Prodigal

by Ms Samantha M Sanchez

Lyric is 21 years old and bored with the inhibited lifestyle of endless church activities she’s been forced to participate in since childhood. When she is offered the opportunity to be on a reality show, she jumps at the chance to move in with five strangers under the premise of pursuing further education. However, a surprise pregnancy causes her life to take an unexpected turn. Being overlooked and pushed to the side by her child’s father coupled with his lack of consideration cause her insecurities to deepen, while her pains and humiliation are documented for everyone to see. The show becomes a hit and she a star but now she has to find a way not to let the pain she feels destroy her heart and poison her soul.

Imagine the most embarrassing and hurtful moments in your life being put on display for the entire world to see. You’re trying not to lose your mind and keep your composure while your social media is flooded with criticisms from people who have no idea what you’re really feeling but only know what they see on TV. The people who do know the people who are there with you every day offering “support” consistently invalidate your feelings. You’ve heard of the Kardashians now meet Lyric.⠀

264 pages, Paperback

Published March 7, 2018

Reviews

[Didi Oviatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up to 5 here.

Lets just take a second to talk about conversations and the realistic feel that they bring to books. There’s a reason dialogue can make or break a story. A lot of books out there in the troupe of fame - be it reality TV, movie stars, or music stars - feel a bit cliche, or they tip toe around the way people actually talk to one another as not to offend their readers. The one thing that I absolutely love about Prodigal is that it does not do that. It’s written in a way that pulls the entire premise of the story into a place of commonality, a place of actuality, a place of realism. It’s written in first person, which is perfect given the story line, and the main character doesn’t hold back.
Lyric is a self given name by the main character, it’s what she goes by for the majority of the story but her real name is Naomi Marie. She also has quite a bit of nick-names by her friends and family like MiMi and more... for the review, let’s stick with Lyric. She auditions for a reality TV show and lands the part, but she really has no idea what she’s getting herself into! Of course, everyone who has ever seen a reality show knows that things get a bit crazy and that the people behind the scenes really insert themselves and give everything a push. However, what most people don’t realize is the effects that being in front of a camera at all times can really shape one’s personal life off camera too, and not always in a good way.

Lyric is a strong and determined young woman, and despite her inner struggle with confidence, and self-esteem she finds a way throughout to let integrity and sheer grit steer the way. After being placed into a house with several other people for the duration of the show and it’s recording, Lyric is almost instantly pulled into the drama that is reality TV. It starts with a quick fling with Anthony, a total douche bag if you ask me, and escalades into a pregnancy. Everything goes south, and Lyric must face her hormones, trauma, loss, and grief in front of the entire world. Lucky for her, an old fling returns and helps her through the process. I thought I liked Trey, and honestly I’m still on the fence with him.

While being pushed and pulled in every direction by her drama creating roommates and the string pullers of the show, Lyric is able to rekindle her romance with Trey. They have their ups and downs, of course, and he’s no saint. Lyric comes from a very religious family, who doesn’t exactly approve of her choice to be on the show, nor of her choices while on camera. She’d fallen from the ways of her religion before choosing this path, yet as the book comes to a close she’s pushed to reevaluate her relationship with God. Lyric made a lot of choices with the men in her life that made me cringe, so I’m really looking forward to the next book and to see how things turn out!

[Rajiv · Rating 4 out of 5]

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There was a time when I loved reality shows like Big Brother and The Real World. Although I don’t watch them anymore, when I read this book, I felt nostalgic remembering those days. Prodigal turned out to be very entertaining to read and I enjoyed it.

Firstly, I just love how dramatic this story is. I still watch some of my favorite soap operas daily, and reading this book was like a guilty pleasure. Lyric goes through a lot of ups and downs. The author keeps you on your toes on what happens to Lyric. Just when you think she has her life sorted, something shocking happens that you do not expect. I kept turning the page to find out what happened to her next.

Lyric is the star of the show. It’s very hard to describe the emotions I felt for her in the story. At times, I just wanted to shake her for being so dumb and careless. But sometimes, I felt sorry for her and wanted her to sort things out. However, overall, I thought she was feisty, sassy, strong and brave for taking charge of the situation. Honestly, I don’t think I would have enjoyed reading the story if the author wrote Lyric in a different manner.

However, even though I enjoyed Lyric as the main character, I really did not like any of the supporting characters. Anthony was annoying, DeVon was sly, and even Trey was too good to be true. I really didn’t care for the supporting characters. But, kudos to the author for writing the characters so passionately that made me love to dislike them. The only other complex character I liked was Athena, but I felt like we did not see much of her. On a side note, some of the scenes felt repetitious at times. However, these were minor issues which I did not mind, because I found Lyric very fascinating to read.

The book ends in a cliffhanger which makes you want to pick out the next book in the series “Lyrical Chaos”. I can’t wait to pick this book to see what Lyric does next!

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samantha Sanchez has brought me to my knees in Prodigal. I honestly thought that it would be a fluffy easy to read novel because of the premise of being set in a reality show. No. Prodigal is not light. It is not fluffy either. And it sure wasn’t easy to read.

Let me explain. Just because it wasn’t easy to read doesn’t mean that it isn’t a worthwhile read because this novel that Samantha has given us is the most worthwhile book I’ve read this year. I am almost at a loss as to how to explain this novel.

Naomi has led a sheltered life in the church, and she is ready to break free and live her life on her terms. So, she auditions for a reality show. When Naomi is cast, she goes into it with a new name and a new kind of freedom. Now she calls herself Lyric and she is a badass.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but there is so much heartache for Lyric. She goes through a lot of ups and downs, but it seems that she can never seem to catch a break.

I cried, and I seethed right along with Lyric as she goes through the book. I honestly just wanted to scoop her up and hold her until the bad stuff went away. She had my heart while I was reading, and I can’t get her out now that I am finished. Lyric will stick with me for eternity.

Prodigal deserves no less than a full 5 out of 5 stars. I promise if you read this novel, you will never forget it.

Thank you to Samantha Sanchez and Shannon from Reads and Reels for providing me a copy of Prodigal in exchange for an honest review.

[Naomi Downing · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book it definitely had the reality show feel. The beginning seemed rushed to me, but it works by showing how Lyrics feels everything is happening so fast

[Eclectic Review · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming soon!