Up at the College: A Novel

by Michele Andrea Bowen

Featuring fan-favorite characters from Holy Ghost Corner, Up at the College is bestselling author Michele Andrea Bowen's fourth novel continuing her hilarious tradition of writing about the dramatic lives of church folk. Yvonne Fountain Copeland is determined to move on after her husband of fifteen years decides to leave her because their marriage became "boring." Returning to her hometown of Durham, North Carolina, Yvonne is convinced that a change of scenery will help her draw closer to God and find inner peace. Yvonne didn't know that the journey to peace would lead her to sexy, single childless basketball coach Curtis Parker.Yvonne and Curtis soon discover that you can't find true peace and joy without God's help. What began as a series of "why me's" evolves into an extraordinary journey consisting of victory, faith, joy and love.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad dialogue. Very cliche and stereotypical. It wasn't wworth finishing. I felt I was losing brain cells.....

[Shana Helton-plummer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just could not get into it. Too many characters and unnecessary sides stories.

[Titilayo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I will never have to attend another baptist church service because of the preachy overly black liberation theology integrated into the storyline. it's well written. but jesus wept less than I did at all the passages I skipped because they were like patches of black ice. I was really excited after reading the acknowledgements. I mean what's better to write fiction about than real life experiences of being professionals at a hbcu? I love historically black institutions. I love sports. I love stories about things I love. what could go wrong? survey says: page 4...pulls out a bible and says ...thus begins a long tedious pattern of not that poignantly placed king james references. I mean it reaches like a short armed person with a back itch.

[Chivon · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book took too many diversions and introduced too many characters to me. I wanted to see what was up with Yvonne and Curtis, but it took too long to get to the point.

[Latiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read a book called Church Folk by this author many years ago and I enjoyed it. I planned to keep up with her work, but never got around to picking up anymore books by her. I figured this was a good time to do so and checked this title out of the library.

This is the worst piece of fiction that I have read in my life. I don't understand how it was published. The plot was terrible, the characters were ridiculous, the narration was horrible. I don't understand how this book got published.

What is sad is this book is a terrible description of Black colleges and Christian life. The so-called Holy main characters spent their days gossiping about the non-saved members of the community and alternating between calling everyone a "negro" or "ho". This work depicted non-christian women in such a despicable way that the author should feel some shame for it. The story read like the author was trying to convey her own beliefs through these simple minded characters and obviously she forgot the one of the huge lessons about Christ is Love.

There is no way that this woman wrote this book out of Christian love. Her attempts at humor were also off beat. I felt like I was stuck in a black face minstrel show filled with poorly dressed characters. The characters actually dissed JC Penny, but they were always described as wearing over the top suede clothes. I have a rule that no matter what if I pick up a book and start reading it, I have to finish it. Everything in me wanted to break that rule with this book. I stuck it out to the predictable end.

I must conclude with one final thought. I researched the reviews for this book and many of her readers were disappointed with this story. I kept reading that all of Bowen's other books are great and this one was just off. So, perhaps it was a fluke. I don't know, but I don't plan to read anything else by her. If you must take a glance at this train wreck, I suggest you pick up a copy from your local library before investing your hard earned dollars into this book. I honestly wish I could give this story no stars, because it does not even deserve one.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yyvonne Fountain Copeland is struggling to maintain her sanity, when her husband Darrell leaves her, because he thinks their marriage is to boring. Although she fails to understand her husband reasoning, she is determined to stay strong for her two daughters: Danesha who is the oldest and D'Relle who is the youngest.In addition,she finds solace in the arms of God, and she knows that he will bring her out through anything. In addition,Curtis Parkes is the man she meets at Evangeline T Marshall University and those two embark on a romance, filled with faith and love but ultimately their relationship is put to a test. This book is filled with laughter and joy, highly recommended by Bowen!

[Marsha Finesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I DNF at 75%
I really wanted more interaction between Curtis and Yvonne. I wasn't that interested in what was going on. It kept me engaged enough though, but I realize that I'm not interested in this particular story.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I put this on my to-read list a LONG time ago, when I was still working at an HBCU college in Durham. I finally picked it up this summer, and it was a little different from what I expected. About halfway through, I thought it was only going to be a 1 or 2 star read for me, but the sweet romance pulled it through.

Good points:
-as in most romances, the girl gets the (good) guy and the bad guys lose out.
-I had fun with the clothing descriptions.
-the author did a nice job of making a variety of characters likable, even some whose lives might be described as "checkered."
-I LOVED all the Durham references, which was definitely why this made my list to start with.

Lower points:
-A LARGE cast of characters, such that it was sometimes hard to keep track, and lots of switching among perspectives unexpectedly.
-I didn't realize this was a "Christian romance" book, and the prosperity gospel that came through pretty strongly combined with the detailed descriptions of some of the ne'er do well activities (aka strip club visits) made a bit of a jarring read.

Overall, I would mostly recommend this to strong fans of romance or Christian romance, or to those who want to revisit Durham.

[Edna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the plot/storyline of the story but what I don't like is that at times the author makes it seem like God can be manipulated. The author likes to provide details about things that really I really don't need every single detail about in order to follow the story. AT times I felt like the author added so many details in order to make the books longer. I keep hoping that as time goes on the author's writing style will get better but it has not. I have a couple more books by the author to read and to be honest I am not sure that I will read them.

[Zenzele-Leandria Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

This book was very good. I enjoyed how Michele told a great story about those that knew they needed to be saved but we're trying to out run God. This story teaches that God takes you right where you are. Don't wait. Do it NOW! Putting God in everything you do helps you make it every time.

[Kendra Broomfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhh. This was a struggle read for me. Something about it didn’t resonate with me. Way too many characters and stories and not enough development between Curtis and Yvonne. And I know they’re a lot of praying sanctified people in the world but all the conversation seemed unnaturally on the topic of getting saved and no real conversations. It was just weird.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried getting into this book but I just couldn't. It may be a great message in there somewhere but the way it is written does not peak my interest. I'm willing to check out another book by this author but this one does not start off great.

[Pamela G. Brice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put it down

[Rachel Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and relaxing!

[Nickita Council · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book might have been good to me had I read it when it was released but reading it now, the writing felt subpar. It wasn’t terrible but it could have been so much better. But again, it may have been acceptable when it was written because there are books I read as a young adult that I loved and when I reread them they were bad.

[Coralknitz]

This book is a poor representation of Christian fiction; then again maybe it's not considered Christian fiction. I loathe giving this "work" even one star. I am amazed that the author could quote scripture and talk about things of God then explicitly describe some stripper's seductive dance moves. What is that about?

I read Bowen's earlier works but never got around to this one until now. I attempted to listen to the audio version years ago and couldn't seem to get past the first chapter. I finally got this book from audible.com and now I remember (know) why I couldn't get past the first chapter. Too many characters to get to know and too much smut intermingled with bible verses.

If publishers really think that true Bible believing/Christ following readers want to have smut thrown into their books, they are sadly mistaken. I am finding too many books from other authors as well with “Christian” sounding titles that give no honor to God whatsoever. These books only serve to perpetuate the myth that Christians are hypocrites. I expect this type of stereotypical writing from secular books not those categorized as Christian fiction. I will not dare to read another of this author's books under the guise of Christian fiction.

[Julee3702004]

I decided to read this book based upon a recommendation from a magazine. It was about a woman who has the pick up the pieces of her life after her husband divorces her. She and her daughters create a new life. She moves to another town and finds a job at an historical black college in North Carolina The book relies upon a lot of descriptions of the characters and what they do. The main character is an interior design instructor at a college and the author describes in detail the look of her office, her home, etc. The descriptions of everything the characters wore (including jewelry, hair, etc) was too much for me. On the other hand, the book is an uplifting book because the author uses a lot of bible scriptures and she shows the positive outcomes when people do the right things. There is a clear spiritual emphasis in the book. The book was a departure from books I usually read but I don't know if I would read another book by this author.

[Angelia Poole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wonderful Testament To God's Faithfulness!

Once again Michele reminds us that being faithful to God ultimately results in God remaining faithful to us. This eclectic cast of characters each discovers that God has been persistently calling them to Himself and that He's had a plan for each of their lives from the very beginning. Setbacks develop into setups and tragedies materialize into triumphs as God strategically works in the lives of those who have always been true to Him as well as those who are just recognizing a desire to depend on Him. This heart-warming story will rush you along on a roller-coaster ride of emotions as you experience the joys, the hurts, the angers, the fears, the self-confidence and the anxieties of each of the characters. Thank you, Michele, for another shining example of the rewards of being on God's side!

[Brenda Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not particularly like this book. There were so many characters introduced in this book that did not have a story line. Their names could have been easily left out. Secondly, there were threesome affairs throughout the book. Everybody's husband had a woman on the side and none of the wives knew. I know that the wife is the last to know, but they did not even suspect anything was going on with their husbands. It seemed that each scene was drawn out to the point that you were not interested and wanted the story to move on. My first clue that I was not going to like the book because of a long story line was at the dinner party. It took forever to get dinner prepared and on the table. Annoyed from then on.........The end was predictable. We knew that Curtis would finally come over to the other side with Yvonne's help and guidance.

[Hyacinth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. I more than chuckled! I hollered, screamed, and laughed out loued! These were some crazy church folks with a side of hot mess foolishness going on. I needed the laugh and got just what I needed. The unfortunate thing was reading this book in public because of the looks I got while laughing out loud. This would make a great comedy. While I don't advocate fighting, the fights that broke out in here were just so funny. The Apostle with the gheri curl and his uncle with the four teeth? It's funny because it's reality in African American culture. The names, the food, the scenes, yes, I know exactly what the author was talking about. I could see this as a movie as I was reading it.

[Deborah Robinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book focused on anything and everybody other the the two people that book should have been focused on. Details on things that were unimportant. The book could have been summed up on one tracks. I thought it was a love story but they met each other at a dinner party and didnt go on a date until four disk later. This book was horrible and it went all over the place. It talked about characters that were not in the story line. I wanted to stop but I was curious as to what was going to happen. Pure torture horrible book.

[Bridgette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD with scripture and religion. Too many characters, most of which are insignificant to the story. Too much narrative about these insignificant characters, which adds absolutely nothing to the story. Simple scenes lingered on for pages. I skipped over 40% of this book and still felt like I read far too much. I had a hard time following what this story was about, I thought this was supposed to be a love story?

[Mahoghani 23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good insight into the life of an HBC. People get so wrapped up in destroying others that they don't understand that there is a higher being that works miracles. I was hoping that her ex-husband had regrets towards his actions. He got his just desserts....a piece of trash that couldn't match up to anyone's standards. I enjoyed reading this book and will read more written by this author.

[Monica Leak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of Read with Jen 2020 as it met the category for book set on a college campus. I appreciate how she highlighted the HBCU experience while bringing in faith and the challenges of living it out through the various characters. The added it bonus was the setting in NC so I loved it since I'm a NC native.

[Eleshia Lusane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Preachy, overtly stereotypical, lackluster...NEED I GO ON!!! I have read a few of Michele Bowen's novels and she seems to believe all black people speak the same way and act the same way. Her characters were interesting and entertaining in the first book I read, but now they're just tired, boring, and her racial depiction is borderline offensive.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because it was the March choice for my Black Authors book club. I really liked this book. The book quotes a lot of scriptures as it is loosely based around the churches in a North Carolina town. However there is just enough spice and funny moments thrown in to not be considered "too churchy". I would definitely recommend this to others.

[Angie Riddick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book could not hold my attention and was hard to follow. I thought the book was,going to focus on the two main characters but too many characters were featured .I did finish but it was a struggle for me to get to the end.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book touched my soul and brought tears of joy. I highly recommend it for anyone that enjoys a good spiritual uplift.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

least favorite of the series-- but still enjoyable.

love all the Durham sites. But couldn't figure out where the Eva .. is supposed to be.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but the constant addition of history and scripture is annoying.