GIVEAWAY ENDEDBE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR
BY KIMBERLA LAWSON ROBY
Alicia Black is back! The pampered, privileged daughter of the irrepressible scoundrel Rev. Curtis Black and protagonist of Kimberla Lawson Roby’s New York Times bestseller The Best of Everything, Alicia makes her triumphant return in Be Careful What You Pray For. Alicia is newly remarried, to a man of the cloth who unfortunately mirrors far-too-closely her rascally dad. The Reverend Black himself, star of Sin No More, Too Much of a Good Thing, and other popular Roby novels, co-stars in Be Careful What You Pray For—a tale of love and ambition that once again deals with important issues as it tells a witty, moving, page-turning story, a bestselling combination that is a Kimberla Lawson Roby hallmark.
New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby returns with this delightful sequel to The Best of Everything, in which the infamous Reverend Curtis Black's beautiful daughter, Alicia, is all grown up—and headed for trouble of her own
Her first marriage didn't work out, but that isn't going to stop Alicia Black, the privileged daughter of the charismatic Reverend Curtis Black, from getting what she wants. One month after her wedding to her second husband, she can't believe her good fortune. God has heeded her prayers, blessing her with Pastor JT Valentine, a handsome, dynamic man of the cloth with his own large congregation, just like her father.
Unfortunately, Alicia doesn't understand just how much like Curtis her new husband truly is. She doesn't know that JT has been sneaking around town with other women—or that he only married her to get close to her father's money and fame. But while Alicia is blinded by love, her dad certainly isn't. He warned his little girl that JT simply can't be trusted. After all, it takes one to know one, and who better to see into the darkness of a sinner's heart than Curtis?
It will take a miracle to save the day. But God acts in mysterious ways, and soon a host of lies, longtime secrets, and acts of betrayal comes to light, and Alicia must face some very crucial and life-changing decisions. This time, she's got to be careful what she prays for. . . .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby has published 12 novels, which include The Best of Everything, One in a Million, Sin No More, Love and Lies, Changing Faces, The Best-Kept Secret, Too Much of a Good Thing, A Taste of Reality, It's a Thin Line, Casting the First Stone, Here and Now, and her debut title, Behind Closed Doors, which was originally self-published through her own company, Lenox Press. Her novels have frequented numerous bestseller lists, including those in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Essence magazine, Upscale magazine, Emerge Magazine, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, The Dallas Morning News, and The Austin Chronicle to name a few. Both Behind Closed Doors and Casting the First Stone were no. 1 BlackBoard bestsellers for four consecutive months in both 1997 and 2000. Behind Closed Doors was the no. 1 BlackBoard bestselling book for paperback fiction in 1997.
In addition, Roby’s first novel was nominated for BlackBoard’s 1998 and 1999 Fiction Book of the Year Award, and she received the BlackBoard Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2001 for Casting the First Stone. She is also the 2006 and 2007 recipient of the Author of the Year—Female award presented by the African-American Literary Award Show in New York, the recipient of the 1998 First-Time Author Award from Chicago’s Black History Month Book Fair and Conference, and her fifth novel, A Taste of Reality, was a 2004 finalist for the Atlanta Choice Awards sponsored by the Atlanta Daily World. Additionally, Too Much of a Good Thing received a 2004 Patron Choice Award from the Central Mississippi Regional Library System.
Each of Roby’s novels have dealt with very real issues—in Behind Closed Doors, social status, gambling addiction, and infidelity; in Here and Now, single motherhood, infertility, and sibling rivalry; in Casting the First Stone, the first of the Reverend Curtis Black series, corruption within the church; in It's a Thin Line, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and caregiving of a parent; in A Taste of Reality, racial and gender discrimination in the workplace with subplots exploring sexual harassment; Too Much of a Good Thing and The Best-Kept Secret, continues with the issues in the Reverend Curtis Black series; in Changing Faces, issues about being overweight, a female illness, damaging secrets, and a devoted friendship between three women; in Love and Lies and Sin No More, issues in the Reverend Curtis Black saga are revisited; in One in a Million, a woman learns the best news and the worst news of her life all at the same time; and in The Best of Everything, the Reverend Curtis Black's daughter, Alicia, deals with a serious shopping addiction, which causes major marital problems.
Roby resides in Illinois with her husband, Will. Her thirteenth book, A Deep Dark Secret, will be released in the fall 2009.
REVIEW:
For those of you who read Kimberla Lawson Roby's CASTING THE FIRST STONE, you will be familiar with, and pleased to see Rev. Curtis Black and his daughter Alicia, are back. If you didn't read the first book (I did not) this is still a good stand alone book that doesn't require you to have read the first one in order to enjoy this one. Alicia has recently divorced her first husband Philip, also a preacher, because he found out she had an affair with a drug dealer of all things and it became public knowledge.
BUT, in BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR, Alicia remarries and starts a new life with the Rev. J. T. Valentine, much to her father's distress. She is also happy as she has finished her first novel and is trying to get it published. She absolutely won't let rumors about J.T.'s infidelity and the strange way that his first wife died spoil her happiness this time...or so she thinks!
J. T. has big ambitions and wants the over 5,000 members of his congregation to grow even larger and hopefully he can get into the TV market. He wants all this as well as to publish best selling books so he can be just like Rev. Curtis Black! He figures by marrying J. T.'s daughter, he is one step closer to his dream. Of course, his dream doesn't preclude his dalliances with many different women but dreams don't always come true! When J. T.'s unfaithfulness comes to light, Alicia is livid. How could this have happened? I guess she didn't look at her father to get an idea about these things since he was so like J. T.
Roby's writing is easy to follow and although her characters aren't really deep, they do grab your attention. The plot moves along almost predictably but quickly. I think I would have liked a little more knowledge and depth to the characters so I could have cared about them more than I did, but the storyline kept me reading and I am glad I did as it was a cute book with a satisfying finish. The fact that J. T. turns out to be a high class pimp was a twist I didn't expect but I also don't think a pimp would allow "his girls" to handle him rudely and push him around...well, not from the little I know about pimps---NONE from personal experience thank you!
I did like the fact that Roby writes short chapters as I like my books that way because it gives me a stopping point to aim for as well as allows me to find out what happens rather quickly. Overall, I think I would read another book by this author mainly because this one was a quick, light read that was entertaining and didn't drag on and also didn't tax my brain but rather let me just glide along with the story. With all this said, what happens to Alicia and J. T. you say? Will Alicia's prayers be answered? Well, you will have to read the book to find out. I suspect that Rev. Black and his family will very well become a series, especially since the first book was so popular with Ms. Roby's many fans.
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