Author:
Mercedes G
Title: Shan presents “All I want is that hood love”
Genre:
Street lit/Urban fiction
Publication
Date: 2015
Number
of Pages: 230 pages
Geographical
Setting: Cuthbert, GA
Time Period: Present day
This
is book one of the “All I want is that hood love” series. It is the sole title
so far and ends with quite a cliff hanger.
Synopsis:
Tay and Kira have grown up together as sisters escaping their impoverished
lives and after completing their degrees they are professionals and still “ratchet”
at heart. Kira has been in an abusive relationship and keeps going back. Tay is
happily married to her one and only, JaMel and though she has had trouble
carrying a child, she is elated to be pregnant again. Then comes the man she
can’t stop thinking about, the sexy and rich drug kingpin, Mega. Will Tay stay
true to her marriage and is JaMel keeping it real with her?
This
book is considered urban fiction. It definitely meets the criteria of urban
fiction as defined in this week’s readings, “In Urban Grit: A guide to street
lit.” This novel is written in first-person with the main characters alternating
the narratives by chapter. There are elements of street life, betrayal, revenge
and a drug culture and references to hip-hop culture and current artists and
trends. The language is explicit and uses slang and there are graphic sex
scenes. This novel is independently published and available in print and as an ebook.
Titles
that are similar include: “Fallin’ for a thug” by Mz. Lady P, “Secret lovers:
What he don’t know, won’t hurt him” by Shameka Jones, “Side effects of loving
you” by Dominique Thomas and other titles that are presented by Shan.
My
library did not hold one title that fit the criteria of urban fiction; this was
including the numerous ebooks held through a multi-library consortium. I found
this book on Amazon and
really
enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and it seemed real. I liked the alternating
POVs and there were several surprising twists and turns. I will definitely read
the next one in the series.
References
Honig,
Megan. (2011). Introduction. In Urban Grit: A guide to street lit. Santa
Barbara: Libraries Unlimited.
Laurie, I think it's very interesting that urban fiction wasn't represented in your library at all. Is that something that you found surprising? While I don't think we have a huge demand for it at the library where I work, we do have the occasional request and have a pretty good number of titles on the shelf. We tend to have more that are less gritty/more with a church focus, but we certainly have all perspectives represented. What do you think would happen if you asked your collection development team/individual to consider purchasing some? Would it work for your community?
ReplyDeleteLaurie, I think it's very interesting that urban fiction wasn't represented in your library at all. Is that something that you found surprising? While I don't think we have a huge demand for it at the library where I work, we do have the occasional request and have a pretty good number of titles on the shelf. We tend to have more that are less gritty/more with a church focus, but we certainly have all perspectives represented. What do you think would happen if you asked your collection development team/individual to consider purchasing some? Would it work for your community?
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie - your novel sounds like an enjoyable read. Love, hip hop and triangular relationships. I'm like Jessica, it is rather surprising your public library didn't have any offering, I got Sister Souljah at IMCPL and it was among many and is well used and worn.
ReplyDeleteOur library does hold African American fiction but I was surprised when looking up authors and subjects that there was no true representation of urban fiction. We do have Kim Harrison and Richelle Mead but they are classified as urban fantasy. I was most surprised that there were so few ebooks. I tried a book from the consortium, "Church girl gone wild" but it seemed more PG than I wanted. I hope I overlooked something, but I was pretty thorough. Our collection is pretty patron driven so if it was requested, we would order it. However, many patrons who would enjoy it do not have it as an option.
ReplyDeleteMy library does have a few titles that would be considered Urban Fiction. However, there aren't that many, and those we do have are circulated frequently. I wonder why this is? Is this a new genre, or are libraries not motivated to purchase these titles? Although this is part of a series, and I get why the author did it, I do not enjoy books that end on cliffhangers. Only for my own selfish reason of not being able to wait to find out what happens! However, I may still give this one a try.
ReplyDelete