Turn It Loose

by Britni Danielle

Sometimes you just have to do something crazy...

By all accounts Jaylah Baldwin is living her dream. After graduating at the top of her class, she’s a successful journalist who interviews celebrities and attends Hollywood parties for a living. There’s only one problem: she hates her life.

Despite her seemingly charmed existence, Jaylah loathes her job, is lonely as hell, and is tired of living up to everyone else’s expectations. When she gets fired from her cushy position at the L.A. Weekly, she has two options: stay in L.A. and become a spectacular drunk or buy a ticket to London and finally live by her own rules.

She chooses the latter and heads to the Queen’s city in search of adventure, but soon finds more than she bargained for.

Turn It Loose is a fast-paced, entertaining book that takes readers along for an exciting ride.

Loved Turn It Loose? Read the sequel, Two Steps Back (here)!

Genres: Chick Lit

133 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2013

About the author

Britni Danielle is a freelance writer and author of the books Break Out of Your Box , Turn It Loose, Two Steps Back, and Bad Dates & Other Disasters .

Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Essence, Clutch, Vibe, Jet, Ebony.com, and BabyCenter.

When she isn't working, Britni enjoys listening to good hip hop, seeing the world, and being mama to her beautiful brown boy.

Catch her on the Twitter streets @BritniDWrites or blogging at BritniDanielle.com.

Reviews

[Shelly Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one. It's so rare to see smart, funny books about upwardly-mobile young black women nowadays. (Was big in the 90s... not so much right now.) When I saw the protag was also a journalist and a romantic comedy watcher, I thought, "yeeeeees!" It started off strong and then got marred by melodrama. I love romance in women's lit. I do! But the tone took an abrupt shift from fun girl about London to soap opera and I just couldn't get with it. The writing was good. I would have liked the other characters besides the main character Jay, to have been more developed. I liked it enough to finish but not sure if I'd read the second book in the series.

[Kenesha Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me first say that I only give Turn It Loose a four out of five stars because I MUST know what happens next! Turn It Loose is a novella about a woman who's played it safe her entire life, but after getting unceremoniously fired from her lucrative, but un-fulfilling magazine writing job, decides to go to London. This is Jaylah's first time doing something out of the norm and right away it begins to pay off, she meets a new mate (friend), has AH-MAZING sex with a sexy Middle Eastern stranger, and last but not least meets a mysterious Ghanaian man. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I will say that this mysterious man brings passion to her life, but also drama.

Turn It Loose was better than I even expected because it has humor, sex, drama, and romance all in a wonderfully written package. It also made me want to hop on the plane and go "holiday" in London, ASAP! I recommend you read this book & I can't wait to read part two. There is a part two, isn't there Britni Danielle??? DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING!

[Janice Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I am writing this review, I will admit that I am about 10 years older than Jaylah. When she met her love interest, I was automatically suspicious of him. There were certain red flags that stood out, as well as certain questions that I badly wanted Jaylah to ask - she didn't do so. I scolded her for the decisions that she made, but clearly my efforts were in vain. Please forgive my ranting, I am a woman with experience. I must also admit that after reading halfway through, I cheated and skipped ahead. I knew exactly what would happen - blame it on life experience. Since reading the ending, I did go back and finish the rest of the story. Life's lessons...

I am always looking for good reads, so when I saw this title listed by the website, For Harriet as one of the must reads for 2013 I jumped on it. Jaylah is forced to take charge of her life, early on in the book. She was brave, as she stepped out into an unknown path. I loved that! And then...then things got shaken up in a rather unexpected manner. In my eyes she went from determined to wishy-washy. Love can do that to a girl. What she encounters is a much needed lesson for other women, including herself. I can only hope that she will wise up, or that her new man turns out to be sincere (though I am not holding my breath on that last point). Looking forward to the follow up.

Good read. I would recommend.

Written by Janice G. Ross, author of the Damaged Girls Series

[Deonna Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turn It Loose is a great novella. I finished reading it in one day and loved every bit of it because the story line flowed so well and had me anticipating what was going to happen next. It kept me wanting more.

I was also able to relate to Jaylah's (the main character) situation so it was cool to see how a fictional character dealt with challenges that I'm currently facing. I'd recommend Turn It Loose to friends and family, especially for something to read on a vacation, or something of that nature.

[alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book For 18 -24 year olds

the story was a little slow in the beginning but it got interesting in middle of the story. I felt the end of the book could've continued more with a few chapters ending it happily ever after.

[Tiffany Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait for part deux!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off slow, but picked up speed in the middle. Interested to see what happens next.

[ms dailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick fast paced novella that will leave you wanting just a little bit more of the main character Jay!

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book, only problem is how it ends

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book at all. It tried way too hard to be relevant, fun and diverse and it mostly fell flat. The main character was decent but the storyline definitely needed some work. Their was no chemistry between the two main characters and the plot was so obvious.

[Revae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turn It Loose is the story of Jaylah Baldwin, a 28 year-old who finds herself unemployed and in need of a change. After watching Bridget Jones' Diary, Jaylah decides to move to London for a fresh start. London seems to be the best move for her because her life takes a turn that she never expects. Turn It Loose was predictable. It sparked just enough interest for me to want to know how Jaylah's story turns out in the next book, Two Steps Back. I didn't feel attached or engrossed in the story. There was something missing where I didn't feel fully connected.

[Deena M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read that I liked. I just didn't connect with the love story quite as much as I did in Bad Dates & Other Disasters. Something was missing for me with Johnny's character specifically...like I needed a little more development. But I still enjoyed reading the book and will check out the sequel.

[Meagen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The description says this is a fast paced read and it certainly was that. I think it could have been better had the story line and characters been more developed. Instead I was left feeling a little like I got whiplash and trying to figure out how we got from point A to point B.

[RenishaRenewed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Not bad. A little bit predictable. I found myself skipping pages to jump ahead a bit.

[Eatcelery · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick book to read. Predictable story but some times you just want an easy read! I did not care for the ending at all though. She seemed like an idiot due to outcome of story.

[dya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved how relatable it is. we are humans and life often takes crazy turns.