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Hand-me-down Heartache
New, from the author of Sorority Sisters , a novel about a young woman navigating the sometimes rocky terrain of family, career, and relationships.
After graduating from college, Nina Lander moves back in with her parents as she temps and tries to secure a "real" job. She isn't finding it very easy to break into television broadcasting, and her parents' strained marriage has made living at home even more depressing. But when she meets Maurice, a promising basketball rookie, Nina feels as if she's found the one. She is determined to make the relationship work, despite evidence that Maurice isn't always faithful, which hurts Nina but doesn't surprise her. Her father cheated on her mother, and her brother cheats on his girlfriends thus she has low expectations of the men in her life.
When Nina's chance encounter with Leo, a high school classmate who's become a successful rapper, sends Maurice into a jealous rage, it is not long before Nina's friends are urging her to let Maurice go. Even though she finds her dream job as a sports reporter for a local television station, Nina still can't keep Maurice out of her mind. To complicate matters, Leo seems to be everything Maurice is not. Nina must decide between a man she loves who treats her wrong and a man who is willing to do everything right.
But all of this takes a backseat when her mother falls ill and Nina puts her life on hold to take care of her. As both mother and daughter examine their relationships with the men in their lives, and as Nina's mother finally confronts her husband about his mistreatment of her, Nina finds the strength to break the chain of heartache.
In Hand-me-down Heartache, author Tajuana TJ Butler has crafted a heartwarming novel about the strength of relationships among women, be they family or friends.
After graduating from college, Nina Lander moves back in with her parents as she temps and tries to secure a "real" job. She isn't finding it very easy to break into television broadcasting, and her parents' strained marriage has made living at home even more depressing. But when she meets Maurice, a promising basketball rookie, Nina feels as if she's found the one. She is determined to make the relationship work, despite evidence that Maurice isn't always faithful, which hurts Nina but doesn't surprise her. Her father cheated on her mother, and her brother cheats on his girlfriends thus she has low expectations of the men in her life.
When Nina's chance encounter with Leo, a high school classmate who's become a successful rapper, sends Maurice into a jealous rage, it is not long before Nina's friends are urging her to let Maurice go. Even though she finds her dream job as a sports reporter for a local television station, Nina still can't keep Maurice out of her mind. To complicate matters, Leo seems to be everything Maurice is not. Nina must decide between a man she loves who treats her wrong and a man who is willing to do everything right.
But all of this takes a backseat when her mother falls ill and Nina puts her life on hold to take care of her. As both mother and daughter examine their relationships with the men in their lives, and as Nina's mother finally confronts her husband about his mistreatment of her, Nina finds the strength to break the chain of heartache.
In Hand-me-down Heartache, author Tajuana TJ Butler has crafted a heartwarming novel about the strength of relationships among women, be they family or friends.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
6 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 28, 2012
This book brings to light the emotional rollercoaster relationships can have on women and how women can lose themselves to keep a man. Nina, the character, made me mad, sad and happy all while trying to find herself and what a healthy relationship looks and feels like. I definitely enjoyed this book. And although Nina is the main character in this novel I learn the most from her mother's character. The only reason this book didn't get 5 stars is because I wanted it to continue on. A must read.
January 7, 2008
A novel about trust - trusting men, to be more percise. Nina, the main character, must decide between a man she loves who treats her wrong and a man who is willing to do everything right. Unable to come to a decision on her own, Nina speaks with her ill mother. As both mother and daughter examine their relationships with the men in their lives, and as Nina's mother finally confronts her husband about his mistreatment of her, Nina finds the strength to break the chain of heartache. The novel which focuses heavily between what is rightand what is considered right, shows that sometimes the right things for you are not the best things for you. Sometimes people are blinded by what is right in front of them, and consider people to be a certain way because they are too blind to see the truth.
January 2, 2016
About a young woman moving back home after graduating college and going thru the struggles of finding a job/career, a relationship and figuring out who she is as an adult, especially when she starts to realize that not all of her memories of childhood are as accurate ass she would have once believed, or maybe she has subconsciously forgotten a lot more than she ever would have thought possible.
Full or heartache, illness, bad & good decisions, as well as happiness on the path to personal awareness.
Full or heartache, illness, bad & good decisions, as well as happiness on the path to personal awareness.
February 17, 2015
The story was just ok and many of the characters were weak.
October 5, 2024
Hand Me Down Heartache
Nina celebrates her graduation with her family and best friend Janelle. The ink of her certificate probably hasn’t even dried yet, when at lunch her dad is asking her has she found a job yet. Nina hasn’t but thinks she’ll be able to get a job at a small cable company owned by Janelle’s boyfriend Corey. Nina looks at her parents and hopes now that her father will be a better husband to her mother. (Smitty had a rather foul temper and takes it out on his wife). On the way to a party, Nina’s car hits a nail and blows a tire. She and Janelle make it to a gas station and meet to two who help them change the tire (Ian and his friend Maurice). Nina recognizes Maurice as a first draft pick hopeful. It turns out they’re going to the same party The guys follow them to the party and Nina allows Maurice to get her number.
They become phone friends but sometimes Maurice acts distant. He blames it on class and pressure to get into the NBA. He invites Nina to spend some time with him in D.C. Nina notices that her father is more of a jerk than she remembered.. Janelle reminds her of memories she blocked of Nina calling her after Smitty hit Juanita. Brice (Nina’s brother) is at the house when Janelle and Nina get home from shopping and they walk in on what looks like a serious conversation. Somehow, their mother gets Brice to take Nina to the airport in the morning and Nina plans to ask him what’s going on with her mother and father. In the car, Nina poses the question to Brice why didn’t he step to their father like a man and confront him about how he treats their mother? Brice says he tried once but their dad is from the old school and that’s just how it was down. The man laid down the rules and expected the woman to obey. Then he says if their mother didn’t like it she could have left a long time ago. This gives Nina something to think about.
Maurice, we find out right away. has a lot of baggage. His mother has high expectations of him and is already spending money he hasn’t made. His father was abusive to his mother and he now loathes his father enough to want to kill him. He also lost his best friend at an early age. Plus he refers to himself in third person. Maurice and Nina make out an airplane strip but Nina isn’t ready to go further. Yet after a house party, they do have sex that night.
Five months later, Maurice now plays for the Miami Heat and Nina works for Turner Broadcast. They find themselves screaming obscenities in a team-mates hallway and calling it off. She catches him in bed with two big-breasted chicks. Then previously she thinks about how she was at a club and caught him taking some female’s number. But the sad thing is when he called she knows she’ll just take him back. And he does. He shows up at her new apartment, they make love, and all is good again. Maurice is in town for a game and invites Nina and Janelle to chill in his room. While Nina talks to Ian, Maurice shows his displeasure with how Nina’s dressed and her going out to a club later.
Janelle and her boyfriend Corey are spending less time so she flirts with a rich athlete at the club and later ends up spending the night at his place (but not having sex). Nina lectures her about it but she says hopefully things will get better with Corey but until then she’ll continue fooling around with Tim. It’s Christmas Eve, and Smitty stayed out the night before with his girlfriend. On New Years' Even Maurice starts up again with Nina when he wants to come to town and go to a party but Nina has already made plans with Janelle. But she caves and agrees to go with him of course. Janelle ends up breaking up with Corey whose been neglecting her over the holidays but wants her to come by later. Nina admires that she can just let go of her relationship because it’s not working while she’s trying everything to hold on to hers. At the party, Nina runs into L.J Love a shy classmate now turned rapper and he tries to give Nina his car. Maurice calls it off with Nina, but as the clock turns 12 she finds him in the bathroom and cries her eyes out until he goes back with her to their table.
Maurice leaves what sounds like an urgent message with Nina in Feb and when she calls back he’s gone all weekend. When he does get in touch with her he questions her about why she didn’t have her phone on. Then he says the long-distance thing isn’t working for him. It’s been 8 months. She tries to plead with him, but he’s moved on. Janelle (who now has a good friend in Tim) tells her that she should give Tim a chance to be a friend. Just be upfront with him about still having feelings for Maurice. Nina says she’ll think about it. At a family get-together, Nina announces she’ll be a sports reporter for KATL. Brice announces he and Brianna are engaged but Brice isn’t the settling down type so Nina thinks it won’t last. She does and finds out he’s a fascinating conversation and a patient and attentive listener. She hangs up looking forward to talking to him again. Leo and Nina agree to just be friends, but his mother tells her if her heart isn’t in it don’t lead her son on. But one day Nina’s hormones get the better of her. After a rehearsal, Leo invites Nina out but she’s too tired so she invites him over (despite an agreement they made not have him over after certain hours). They watch and movie and make it through the night but in the morning when in bed together they make love.
Janelle meets up with Brianna to discuss her maid of honor duties and Brianna tells her that Maurice has moved to Atlanta. Brianna wants to know what Nina’s issue is with her and she *wants* to tell her about her brother being a player but ends up walking out on her and confusing her when Brianna tries to explain about her and Brice. At a concert for the U.S debut of Leo’s album, Janelle and Nina run into Maurice and Ian. Maurice says he’ll be around for the summer, apologizes to Nina for how things ended and asks if he can call her the next day. Nina knows no one makes her feel like Leo, but she’s still is in love with Maurice. She lies to Leo and meets up with Muarice the next day. They end up having sex. Leo leaves to go on tour. He and Nina play phone tag until the calls just stop. But then now that he has Nina back, he starts to lose interest again. Nina makes plans to surprise him but when he does get back he says he’s tired. Nina goes crazy and starts trying to get him to call it off with her but he won’t. She texts and pages him obsessively until she falls asleep. When she wakes up it’s 2 am and he answers (there’s a females voice in the background). He tells her he’s going to sleep and hangs up on her. Nina thinks she’s going to find a way to prevent the girl in his apartment from going through the same hell.
Nina straight up loses her mind, goes over to his place, and bangs on the door. No one answers. So goes to the pool house and calls Janelle. Just as Janelle shows up, Maurice comes out, throws Nina down on the grass, and starts to chock her. She tries to get away from him and get in the house to warn the other lady. She finally convinces him to talk to her. But he doesn’t talk and she’s just begging for him to tell her he loves her. He and Janelle finally get her in the car. Brice comes by concerned because Nina hasn’t been answering calls. He admits to her that the reason he meet Brianna is because he hit his old girlfriend. Before Brianna let him date her she insisted he go to therapy and he realized he had a problem. He tells her she needs to see their mother because she’s sick. Juanita tells Nina she has cancer and has less than a year to live. As Nina and Juanita spend more time, Juanita opens up more about her relationship, but she justifies Smitty’s abuse by placing the blame on herself for making mistakes. She also faults Nina for going over to Maurice’s house.
As she’s about to pass on, Juanita finally gets the courage to tell Smithy she should have left him, she deserved better, and that she knows about Carolyn (his mistress). Smitty gets enraged and tries to kill her himself, but then he breaks down and pleads with her not to leave him. Juanita says she forgives him. The next day she passes. She makes Nina promise not to go back to Maurice and apologies for setting the wrong example to her all these years. Nina wants to buy the house, but when it upsets her father she instead changes it into a home for battered and abused women in her mother’s name. She gets back with Leo and he proposes to her. She accepts live. Tim and Janelle are now engaged. Brice and Brianna marry in the book and at the end are five months pregnant. Smitty’s mistress is now his new wife.
My Thoughts:
If you meet someone who refers to themselves in third person RUN! That’s just WEEEIRD! “No one can understand Maurice.” I have a little cousin who use to do this not that long ago. We all were like “Ohkaay.” Why is he doing that? But seriously This book broke my heart and left me disturbed at the same time. When I think about the character Nina, it reminds me of what I refer to in my head as “the dark days” in my life.
When I read fiction stories and real biographies about men like Smitty I struggle how the women always seem to allow themselves to stay and have Juanita’s mindset. Growing up this was never my experience because even though my father wasn’t perfect, I have the kind of mother that would NEVER have allowed my father to raise his hand to her. In fact, I’ve heard her say in the past to someone “I told him you can act crazy if you want to..” (this is when they were married). So, I fully believe that my mother wouldn’t even have let that transpire. There wouldn’t have even been a first time. Or if there had there damn sure wouldn’t have been a second. Not that I haven’t seen in these stories the women will mouth off and *EVENTUALLY* when they get their fill of being abused after many MANY years down the line they’ll stand up for themselves.
It was just sad that this woman had to be on her deathbed before she finally tells this man to go to hell! It just sickened me that Juanita came from a period where “That’s just a man being a man”. Since when is getting laid off an excuse to let someone beat you for serving them in a plastic cup? It was just eerie when Smitty starts to choke Juanita and she goes "Go ahead. I'm gonna die anyway. KiILL ME! You don't have control over me anymore." For a minute I really thought he would. But what a statement! That was the STRONGEST thing Juanita says in this whole book. She's that much at peace.
But what saddens me the most was Nina’s part. I may not have been able to relate to the abuse Juanita went through but I have been Nina in the past. To clarify I’ve never been in an abusive relationship myself but I have been with a man that was possessive. This was a man that showed up at appointments I had and accused me of cheating when I didn’t return his page (Back then there were some spots on my campus that didn’t let you get pages). And I remember PAINFULLY l(as Nina did with Maurice) pleading with someone to stay. Even to the extent that I used my health to get them not to walk away. There are some old blogs I’ve read where I accepted things that took away value from my worth because I thought I *loved* them. The last relationship I was in I saw that the guy wasn’t faithful and I turned a blind eye because it was easier to just have somebody than not to be alone. I even see that *today* with people in my life I’m close to that are still wrapped up in that kind of self-destructive psychological game. Because I can say I’ve been there (and would NEVER repeat those times in my life for ANYBODY) the scene where Nina is so obsessively in love with Maurice she goes to Maurice’s apartment just BEGGING him is cringe-worthy but it’s also heartbreaking. Nina had so much going for her without Maurice. She was an AKA.
She was a college graduate. She had talent as a sports reporter. She had her own apartment for a minute in the book. When I see women like that (any woman) lowering herself for the “love” of a man that doesn’t even have the respect not to make it VERY CLEAR that they’re gonna screw as many women as they damn well please and then turn around and say some ish like “Well I told you not to come over!” It just.. And we take it and we wait and wait and wait and hang on to what we “think” is ours over what.. Good Sex? The *bond* that we think we’ve developed because we’ve shared some intimate moments of conversation? NO! That’s why I think I’d rather be single. While I found fault in much of what Juanita believed, one thing she did say was that “Seeing is believing”.
Sometimes, I find that like her and Nina I don’t believe (because I haven’t seen it) that there are very few really good men. Until I actually SEE it for myself personally with me (because I’ve had so many bad ones) that it’s hard to believe the opposite. I’d love to be able to prove that wrong but unfortunately, I wasn’t given a “Leo. (It’s ok. I’ve made my peace with it tho) I’m just grateful all the time that I got out of the mentality where I’d just accept any old piece just to say I had someone! I never want to be this character again and that some men and women are just HURTS, ANGERS, and FRUSTRATATES me.
Nina’s dreams even told her Maurice was wrong for her. I take a great interest in dreams! I can even sometimes *read* them. What’s frustrating to me is if Nina would come to me with these dreams they aren’t even hard to *read*. What do you do when someone tells you their dreams and they’re so OBVIOUS it just hurts you that someone can’t see what’s RIGHT in front of their face but even if they see it they don’t take heed to even what their mind is telling them? It was kinda weird to read this story because both of my Dad’s names (first and middle) are characters in the story. I just thought. Wow1 I also think my Dad was an athlete way back when. He wasn’t a professional and I think his playing sports was more in school.
Rating: 10
This is a must-read! It teaches the best message of all. I think Mary J said it best in the lyrics BE HAPPY. “How can I love somebody else, when I can’t love myself enough to know? When it’s time (time) to let go!” There was another song by Keyshia Cole that sums up this book too. "Should Have Let You Go." was the name of it.
Nina celebrates her graduation with her family and best friend Janelle. The ink of her certificate probably hasn’t even dried yet, when at lunch her dad is asking her has she found a job yet. Nina hasn’t but thinks she’ll be able to get a job at a small cable company owned by Janelle’s boyfriend Corey. Nina looks at her parents and hopes now that her father will be a better husband to her mother. (Smitty had a rather foul temper and takes it out on his wife). On the way to a party, Nina’s car hits a nail and blows a tire. She and Janelle make it to a gas station and meet to two who help them change the tire (Ian and his friend Maurice). Nina recognizes Maurice as a first draft pick hopeful. It turns out they’re going to the same party The guys follow them to the party and Nina allows Maurice to get her number.
They become phone friends but sometimes Maurice acts distant. He blames it on class and pressure to get into the NBA. He invites Nina to spend some time with him in D.C. Nina notices that her father is more of a jerk than she remembered.. Janelle reminds her of memories she blocked of Nina calling her after Smitty hit Juanita. Brice (Nina’s brother) is at the house when Janelle and Nina get home from shopping and they walk in on what looks like a serious conversation. Somehow, their mother gets Brice to take Nina to the airport in the morning and Nina plans to ask him what’s going on with her mother and father. In the car, Nina poses the question to Brice why didn’t he step to their father like a man and confront him about how he treats their mother? Brice says he tried once but their dad is from the old school and that’s just how it was down. The man laid down the rules and expected the woman to obey. Then he says if their mother didn’t like it she could have left a long time ago. This gives Nina something to think about.
Maurice, we find out right away. has a lot of baggage. His mother has high expectations of him and is already spending money he hasn’t made. His father was abusive to his mother and he now loathes his father enough to want to kill him. He also lost his best friend at an early age. Plus he refers to himself in third person. Maurice and Nina make out an airplane strip but Nina isn’t ready to go further. Yet after a house party, they do have sex that night.
Five months later, Maurice now plays for the Miami Heat and Nina works for Turner Broadcast. They find themselves screaming obscenities in a team-mates hallway and calling it off. She catches him in bed with two big-breasted chicks. Then previously she thinks about how she was at a club and caught him taking some female’s number. But the sad thing is when he called she knows she’ll just take him back. And he does. He shows up at her new apartment, they make love, and all is good again. Maurice is in town for a game and invites Nina and Janelle to chill in his room. While Nina talks to Ian, Maurice shows his displeasure with how Nina’s dressed and her going out to a club later.
Janelle and her boyfriend Corey are spending less time so she flirts with a rich athlete at the club and later ends up spending the night at his place (but not having sex). Nina lectures her about it but she says hopefully things will get better with Corey but until then she’ll continue fooling around with Tim. It’s Christmas Eve, and Smitty stayed out the night before with his girlfriend. On New Years' Even Maurice starts up again with Nina when he wants to come to town and go to a party but Nina has already made plans with Janelle. But she caves and agrees to go with him of course. Janelle ends up breaking up with Corey whose been neglecting her over the holidays but wants her to come by later. Nina admires that she can just let go of her relationship because it’s not working while she’s trying everything to hold on to hers. At the party, Nina runs into L.J Love a shy classmate now turned rapper and he tries to give Nina his car. Maurice calls it off with Nina, but as the clock turns 12 she finds him in the bathroom and cries her eyes out until he goes back with her to their table.
Maurice leaves what sounds like an urgent message with Nina in Feb and when she calls back he’s gone all weekend. When he does get in touch with her he questions her about why she didn’t have her phone on. Then he says the long-distance thing isn’t working for him. It’s been 8 months. She tries to plead with him, but he’s moved on. Janelle (who now has a good friend in Tim) tells her that she should give Tim a chance to be a friend. Just be upfront with him about still having feelings for Maurice. Nina says she’ll think about it. At a family get-together, Nina announces she’ll be a sports reporter for KATL. Brice announces he and Brianna are engaged but Brice isn’t the settling down type so Nina thinks it won’t last. She does and finds out he’s a fascinating conversation and a patient and attentive listener. She hangs up looking forward to talking to him again. Leo and Nina agree to just be friends, but his mother tells her if her heart isn’t in it don’t lead her son on. But one day Nina’s hormones get the better of her. After a rehearsal, Leo invites Nina out but she’s too tired so she invites him over (despite an agreement they made not have him over after certain hours). They watch and movie and make it through the night but in the morning when in bed together they make love.
Janelle meets up with Brianna to discuss her maid of honor duties and Brianna tells her that Maurice has moved to Atlanta. Brianna wants to know what Nina’s issue is with her and she *wants* to tell her about her brother being a player but ends up walking out on her and confusing her when Brianna tries to explain about her and Brice. At a concert for the U.S debut of Leo’s album, Janelle and Nina run into Maurice and Ian. Maurice says he’ll be around for the summer, apologizes to Nina for how things ended and asks if he can call her the next day. Nina knows no one makes her feel like Leo, but she’s still is in love with Maurice. She lies to Leo and meets up with Muarice the next day. They end up having sex. Leo leaves to go on tour. He and Nina play phone tag until the calls just stop. But then now that he has Nina back, he starts to lose interest again. Nina makes plans to surprise him but when he does get back he says he’s tired. Nina goes crazy and starts trying to get him to call it off with her but he won’t. She texts and pages him obsessively until she falls asleep. When she wakes up it’s 2 am and he answers (there’s a females voice in the background). He tells her he’s going to sleep and hangs up on her. Nina thinks she’s going to find a way to prevent the girl in his apartment from going through the same hell.
Nina straight up loses her mind, goes over to his place, and bangs on the door. No one answers. So goes to the pool house and calls Janelle. Just as Janelle shows up, Maurice comes out, throws Nina down on the grass, and starts to chock her. She tries to get away from him and get in the house to warn the other lady. She finally convinces him to talk to her. But he doesn’t talk and she’s just begging for him to tell her he loves her. He and Janelle finally get her in the car. Brice comes by concerned because Nina hasn’t been answering calls. He admits to her that the reason he meet Brianna is because he hit his old girlfriend. Before Brianna let him date her she insisted he go to therapy and he realized he had a problem. He tells her she needs to see their mother because she’s sick. Juanita tells Nina she has cancer and has less than a year to live. As Nina and Juanita spend more time, Juanita opens up more about her relationship, but she justifies Smitty’s abuse by placing the blame on herself for making mistakes. She also faults Nina for going over to Maurice’s house.
As she’s about to pass on, Juanita finally gets the courage to tell Smithy she should have left him, she deserved better, and that she knows about Carolyn (his mistress). Smitty gets enraged and tries to kill her himself, but then he breaks down and pleads with her not to leave him. Juanita says she forgives him. The next day she passes. She makes Nina promise not to go back to Maurice and apologies for setting the wrong example to her all these years. Nina wants to buy the house, but when it upsets her father she instead changes it into a home for battered and abused women in her mother’s name. She gets back with Leo and he proposes to her. She accepts live. Tim and Janelle are now engaged. Brice and Brianna marry in the book and at the end are five months pregnant. Smitty’s mistress is now his new wife.
My Thoughts:
If you meet someone who refers to themselves in third person RUN! That’s just WEEEIRD! “No one can understand Maurice.” I have a little cousin who use to do this not that long ago. We all were like “Ohkaay.” Why is he doing that? But seriously This book broke my heart and left me disturbed at the same time. When I think about the character Nina, it reminds me of what I refer to in my head as “the dark days” in my life.
When I read fiction stories and real biographies about men like Smitty I struggle how the women always seem to allow themselves to stay and have Juanita’s mindset. Growing up this was never my experience because even though my father wasn’t perfect, I have the kind of mother that would NEVER have allowed my father to raise his hand to her. In fact, I’ve heard her say in the past to someone “I told him you can act crazy if you want to..” (this is when they were married). So, I fully believe that my mother wouldn’t even have let that transpire. There wouldn’t have even been a first time. Or if there had there damn sure wouldn’t have been a second. Not that I haven’t seen in these stories the women will mouth off and *EVENTUALLY* when they get their fill of being abused after many MANY years down the line they’ll stand up for themselves.
It was just sad that this woman had to be on her deathbed before she finally tells this man to go to hell! It just sickened me that Juanita came from a period where “That’s just a man being a man”. Since when is getting laid off an excuse to let someone beat you for serving them in a plastic cup? It was just eerie when Smitty starts to choke Juanita and she goes "Go ahead. I'm gonna die anyway. KiILL ME! You don't have control over me anymore." For a minute I really thought he would. But what a statement! That was the STRONGEST thing Juanita says in this whole book. She's that much at peace.
But what saddens me the most was Nina’s part. I may not have been able to relate to the abuse Juanita went through but I have been Nina in the past. To clarify I’ve never been in an abusive relationship myself but I have been with a man that was possessive. This was a man that showed up at appointments I had and accused me of cheating when I didn’t return his page (Back then there were some spots on my campus that didn’t let you get pages). And I remember PAINFULLY l(as Nina did with Maurice) pleading with someone to stay. Even to the extent that I used my health to get them not to walk away. There are some old blogs I’ve read where I accepted things that took away value from my worth because I thought I *loved* them. The last relationship I was in I saw that the guy wasn’t faithful and I turned a blind eye because it was easier to just have somebody than not to be alone. I even see that *today* with people in my life I’m close to that are still wrapped up in that kind of self-destructive psychological game. Because I can say I’ve been there (and would NEVER repeat those times in my life for ANYBODY) the scene where Nina is so obsessively in love with Maurice she goes to Maurice’s apartment just BEGGING him is cringe-worthy but it’s also heartbreaking. Nina had so much going for her without Maurice. She was an AKA.
She was a college graduate. She had talent as a sports reporter. She had her own apartment for a minute in the book. When I see women like that (any woman) lowering herself for the “love” of a man that doesn’t even have the respect not to make it VERY CLEAR that they’re gonna screw as many women as they damn well please and then turn around and say some ish like “Well I told you not to come over!” It just.. And we take it and we wait and wait and wait and hang on to what we “think” is ours over what.. Good Sex? The *bond* that we think we’ve developed because we’ve shared some intimate moments of conversation? NO! That’s why I think I’d rather be single. While I found fault in much of what Juanita believed, one thing she did say was that “Seeing is believing”.
Sometimes, I find that like her and Nina I don’t believe (because I haven’t seen it) that there are very few really good men. Until I actually SEE it for myself personally with me (because I’ve had so many bad ones) that it’s hard to believe the opposite. I’d love to be able to prove that wrong but unfortunately, I wasn’t given a “Leo. (It’s ok. I’ve made my peace with it tho) I’m just grateful all the time that I got out of the mentality where I’d just accept any old piece just to say I had someone! I never want to be this character again and that some men and women are just HURTS, ANGERS, and FRUSTRATATES me.
Nina’s dreams even told her Maurice was wrong for her. I take a great interest in dreams! I can even sometimes *read* them. What’s frustrating to me is if Nina would come to me with these dreams they aren’t even hard to *read*. What do you do when someone tells you their dreams and they’re so OBVIOUS it just hurts you that someone can’t see what’s RIGHT in front of their face but even if they see it they don’t take heed to even what their mind is telling them? It was kinda weird to read this story because both of my Dad’s names (first and middle) are characters in the story. I just thought. Wow1 I also think my Dad was an athlete way back when. He wasn’t a professional and I think his playing sports was more in school.
Rating: 10
This is a must-read! It teaches the best message of all. I think Mary J said it best in the lyrics BE HAPPY. “How can I love somebody else, when I can’t love myself enough to know? When it’s time (time) to let go!” There was another song by Keyshia Cole that sums up this book too. "Should Have Let You Go." was the name of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2019
One of my favorite books I have read. Teaches you a lot about life and everything that it throws at you.
March 10, 2012
Not a bad book, but really not my kind of storyline or writing style. It's more for the younger crowd. Picked it up at the library and after reading the jacket cover thought it would be something I'd really like. This review is not negative, so I hope you won't not read it because of that...check it out, it just might be your style.
January 23, 2009
A wonderful book...very sad.
April 14, 2015
Loved it!
August 28, 2012
Read this book in one day! Love love love it.
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