Don't Make Me Wait

by Shana Burton

Amari Christopher stopped searching for her one true love after her heart was broken five years ago. Her chronically single status is no problem, though, since her job as an entertainment reporter affords her the opportunity to meet plenty of truly great lovers in the music industry. When her ex-boyfriend is tragically killed in an accident, Amari starts to rethink her party-girl lifestyle. Facing forty and determined not to be the old chick in the club, she trades in her little black book for a leather-bound Bible and starts attending church. That’s where she meets Mandrel Ingram, a stable, God-fearing man who shows her that real love trumps meaningless romps. Mandrel Ingram retired his player card when he found the Lord. After two years of celibacy and praying for God to send him his mate, he thinks he may have found her when he meets fiery, beautiful, smart Amari. While he’s attracted to her free-spirited nature and charm, he wonders if this wild-child can ever be turned into a suitable housewife. He might have cause to wonder, as Amari becomes bored with their G-rated dates and starts to miss the thrill of romance in her life. When Amari interviews up-and-coming singer Apollo Rison for an article, his no-strings, live-for-moment attitude intrigues her. Already sexually frustrated and desperate for a new adventure, Amari propositions him for a one night stand. What starts as a casual fling morphs into a complicated situation, as Amari’s rendezvous with Apollo become more frequent and her feelings for him intensify. Before long, she is burdened with guilt and torn between Mandrel, who nurtures her spiritual side and makes her a better woman, and Apollo, who feeds her creative side and provides the passion she craves. Caught between the man she wants and the man she needs, will Amari turn to God for guidance?

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 26, 2015

About the author

My name is Shana Johnson Burton, and I am married with two boys. I was born and raised in Macon, GA, and I am an English teacher at the high school I graduated from. I love to cook, dance, read, and, of course, write. I have two other books in the pipeline. Suddenly Single is my first novel. My second one, First Comes Love, will be released in November 2008, and the third will probably come out some time in 2009-- God willing!

Reviews

[Desiree Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amari is a free spirit whose job allows her to attend all the in-parties and functions of the entertainment industry. She's been a bit promiscuous and is well-known around town.

Amari meets Mandrel at church and as time goes by they become an item. Mandrel wants to wait to have sex, but Amari is a sex machine, she wants it here and now.

She goes out to a reviewing party and meets the boy in the band, and it all goes downhill from there. The one thing Mandrel has let Amari know is he will not tolerate a cheater.

Can Amari and Mandrel get past that or Will Amari lose Jane of the best things that's happened to her in a long time?

Read:February 2016

[Carol Hornsby-mccoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many black women in today’s society that are just like Amari. Some are financially successful, some doing okay and others barely making ends meet. We’ve all struggled with broken homes as children with a one sided love or no love at all from the lime of patent/s. Some of us are taught how to survive by mimicking other strong black women in the family who made a difference in there lives and there children lives. We’re taught at a young age how the power of prayer and a strong relationship with God can carry you through any broken heart. Amari was blessed to have learned, even through she paid the price of losing a love by pretending. She ganged an even better love in Jesus Christ .
Great book and an even better reality check. Who will be your priority? What will you move over to put him first?

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting fast read. Amari had very low self-esteem and she thought money was everything. Ahmand did a good thing inviting her to church. She met Mandrel at church and he was interested in her. He helped her acknowledge God. Her therapist helped her realize she had a lot of problems within that started with her childhood. I think she would be a good mother to her son, but I hate she ruined her relationship with Mandrel by sleeping with Apollo.

[Nechirye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up from my local library and I didn't really know what to expect. I enjoyed the writing style and the message. If I had a complaint I was rooting for the main character to get the happy ending. I do think that books like this are necessary. Therapy in the Black community is no longer taboo and I loved the use of that in this book and story. This was my intro the the Shana Burton and I look forward to diving into my works by her.

[Valarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a 2nd read for me on this title and I enjoyed it much better the 2nd time around. I guess it took some spiritual maturity on my part to understand the fact that there was no storybook ending. The truth of the matter is that there are consequences for all of our actions and confessions and salvation doesn't make us exempt but it does offer us God's forgiveness and an opportunity to move forward.

[A. Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good, if you're trying to figure-out/remember what's really important. I cared about the characters and hoped for the best.

[Jessica Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shana Burton does it again. She tells real stories of real Christians with real lives, trials, and testimonies. I read everything she writes.