Looking for some chill time during Memorial Day weekend? We have the perfect antidote. Pick up A House Divided (Grand Central Publishing, $24.99), Kimberla Lawson Roby’s hot new novel.
The Rockford, Illinois native, who recently won the NAACP Image Award for Fiction, is in top form. A House Divided is the storyteller’s tenth installment of her Rev. Curtis Black series, and this one may well be her best. When the novel kicks off, the person causing drama (would it be a Lawson Roby novel without some mess?) is Racquel. Eight months pregnant, she’s causing a whole bunch of baby mama drama and then some. Matthew, Rev. Black and wife Charlotte’s son is the expectant father. And Racquel has his nose open wider than the Grand Canyon. This doesn’t sit well with his Charlotte, his mom. And to add insult to injury, Vanessa, Racquel’s mother, is Charlotte’s number one nemesis. Keeping up? Hope so. It all goes down at Raquel’s baby shower where Charlotte and Vanessa come to blows. Major blows! Hurt by his mom’s showing out, Matthew mans up and demands Charlotte show Racquel and her mom respect or risk being cut out of his and the baby’s life forever. Does the strong-willed Charlotte acquiesce? H to the No. Instead, she declares war on Racquel and Vanessa and goes way over the top. This sets off a series of events that pits son against mother, husband against wife, and church folk caught in the middle.
Is it good? Better than cheese biscuits at Red Lobster. Roby, who has written 19 novels, nearly all New York Times best-sellers, should enjoy great success with this one!