the cake. It was more interesting to me and more drama filled.
Below I decided to take the liberty to point out the differences between both books. I will write what did and not happen in both novels, this way you can decide which events help make a better Dutch 3.
Dutch: The Finale
1)Dutch and Nina got married.
2)Nina died in a car accident by Goldilocks.
3)Craze died due to an overdose by Goldilocks.
4)Dutch met his father and spoke.
5)Roc and his wife stayed together.
6)Roc lives.
7)Angel lives and is pregnant with Dutch's child. .
8)Angel kills Goldilocks.
9)Dutch was beheaded. .
Teri Woods:International Gangster
1)Dutch and Nina does not marry. 2)Dutch kills Nina
3)Craze jumped off a bridge and died.
4)Dutch never met his father.
5)Roc and his wife separated she married someone else.
6)Roc died who was shot by Goldilocks.
7)Angel never has relations with Dutch and dies in when a helicopter blows up.
8)Dutch kills Goldilocks.
9)Dutch dies when his helicopter blows up.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Deja King's New Book
Are you a fan of the Bitch series? because if you are safe the date because on 8/16/2011 Deja King is releasing her new book titled "Bitch: A New Beginning." And please be aware that as of 8/6/2011 this book is out of stock on Amazon for pre-order.
Ashley and Jaquavis New Book
The authors of Dirty Money, The Cartel Series, The Prada Plan, and The Dopeman's Wife series Ashley & Jaquavis released their new book "Murderville" on July 2011. Get your copy, I got mine.
Introducing My Urban Books
Welcome,
And thank you for taking the time out to read my blog. My Urban Books is a blog that I decided to start based on my passion for books. I mainly read fiction books but the genre I enjoy most is Urban Fiction. On many occasions I have heard people refer to Urban Fiction Books as "those books","ghetto", and possibly even "not real books/literature". And because I have decided to start this blog, I have also decided to be truthful on how I feel, so here it goes. To be honest, I never like hearing comments such as those being made. Why must these books be categorized that way? is it because it's different and out of the norm? because I have come to discover that anything that is different is automatically referred to as "abnormal", if a particular thing or person doesn't fit the mold that society has labeled "normal" than it's considered out of the loop and looked down upon.
If you ask me, not everything that's different is bad. On many occasions it has been discovered that what we once considered awkward, and weird has made an positive impact on society. Now think about it, so what if Urban Fiction is written differently and based on different topics, isn't that better than reading the same old same old? In our world we have made it a habit to give society choices/varieties. Man kind has went about to create many different types of things such as technology, flavors, clothing, entertainment, homes, jewelry etc anything you can thing of it comes in different shapes and sizes and rarely repeats itself. So tell me, if we can have choices in what we eat, wear and do then why not have a choice in what we read? why not have a genre of books that sticks out like a sour thumb (sometimes being a sunflower in a field of roses can be a beautiful thing).
I understand that some Urban Fiction novels can be a little much with their scene descriptions and even at times repetitive in their topics, but when this occurs I suggest shopping around. I am a picky reader, just because it is an Urban Fiction novel does not mean I am going to read it. I look for things that haven't been done and that's a little out of the box and I must admit that I have succeeded. And because I have been picky with what I read I have found some very entertaining, original types of work. And I will share these works with you within this blog.
Urban Fiction Novels are written differently. They use slang words, but in my opinion it makes sense, it makes it realistic. After all when you read the works of Shakespeare his works were written and sounds totally different from the work we publish today, times change and so do styles. Look at Hip Hop it's a culture, it's a flavor and it's a style. In my opinion, if a novel is edited, grammatically correct and published, then it's a form of literature. Not everyone will have the same style of writing, because if we did then no one will find joy in reading. Now I am not saying that you have to like Urban Fiction, but what I am saying is to be open minded, understand that some of the works written are based on true stories. Understand that the book of life is not filed with happily ever afters but is sprinkled with tragedies. There are real life drug dealers, and people fighting to make it out of a bad situation. Yes Urban Fiction does curse, and is raw and uncut, but so is life. Urban fiction authors bring to light what are hidden in the shadows and people choose to ignore due to it being too emotional. But if it isn't brought to light, if the stories aren't told, than how will anything change? how will our world be made into a better place for us all?
Now ladies and gentleman I can write why Urban Fiction can hold it's on in the literary world for days, but for now I will leave you with the thoughts already said. There will be plenty of time for you to read more of what I think. My Urban Books is an honest blog, my writing will make you think, make you want to pick up the book that I've just put down, and will possibly make you even challenge my thoughts and that's OK. I will speak on the authors behind the novels. My Urban Books will be your information/book club/Urban Books rating page. What I know and will learn in the future I will share. I have stumbled across many people who read just as much Urban Fiction as I do and knows just as much as me based on the genre, but I have still in one way or another taught them something new and I have learned new things as well. I am surrounded by books everyday, within my home and when I got to my occupation at a library. So believe me when I say books are what I know, this is not your typical blog based on books, this is My Urban Books.
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