Come With Me, Sheba

Rating:
Summary: The Dark Side
Review: This book is fun to read and scary. The other reviewers have discussed the romance angle, which I agree with, and the sex, which is excellent as usual, but this is not a "genre" book of the sort it is being compared with. Did the other reviewers miss the fact that the main character starts off the book as a stalker? Did the name Lethal Coon not strike them as a bit harsh?

This book is good but it is not a light read. It compares more with Preston L. Allen's first novel Hoochie Mama, than with Bounce or the erotic work he did in the Brown Sugar trilogy. In fact, one of the characters from Hoochie Mama, Shoneeka, who was the hoochie mama cop's lesbian lover, makes a surprising appearance in this new novel. In Hoochie Mama, when we last saw her, Shoneeka gave birth to a child and then disappeared. She reappears in this book with some interesting twists.

Clearly the idea behind this book is the fairytale "The Frog Prince." Sol is the Prince who appears as a frog, and Sheba is the princess who frees him with a magical kiss. That premise leads to both the darkly serious and the fun romantic elements of the story. True love wills out, but as with all Preston L. Allen novels, character development is balanced against a troubled childhood. Sol, the "frog prince" in this one, has a dark side, darker even, in some ways, than the villainous boyfriend HB (Hansel Baines). He is a former street thug with a violent past and several stints in prison; he is a stalker of women (as well as men); and he may even have murdered someone, though it is not clear--he certainly would have murdered his own father if he could have. And that is just as Preston L. Allen would have it so that Sol can make his point about "true" reform when he compares himself to HB: "I know about being bad . . . you have my police report." Allen's point seems to be that Sol has to be real bad so that we can see that real frogs can become real princes if they undergo real change, not the cosmetic type that both HB and Sheba seem to be so concerned about before meeting Sol. Sheba's kiss (along with the advice he got from his grandmother) changes Sol; but will Sol and his goodness be enough to change Sheba? You see in this book, the Princess is a frog in need of change too.

Sheba herself has a dark side, which the writer explores with poignancy. Allen soon reveals that Sheba is not the sweet, innocent shop girl that we meet at the beginning of the novel. She too has had a past; she is in desperate need of the kind of transformation that a life with Sol will bring. There is a reason that she has lived so long with a heartless brute like HB. There is a reason she covers her body with bling-bling. There is a reason that after meeting a soulmate like Sol she is reluctant to become one with him.

The real beauty of this book is a quality that lies beyond the stylish writing, the captivating storyline, and the lush sex scenes; the beauty of this book is in its message that real change is possible, which is hammered home in the final scene when Sol tells HB: "For the things you did . . . in my old life . . . I would have killed you." We the reader think that he should have because HB is so reprehensible. But Sol is a changed man, so he didn't. Sol has been kissed by a princess. Sol has been transformed. You will be too.

Rating:
Summary: Pigfeet
Review: This book is great. It reminded me of that old Eddie Murphy movie, Coming to America, where Eddie was the rich Prince of an African Country but pretending to be a poor college student. You rememebr how everyone treated him before they knew how rich he was? This book is like that, and that is the last hint I will give you. What sets this book apart from others in this category, is the great writing. Preston L. Allen does not write page turners you can flip through easy. He writes stories that are deep. He writes literature, which just happens to be very sexy literature. What I mean is that after you read this book, you start to ask questions about wealth and its importance in our lives, questions about what true love really means, and questions about some of those interesting sexual positions they did . . . .

Preston L. Allen's sex writing can be erotic at times, but sometimes it is just so "different." I can't think of another word for it, but when you read the "pigfeet" scene you'll know what I'm talking about.

I love this book. It's about sex, but it's also about other issues, crazy but important stuff like how to make money on the stock market, believe it or not!

The book starts off kind of strange with a very erotic sex scene involving a character named "Lethal Coon," who is involved in a threesome that ends violent. Then we realize that it is a memory/nightmare that he is having. He wakes up and gets in his Bently, drives to the docks, and takes his yacht to Miami where he goes to a mall. The next scene is with this Girl named Sheba who works at the mall. She is about to get jacked by a young thug with razor bumps on the back of his neck. A security guard named Sol comes and rescues her, by basically acting like a bigger DOGG than the young thug. So this girl Sheba kisses the security guard to thank him and she goes back to work with the handsome security guard on her mind. The security guard, after the kiss, goes crazy. This is the greatest thing in the world that has ever happened to him. He's been fantasizing about Sheba from afar, and now she has kissed him.

What happens after that is that Sol tries to flirt with Sheba, and her boyfriend HB finds out. HB is pretty much the most corrupt person I have ever read about. He's good looking and successful, but he gets off hurting people like Sol, cheating on Sheba, and having gross sex. He's perhaps the weakest character in the book, and I wish Preston L. Allen had given him at least a few good qualities. I can't see what Sheba saw in him in the first place. Anyway, HB gets Sol fired, and here's where the book gets strange--we skip to chapter 19. That's right. Chapter 19. I won't tell you why, or what you discover, you have to read it for yourself. But it's wonderful and will keep you reading.

When we come back to regular time, Sol is back at the mall with a new job as manager of the blue jeans store right across the hall from Sheba's store. How did he do it? I'm not going to tell you. It took me a while to figure it out. But Sol is flirting again, and Sheba is listening because life with HB is bad, real bad, but he has some "secret" stuff on her, so she can't break up with him. If this is a fairytale, HB is the evil witch. He is disgusting. But what happens, is HB catches them and gets Sol fired again--and then we skip to Chapter 19 again. You start getting used to this. Preston L. Allen does it a couple of times, and each time you are delighted. You are bursting, waiting for Chaper 19 to really arrive.

Then back to real time again. Sol comes back as manager of the blue jeans barn. This time he is a real player. His game is strong. He tells Sheba to come with him, come to his world, and she does. And then we turn the page and it is Chapter 19 again. For real this time. And it is beautiful. You start to understand that scene at the beginning of the book.

One more thing: Later on in the book, when the plot gets really deep, we go BACK to chapter 19. It is beautiful then too, but for a different reason. I love this book. I could not put it down. Jasmine C, Miami

Rating:
Summary: Come With Me, Sol, You Hotty
Review: Woderful! I laughed, I cried, I closed my bedroom door and read the dirty parts twice.

Sol is a hotty, the way Preston L. Allen describes him.