From the first words I was captured by the storyline and loved the naming of the characters and the tasteful way she wrote about the characters shenanigans. The book was highly entertaining, yet never lost sight of the Christian message. I recommend Delilah to those who love Christian fiction and to all readers who enjoy great writing and story line. ~ Angelia Menchan, author of Re-Rambled Food and Thought, Mrs. Black and more.

Being able to read a book in a matter of hours speaks volumes of said book. However, reading the book and talking about said book for days speaks volumes about the author. And this is exactly what readers will experience once the read Rosalyn’s latest release. While there are many great authors and books who tell great stories, Rosalyn McMillan and her book “We Ain’t the Brontes” will take their rightful place as a great book and an even greater author. I have read and enjoyed all of her previous books and this book is clearly one that will give her another chance to reach her goal of becoming one of New York Times bestselling authors. Thanks for showing us that although sibling rivalry between sisters may exist, it does not negate the fact that eventually love really does cover all. And while you may not be a Bronte, you are an inspiration to us all.
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***** SAVE THE DATE: The next taping of the Loretta McNary TV Show in Memphis, TN is Friday, November 12, 2010 at 6:00 pm at the new “McNary TV Studio”. For more information visit www.LorettaMcNary.com *****

Loretta McNary,
TV Talk Show Host/Empowerment Speaker/Author
The Loretta McNary TV Show
info@lorettamcnary.com

Check out the book
www.rosalynmcmillan.com

Hostage of Lies by Maxine Thompson
A Page Turning Experience

Hostage of Lies is a compelling family saga that is rich with history that goes back generations and brings the characters’ lives current. Not only is Nefertiti ‘s story educational, realistic and provides a fascinating look into human lives and how lies and secrets impacts lives, it is also easy to follow and entertaining.

The lives of some of the characters are paralleled with the lives of people I know, which caused me to compare fictional accounts with real life situations.

The book is tastefully done. People of all ages, race, cultures and backgrounds can read this book and thoroughly enjoy it.

Maxine Thompson did an absolutely fabulous job of structuring this story and developing believable characters who are real , colorful, strong, yet flawed, sensitive and compassionate. I enjoyed Titi’s journey.

After being away seven years, forty-something-year old Nefertiti returns home. Not so much to attend her father, the mighty Reverend Godbolt’s huge upcoming seventy-fifth birthday celebration, she comes home primarily to find her daughter whom she gave birth to at a very early age, but was forced to give up for adoption to prevent shame from being brought on the Godbolt family name.

Titi struggles with unanswered questions about her life, family past and secrets that have nearly paralyze her to freely move forward with her life. How was she going to find her daughter? Why had her father treated her differently than her other siblings? She wondered about the special relationship she shared with her uncle Tiger. Titi realizes it is time to confront her fears, stand up to her father and demand answers to questions she has lived with much too long.

There are so many levels to Hostage of Lies and Thompson did a fabulous job educating us, weaving back stories, the good, the bad, the ugly, along with the pure evil to show the deep dark place where a mind can go when one feels her relationship with her man is threatened by the return of his former love. It is interesting to see how the author cut through generations riddled with lies, skeletons, pain, racial issues, humor, status, lost loves. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder as demonstrated by Isaac and Pharaoh, who still love Titi and who would give their lives for her love.
I enjoyed this wonderful page turner with the educational aspect, history, suspense, surprises and revelations from cover to cover. The end will leave you saying to yourself, ‘I didn’t see that coming.’ I was caught me so unaware. This book should be a reading requirement piece in schools.

FANTASTIC——5 *****

Hostage of Lies
By Dr. Maxine Thompson

Throughout our lives, we make choices that mold our futures and sometimes affect us in both positive and negative ways. Spouses, boyfriends, first loves and career decisions affect our futures and often reflect on the way others treat us. Unfortunately, mistakes and digressions into paths we should not follow, often cloud our judgment, and reflect poorly on the way others act toward us in our presence. The characters in Hostage of Lies, all harbor secrets that they do not want uncovered. Some secrets are more harmful and destructive than others. Those that pass judgment should not cast the first stone on others since their records are not pure. This brings me to my review of Hostage of Lies a novel that brings to light many relevant issues of the present and comes full circle with some from the past.

Nefertiti is a proud African American woman who has reverted back to her African American roots. Changing her appearance and wearing the clothing indignant of her heritage, she returns to her home after being castigated and banished by her father, she reenters his life and others in Shallow Falls to find the answers to many questions that have been harbored within her soul and mind for too long. Married to Isaac Thorn for 12 years and having two children with him, her bond to this small town is still quite clear, but how strong remains to be seen. Pharaoh, Isaac’s half brother was the first man that she was intimate with and these two men have been reliving, reviving and rekindling in their own minds the feelings for her, their animosity for each other and their own brand of anger that spews from their lips when together.

Nefertiti returns to her parent’s home for her father’s 75th birthday with one important goal in mind. She intends to find the child she gave birth to 23 years ago and will stop at nothing until she does. Hidden beneath her frustration is anger so deep that nothing will ever remove the pain, degradation, the abuse and the scorn festered upon her by her father. Exiled, banished and forced out of her family’s nest, she is deemed a disgrace, harlot, and embarrassment in the eyes of her father, family and church for one mistake.

There is much more to this story than Nefertiti’s. Calissa, Miss Maggs, Isaac, Tiger and many others harbor secrets that should they be revealed would change the complexion or way people few them even more. Calissa too was banished and cast aside by her husband and diminished in the eyes of her children by their father for one mistake.

This is a story about mistakes of the heart, abuse more heinous than just by inflicting pain on her person physically, and about reopening your heart to others and allowing the hate, the cruelty to finally melt away and allowing forgiveness in. Take an ice sculpture so frozen solid that it looks like it will never melt and will stand the test of the hot burning sun or a burning flame. Nefertiti, Calissa, Ms. Magg and many others have felt the scorching flames as the ice that formed in the heart of the abuser was inflicted so hard that they formed their own private shield in the outside, but on the inside the ice water turned boiling hot and the scars caused by the heat and the flames could no longer be withstood and their self-esteems and their courage dripped away.

Power is what controls who and what you are in Shallow’s Corner in the eyes of Reverend Godbolt and Reverend Deacon. Both are powerful men who lived their lives ruling their families with iron hands and their wives with iron fists and strong words. Power is a funny thing. It cannot always bring you happiness but it can bring you false respect of others and the ability to control many outcomes because of how much you and wield on others. But, for how long before the same people finally take it no more and don’t care about your power and develop a thick skin of their and fight back in their own time and way. This story is all about power and control and who has it. Will the reigns change by the end? Will the secrets of each be unfolded and will the eyes of the town and their opinions unfurl and change on those that are now in power? Wait and see.

While each character reflects on the past and the hidden secrets, family ties and relationships that embrace and brought them to the present, the author eloquently and brilliantly weaves each character’s lines and stories so intricately intertwining and forever sealing their lies, truths and deceits in a tightly sealed, airless vault, waiting for the seal to break and the air to set them free.

As the lies become unsealed and Nefertiti questions her parentage, heritage and confronts her father for the truth, many other lies will be uncovered, a father’s secret will be revealed and many others will never be the same. Ms. Maggs, Bertha, Nefertiti, Sweets and the women of Shallow’s Corner have all been victims of abuse, remained in the background and never hold their tongues. But, not Nefertiti. She was a bold, bright and educated adult, who decided to live her life and finally make the right choices on her own, after being forced to give her child up for adoption by her parents when she was a minor.

One man, Pharaoh, plagued by his dreams and the horrors he faced fighting in Vietnam. Isaac haunted by a woman he so wrongly lost, and Reverend Deacon and Godbolt, so righteous in their thinking and their thoughts cast aside those that truly loved them and filled their lives and the town of Shallow’s Corner with nothing but hostages held prisoners by their lies. Choices are difficult and we have to live with the outcome. Will she find her daughter? Read this outstanding novel and find out.

Who will finally be set free? Who will the final victims be? Read this heartbreaking and heartfelt novel so well written and crafted that the reader will be not only be enveloped but totally immersed in a plot so tangled that only a jeweler with the right tools can untangle the knots. With an ending so riveting and a conclusion so unexpected, Hostage of Lies will keep you in suspense until the very last page where the final lie is revealed. A must read for anyone that has ever been a victim of abuse, prejudice and deceit. A book that lets the reader know that we have come so far in our thoughts and thinking, but we are not there yet.

This book gets Five Stars

Fran Lewis: Reviewer and author of the Bertha Series of Books and Memories are Precious

A New Type of Love
Love to many is plain and simple as black and white, or is it? What would you do if you found yourself in a situation, experiencing a love like you have never felt before? I know I would enjoy it but cautiously. Maxine Thompson, Michelle McGriff and Denise Campbell use their characters to show what others might do in Never Knew Love Like This Before.

In Denise Campbell’s The Value of a Man, we are introduced to best friends Morgan and Alexandra. Morgan was a successful woman in business, and could be equally successful in love, if she was not confused about which of the men in her life she wanted to have a future. When she felt as if she was being pressured, she got on the next thing smoking out of New York, finding herself halfway around the world, placing space between her and her problems. Each man in her life was very different than the other, Bruce, the cocky cop; Troy, the bad boy; and Isaiah, the laid-back seasoned brother. Who would guess going all the way to Germany would make her life even more complicated? In a turn of events, all the choices Morgan was trying to make seemed to work themself out; along with Alexandra finally shedding light on a secret she has been keeping for years.

Change of Life by Michelle McGriff is a story that reflects the title in more ways than one. Glenda has to have everything planned. She is never left bewildered for any reason at all. She gives advice to her assistant, Gerri, who was having some issues in her marriage. Would Glenda be able to take her own advice, when on the day she found about a major life change, her husband, Simi, decided to flip her world upside down. This was when she realized her home life was not as great as she thought. But is Glenda really prepared for the changes ahead?

Left at the altar, infidelity, racism, and a natural disaster led two strangers to a new meaning of unconditional love, in Katrina Blues by Maxine Thompson. Coleman Blue, a jazz musician was forced to leave New Orleans due to Katrina, but not for that reason alone. He wanted to get away from his past. Deni Richards, “a court-appointed county counsel” was searching for the missing piece of her life. Her family called her a sellout, while others thought she was uptight. After viewing the horrific scenes of the Katrina survivors, she decided to do her part, by opening her home to a family in need. However, home is not the only thing she finds opening up. Out of all three stories this one touched me the most. This statement brought tears to my eyes, “I see the flood. I see bodies. I see my mom.”

Just like I will never forget the melodic voice of Stephanie Mills, when she sang the words of one of my favorite songs, Never Knew Love Like This Before, I will not easily forget some of the characters from this book, ironically titled the same, by Maxine Thompson, Michelle McGriff, and Denise Campbell. I truly enjoyed the diversity in the characters, and the lives they lived. They were memorable. However, there were some uncorrected errors, and an area of inconsistency but everything else was executed correctly. I recommend Never Knew Love Like This Before to anyone looking for a simple, quick, and enjoyable book.

Jennifer Coissiere

APOOO BookClub