Rating: 
Summary: Sex, Lies and No Videotape
Review: This book had me in awe of this messed-up mother-daughter relationship!!! What kind of mother prostitutes her daughter so she can pay the rent?!!!! At the young age of 16 at that!!!! It's also sad to say that these kind of relationships exist in the real word, hell how would you get the idea for fiction, from reality of course.Take the time to read this book so you can see how having the same blood running through your veins don't mean a thing. Later!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Mother from hell
Review: This book was just too good. The pace and the believable way that Mallette laid out the story is testament to her powers as a writer. I shook my head at the evil ways of the mother. She should have been put in prison the things she made her daughter do. I know one thing, it's a sad day when mothers force their own daughters to be prostitutes.
Buy this one for when you need good solid escapism. It goes on my "Best of the Summer" list with THE DARKEST CHILD and FLESH AND THE DEVIL.
These are the books this year that you MUST read.
Rating: 
Summary: Honey, Honey
Review: This is Mallette's best book to date. Reminds me of Monroe's Red Light Wives in some ways. The lowest form a mother can take is to prostitute her children. Some of them feel if you're gonna give it way, you might as well get paid for it.
Check out another fantastic novel called LUST OF THE FLESH by Beverly Roylat. This book will literally blow you away and have you sitting on the edge of the chair screaming for more. It's a blockbuster hit. You'll enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Motherless or bad mother- which is worse?
Review: This is the story of a 30 something year old still in the gripes on prostitution at the insistence of her mother. Arnell started prostituting at 16 because her mother wanted to exchange her for the rent. Arnell continued to prostitute herself out of a sense of obligation to her mother.
My opinion of the book is that it should have been writter more from the perspective of a 16 year old to a 20 something year old. To come in at the tail end of the prostitution seemed to cheat the reader of the depth of Arnell's hate for her mother. Because we were not given much detail of what happened from 16-30's, it really was not clear WHY Esther still could make her daughter come to the Honey Well and prostitute herself.
Other reviewers state the book is excellent. I don't agree. It just does not make sense that a woman with $200K and a house and car paid for would go to a house of prostitution and make herself susceptible to be raped. The idea that she would run to her mother's beck and call was understandable as an only child with no other known family but to prostitute yourself out of "daughterly devotion" seemed way beyond realistic. The realism is that Arnell would have moved from the city after she had reached adulthood.
Anyway, the book was good book but not as good as the other reviewers claim.
Rating:
Summary: This book is riveting!!!!!
Review: What do you do when you are so devoted to your mother it means losing your own dignity and self respect? Those are the questions that Arnell has to answer when her own mother makes her prostitute for money. Despite the desire to get out, her mother keeps finding ways to blackmail her and make her feel guilty for wanting her own life instead of the life her mother carved for her. Her mother is the mother you love to hate. She is greedy, selfish and just a terrible person. You want to reach into the pages and tell Arnell "run, run, run and don't look back". This book shows you how low self esteem will have you believe anything, and makes you question where does devotion to your own loved ones end? This book is a page turner!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Deserves 10 Stars!
Review: When I say that all I could say during and reading this book is DAMN...... I am not playing! First of all, I didn't know that this book was more than just a story about a mother prostituting her child. I was hesitant about picking up this book and, I looked at the ratings and didn't read the actual reviews of this book. So many people give to many details when reviewing the book and it ruins the surprises. I didn't know anything, so the book was just mind blowing! Obviously the book is about Queen Esther taking advantage of her daughter's innocence and prostituting her starting off as a teenager. Queen Esther is the worst kind, who is a lover of money and will get it at ANY cost. She plays on teenagers who has problems and makes them think she is a safe haven when she is a snake, actually destroying their lives. It's surprising what some people will do for a dollar, or should I say feel like they have to do. And Gloria also touches on the mental affect of females selling their bodies. All and all Arnell desperately wants to move on with her life, but Esther has a hold on her. A hold combined with past secrets that she holds over her head, and the confusing feeling of loving her mother in spite of. Queen Esther is a mess! You can't even imagine the things that will unfold in this book. Sometimes I thought Queen Esther was the devil himself. Gloria Mallette did a wonderful job of writing this novel. It is serious, entertaining, and surprisely funny. Queen Esther is such a [...], but some things will have you laughing like I can't beleive she did or said that. Scenes like the funeral, particular sex scenes, and the confrontation at the end of the book will leave your mouth wide open!! Gloria intertwines love, family ties, sex, life lessons, prostitution, humor, murder....you name it, it is in this book. I read Shades of Jade and it is good. But The Honey Well is on another level. Ms. Mallette definetely is da bomb. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know who enjoys reading good black fiction novels. The books description doesn't give you a clue as to what all is in store for you.
Rating:
Summary: How far would you go to please your mother?
Review: You've heard of Mommy Dearest, well here's Madea Dearest. Gloria Mallette's The Honey Well, depicts the twisted mother-daugher bonds between Arnell and her mother, Esther. Esther entices her sixteen year-old daughter, Arnell, to prostitute herself to their landlord to pay the rent which is several months behind. This is the start of Queen Esther's lucrative career as the madam of the Honey Well, prostituting Arnell to her benefit. After establishing her business and hiring additional young ladies to meet the growing clientele, Esther promises Arnell that she can quit working at the Honey Well when she graduates college. Esther reneges on her promise to free Arnell from her duties as a prostitute even after she completes college. Years later, Esther is still calling and Arnell is still responding to the call to perform just one more "favor". The situation becomes sticky when Esther has ammunition to blackmail Arnell with to keep her in her clutches.
Arnell's character is truly perplexing. She clearly hates the lifestyle she has been pulled into and has a strong dislike for Esther, yet she stays and seemingly fails to fight back against her mother. Perhaps it is her deep longing for her mother's love and a desire for a normal relationship that keeps Arnell from totally escaping. Arnell knows her engagement to James Stanton, a politician and the son of one of the most prominent pastors in the area, is the stronghold that Esther has over her. She also realizes that revealing the truth about her past to James will eventually break the bond Esther has.
Esther's character is a complex ball of loneliness, envy, greed and perversion. How can a mother ask her daughter to perform such acts? Secrets from her past defines the person Esther came to be. She will stop at nothing to get what she wants - mainly money- without regard for how her decisions affect the lives of others. As cold-hearted as Esther is with Arnell, we see a sensitive and hurt side to her when she eventually loses the one person she may have truly cared about. When a blast from her past comes back threatening to reveal her secrets, the drama really jumps off at The Honey Well.
Gloria Mallette is truly a talented and skillful writer. She captivates the reader from the very first page and does not let go until the very end. I have enjoyed past novels by Mallette and she has never failed to shock as well as entertain her readers. I am sitting on the edge of my seat, awaiting her next novel. The rate she is going, she won't let her fans down.
Reviewed by Paula Henderson for Loose Leaves Book Review
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