You'll never hear the truth from your man, so . . . Ladies Listen Up
Diego Christian's trail of deceit follows him all the way to the altar. After ruining the life of the woman he was to marry, he continues to find himself in one casual relationship after another with other men's wives and girlfriends. Through his sex-a-thon he meets a magazine editor who helps him develop his own column—"Ladies Listen Up"—dishing out relationship advice to women. When his behavior finally begins to cost him, Diego has to decide if he can—or wants to—change.
Jacob Marsh, a teacher at Lyndon B. Johnson High School, is Diego's best friend. Jacob has always been cool under pressure and is a master manipulator. When he makes a critical mistake with a student who has a crush on him, he soon learns that covering it up may cost him everything he's worked so hard to keep.
Through their drama-filled trysts, Diego, Jacob, and others give women the lowdown on the way men work.
Wow, this is the last book of 2024. What a terrible, horrible, book. Darren Coleman should feel bad, this reads like a pedophiles, racist, misogynistic, sloppy, early 2000s fan-fiction. It is shocking, alarming, that he was a middle school teacher. Some people say you have to separate the art and the artist, but when you acknowledge in the 'acknowledgements' that basically this is autobiographical (meaning you embellished your dick size and body count you weird pedophile), there is no separation, someone please investigate this man and anyone connected to him. This is truly despicable '''art'''.
(I was given this book as a joke gift.)
Here is seemingly hilarious early 2000s writing example: (BEGIN SCENE) "She cut him off. “Nah,” she said as she turned to him and then smiled. “You know what I have a taste for?” "What?” “Some ribs from a carryout. Do you know where any good soul-food spots are? We could go grab some ribs and a bottle of wine, and go back to your spot. You have any DVDs?” “I did just pick up The Manchurian Candidate; I, Robot; and Collateral.” She laughed. “Denzel, Will, or Jamie Foxx—decisions, decisions. How about we watch them all? We could make it an all-nighter.” Jacob liked the sound of that and just like that he pressed the OnStar button on the steering wheel of his car. “This is OnStar,” the voice said through his speaker. “Yes, need the number to Levi’s Carryout in Mitchellville.” “Would you like us to connect you?” Jacob looked over at Kendra. “Do we wanna be connected?” “Oh, I think connecting is gonna be a good look for us.” They both laughed and placed their order." (END SCENE)
By the way the proceeding scene was a teacher convincing his student teacher to sexually assault a student, and that he would help by telling the student she needed to give the student teacher a ride home and then to give the girl alcohol and she'll basically let you do anything.
Here is the scene: (BEGIN SCENE) “Hell yeah,” Jacob said, “and I’ll be honest with you. It’s now or never.” He caught Dean’s attention. “Once you graduate from college and get a job in this county or the next, your chance is over. You’ve got to pick one of these young ladies and bang her good enough to last an eternity.” Jacob almost laughed at himself for having said this. Dean almost choked on his chicken sandwich hearing it. “Say what?” “Yeah,” Jacob said. “I just wanted you to know that you have the green light as far as I’m concerned. Of course that’s strictly off the record and between you and me. But be my guest. I see the chemistry between you and what’s-her-face. It’s obvious she wants you bad.” Dean had no idea who he was talking about and said so. “C’mon, Dean. You mean to tell me that you can’t tell that Anna has a crush on you?” Dean smiled. “You think so?” He had noticed her hanging around a lot. “Hell yeah. Boy, she comes sniffing around all the time. Even when you’re not there she stops by and ask about you. But you can never tell her I said that. I could get in trouble for that.” ...(some parts cut for brevity)... Good. Now listen. You’ve got three months left before you finish up with me and you might as well enjoy them. I’ll even help you out with her. When she stops by today after school, I’ll ask her if she can give you a ride back to campus since your car is in the shop. I’ll tell her that I can’t do it today because of an appointment. You should be man enough to handle it from there, right?” Dean gave an approving nod. “No problem.” “All you gotta do is take her out, invite her back to your room, and maybe give her a little drink. From there, she’ll be a little tipsy and so excited to be with a college guy that it should be like taking candy from a baby, ya know?” Dean was still nodding, now with a grin on his face. He seemed confident enough to make Jacob feel that it would be just a matter of time before he would be relieved of his problem. “Listen, there’s one more thing.” “Yeah?” “If everything works out, you can never tell her that I have any knowledge of what’s going on with you two. Got it?” “Got it.” (END SCENE)
Oh and he also wants him to cover up his involvement.
Here's a scene showing the main character, Diego Christian, written by Darren Coleman (D.C., D.C.), oh and he even calls himself Dr. C. explicitly in the acknowledgements at the end of the book (this is his actual views, 100% confirmed basically, this is crazy): (BEGIN SCENE) Dear Dr. C., My husband is always complaining that I’m not submissive enough. My argument is that the whole submissive woman theory is outdated. If I start acting submissive after all these years, how is the mortgage going to get paid? Oh, did I mention that I make more money than he does? My argument is that if he truly wants a submissive wife, I shouldn’t have to get up at six, take the kids to day care, commute forty-five minutes to work, and put in eight and a half hours. He has the nerve to say that I don’t listen to him. The other day he complained that I don’t cook in the kitchen or the bedroom enough anymore. Then he suggested that he wants us to sell our home and move to the South, where the cost of living is cheaper. He claims that once I give up my career, I will be able to value and respect him as a man. I’m ready to tell him to move south…but without me. You tell me. Who’s right? Shaky Ground in Chi-town
Dear Shaky, The issue of being a submissive wife is a serious one. It saddens me that so many women think the whole concept of being submissive is a farce. A woman should be so lucky as to find a man worthy of submitting to. Never mind who makes the most money. If your husband works hard and receives an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, stands on principles, is fair when dealing with his family, and most important, if he truly tries his best to be a success in the world, then he is worthy. Now, your situation sounds a little different. It sounds like you’re doing a little too much around that household for him to be making so many demands. Maybe he’s tripping a bit, and then maybe you are insistent on living beyond your means. You’ve got to really look at the situation. He says that he is willing to relocate in order to allow you to give up working. If so, then he is doing exactly what a man who is worthy of a submissive wife should do…coming up with a solution. This would, of course, open up another problem. Most women have no desire to even acquire an understanding of the concept. Find out what the term really means. You can ask your pastor, and see if you even have what it takes to be that kind of woman. Yours truly, Dr. C. (END SCENE)
I don't know how much I have to dig into it for you all, he's suggesting to essentially trap the woman with the weird man as the only provider and isolate her in a small town away from her support network. This is crazy abusive nutjob sexist lunatic writing and I swear to god he believes he's right and this is the thing to do.
Investigate this man.
This stupid, (insert one thousand insults) man also wrote his own reading group guide, this only further cements his biases (just read them): 1. This book tells the story of Diego, who is able to give no-nonsense advice, yet unable to make almost any wise decision regarding his own life. How do you think he got to be that way? (His advice is dog shit, probably the only reason this all happened to him, other than the entirely fabricated and dog shit writing, was that he even listened to 1/10th of his dog shit advice.)
2. At the outset of the book, Diego was reflective of his behaviors and how he got into a horrible predicament. After reading the story, do you feel that he was truly sorry for anything he did? (He was never reflective, he made zero changes to his character, no character went through any changes, they were entirely dog shit static. He is never sorry just like Darren Coleman will apologize for his shitty writing. Investigate this man.)
3. Is Diego’s attitude toward women indicative of how you feel most men are? In what ways? (No, perhaps Darren Coleman is the only man this stupid. If there are others, strike them with lightening.)
4. Jacob seemed to be the most sensitive and the most sensible of the pair, which made what happened with him and Elise all the more shocking. Do you think his fall from grace was realistic, believable, and understandable? (Jacob manipulated a 17 year old girl basically and fucked her and got her pregnant. Listen, this is seriously how Darren Coleman thinks, he thinks that is the most sensitive and sensible thing a man can do, I am on god, investigate this man. He is or has history of something terrible lurking. Save the children, think of the children. Also his writing for this character was contrived.)
5. In the end, do you think it was possible for Jacob to really have found love with Elise? Could it last? (No, this is very much like Lolita probably. Very gross.)
6. Although the author uses humorous situations to depict Lee’s problematic situation with his wife, he recognizes that domestic abuse is very serious. Roughly 40 out of 100 domestic abuse cases involve women against men. While women have been encouraged to report it, virtually nothing has been done to encourage men to come forward. Do you feel that this trend is acceptable, and if not, what should be done? (Lee's domestic dispute sidelines with his wife are entirely contrived, fabricated, and stupid. If this is sincerely what he was trying to show, men not reporting domestic violence, which by the way they laugh at him and call him a pussy throughout the story, is so poorly done, it's amazing that Darren Coleman could write such drivel.)
7. Jacob’s story is a classic tale of a cover-up spinning out of control. He contemplated trying to talk to his superiors earlier but changed his mind out of fear that he would lose it all. Do you think things worked out best for him? (No, he should have never fucked the 17 year old student that trusted him and was emotionally vulnerable.)
8. Diego used sex as a medication to numb himself during tough times. Do you think he was a typical man, or a sex addict? (He is a mentally ill sociopath.)
9. Was Diego qualified to write the column based upon all of his experiences with women? (He is a mentally ill sociopath.)
10. Did it seem realistic that Alicia’s pain would drive her to do the things she did? (No, this was the writing of a mentally ill sociopath, the way in which Anna was crazy, was not at all female, it was written by a dumb man, Darren Coleman, and is indicative of his mental state.
11. Which character was your favorite/least favorite? Which one, if any, could you relate to the most in your life, past or present? (None. God forsake them all and investigate Darren Coleman.)
12. Could you ever imagine that school teachers behave like Diego, Jacob, and even Willie, who drank and smoked marijuana on school grounds daily? (Yes, investigate Darren Coleman.)
13. Which letter to Dr. C. did you most relate to? (He is a mentally ill sociopath.)
14. What was your favorite part of the story and why? (None, at points this feels written by a racist person, the depictions of African Americans are caricatures, this is awful.)
15. Ultimately, what did you take away from this book? What do you feel the author’s motivation was for writing it? (Investigate Darren, Pedophile, Coleman.)
Summary of story: Act I: Introduction and Set-Up
Diego’s Career Milestone: Diego Christian ("Dr. C.") celebrates landing his own radio show but is immediately plunged into drama when his affair with a married woman leads to her husband arriving armed and dangerous. A gunshot ends the chapter, leaving Diego’s fate uncertain. Diego Meets Alicia: Flashback reveals Diego’s history with Alicia, whom he pursued despite her engagement to another man. Alicia calls off her wedding to be with him, setting up their turbulent relationship. Disastrous Wedding Day: On Diego and Alicia’s wedding day, multiple women crash the ceremony, exposing Diego’s infidelity. Chaos ensues, leading to Alicia’s family physically attacking Diego, and he flees with his friend Jacob.
Act II: Rising Action and Parallel Stories
Jacob’s School Drama: Jacob, a teacher, manipulates a student teacher, Dean, into pursuing a high school student, Anna. This subplot becomes a focal point of Jacob’s storyline. Diego’s Affairs: Diego continues his pattern of infidelity, including an affair with Erin, a student’s mother. These relationships complicate his personal and professional life. Kenard’s Confrontation: Erin’s boyfriend Kenard discovers Diego’s involvement with Erin, leading to a violent altercation in a school parking lot that results in Kenard’s hospitalization. Diego’s Column Opportunity: Diego meets Jonetta Cleveland, whose influence lands him a gig as an advice columnist for Girl Talk magazine, where he dispenses misogynistic relationship advice as "Dr. C." Jacob’s Exploitation of Elise: Jacob begins a predatory relationship with his 17-year-old student Elise, buying her gifts and eventually getting her pregnant. The narrative tries to romanticize this relationship.
Act III: Climax and Consequences
Diego Betrays Jacob: After hearing rumors about Alicia attempting to seduce Jacob, Diego turns Jacob in to authorities for his relationship with Elise. Jacob is arrested, and his life unravels. Mr. Waverly’s Arrest: A bizarre subplot about a school custodian being a secret thief comes to a head when he is arrested, serving as a weak and unnecessary parallel to the main characters' “secrets.” Elise Returns Pregnant: Elise comes back to Jacob, revealing her pregnancy. Despite Jacob’s arrest, they plan to marry once she turns 18.
Act IV: Resolution and Final Twist
Diego Becomes a Father: Diego attends the birth of his daughter, Heaven, with one of his many former lovers, Gina. This moment attempts to show a softer, reflective side of Diego but feels unearned. Alicia and Diego Reconcile: Alicia reveals she never slept with Jacob and expresses her lingering love for Diego. They reconcile and marry, supposedly giving Diego a happy ending.
I keep forgetting that Darren Coleman is a great author and this book did not disappoint. I thought there were a few too many characters, but that was all apart of the story. This was definitely a good read.
Darren Coleman is the Man! I love his style of writing! Exciting and insightful at the same time. I have read all of his works so far and am on the lookout for more! Loved this book!