Illegal Affairs

Rating:
Summary: Critique of "Illegal Affairs."
Review: I am Georgia Madison, author of Gettin' Down to the "Real" Nitty-Gritty. I am an author who is very realistic, humorous and direct, not only in my writing but also in my life, and I would like to submit my honest critique of "Illegal Affairs" from my point of view as a woman with the aforementioned attributes. I would like to congratulate Shelia Dansby Harvey on a job well done. Her story line and characters are realistic, very interesting and all have substance, which is something I value in reading. At that point in her book where intrigue first rears its head, each chapter thereafter flows with a constant rhythm of intrigue, which impels the reader to want to continue reading on and on in anticipation of what intriguing events will occur next. I have not watched a soap opera since 1980, but I remember how I was when I used to watch, and "Illegal Affairs" reminds me of a soap opera in a book. Just as I hear my family members and coworkers carrying on and anxiously anticipating what new intriguing events will occur from day to day on their soap operas, so will the readers anxiously anticipate what will occur from chapter to chapter in "Illegal Affairs."

Rating:
Summary: They will stop at nothing to be considered the best
Review: Initially I thought this book was going to be a suspenseful "whodunit" based on what I read in the first pages of book titled The Finale. However, once I realized it was an intriguing read about the hardships of law school, backstabbing and dating, and the Finale was not the gist of the book, I had a new appreciation for the novel. The story made more sense and I began to enjoy it better.

Raven, Callie, Omar and Keith were all students at the predominately black Monroe Law School. The four of them became friends and quickly paired into study partners; Raven and Callie, Omar and Keith. Omar and Callie became a couple, Raven found Senator Michael Joseph and Keith admired and loved one of the ladies from afar. Raven and Omar were both arrogant, self centered and thrived on the spotlight shining on them. So when others took the spotlight away, it spelled bad news. The shining star soon found out, it was not nice to upstage Omar and Raven.

The book also featured other interesting secondary characters. There was bookstore owner Mr. Reese, the tutorial student, Set, a white man in a black college, Brett and a bevy of females belonging to Omar. These characters brought their own dynamics into the scene, which helped make the story even more interesting.

I thought the book was well written. The mock court scenes were quite fascinating and gave a glimpse of the judicial system at work. As the evil characters became more wicked and the good became stronger, this book moved up on the rating scale. Actually I was going to rated the book a 3.5 on the APOOO scale, but the anticipation in the storyline, pushed it up to a strong 4* read.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub

Rating:
Summary: Illegal Affairs
Review: The novel is awesome!Loaded with treachery,deceit,
friendship and betrayal.The author writes very fluently and
descriptively so that the reader can almost see the actions
of the characters. The novel should be a must buy for all
book lovers and novel readers.Seduction and conquest are an intergral part of the novel with a powerful impact. This reader is looking forward to the sequel,The Govenor's Wife Raven Holloway Returns!

Rating:
Summary: Talk About Touching Close to Home!
Review: This story hit me everywhere, my heart, my head, and my funnybone. I was hooked from the first page, which starts with a detective finally tracking down a body that he's been looking for for quite a while. The detective tells a woman that he can't wait to talk to her daughter about the dead body, but since no names are used, I couldn't tell who the detective suspects.

Then the book goes back about three years to the first day of law school and all of these really interesting characters show up. Raven is my favorite, that scene with her in the men's restroom had me laughing out loud and feeling like I know nothing about real sex! And the part with her and the doctor took me completely by surprise. Callie's situation with her father broke my heart, and the senator teed me off with his superior attitude. I laughed when I saw how he ended up. Omar simply defies description.

I wish that there had been more about Keith, his ex-wife and his lover. That part was almost too painful for me to read (for personal reasons) but I still wanted more of it. The book is really a page turner and I was blown away by the ending. The writer deliberately left some provocative questions unanswered, so I'm on the lookout for part two.

Rating:
Summary: "Intriguing Novel Touching All Emotions"
Review: WOW!!!! This novel is a must read.
Ms. Harvey did an admirably excellent job in writing a novel with so much intrigue, yet true to life experiences as related to jealousy, frienships, relationships, forgiveness of one's self and others and the ability to move on. Even though there are several characters in this novel, the author's style of writing just smoothly connected these individuals as the plots thicken. As I read, I couldn't wait to turn the page nor could I stay away from this book until I finished reading it! This novel will certainly be a selection for our book club to read. I can't wait to read the "Govenor's Wife".