Taffy By Suzette D. Harrison

Day 7 of the February Celebration of Love features historical read Taffy By Suzette D. Harrison. 

Synopsis:

Welcome to the sleepy, all-Black southern town of Bledsoe, where Colored residents proudly declare “ain’t nothing white here ‘cept milk and teeth.” It’s 1935. A press-and-curl costs a quarter. Records play on phonographs. And a telephone is a luxury. 

Meet twenty-three-year-old Taffy Bledsoe Freeman. She doesn’t need her gift of second sight to know her “mockery of a marriage” to a man twice her age is far from good. After a seven-year exile Up North, Taffy travels down-home to the small town bearing her family’s name, plotting her escape from a marriage not worth the price of a press-and-curl. She only needs to retrieve the son her husband banished to her parents’ care, before boarding a train headed for the Windy City filled with liberty and opportunity. Instead, Taffy stumbles into Roam Ellis: the man Taffy meant to marry.

Twenty-six-year-old Roam Ellis is a “broad-shouldered, hard-bodied” Pullman porter riding the rails coast-to-coast, outrunning the bitter heartbreak Taffy left behind. Now, after a seven-year absence, Roam is face-to-face with his first love. Anger ignites. Old wounds are exposed. But when pain subsides, passion rises, thrusting Taffy and Roam into a hurricane of buried secrets and lies.

Reminiscent of the works of Bernice McFadden, Bertice Berry, and Andrea Smith (The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner) this Historical Romance is bathed in southern lore and sweeping imagery. Lyrical and powerful, Taffy is a story of restoration and redemption that you won’t soon forget.

Meet The Author:

Suzette D. Harrison, a west coast native and the middle of three daughters, grew up in a home where reading was required, not requested. Her literary “career” began when her poetry appeared in a volume of creative writing published by her junior high school. While Ms. Harrison pays homage to Gloria Naylor, Dr. Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison for initially inspiring her spirit and creativity, it was Alex Haley’s Roots (which she read at the age of fourteen) that unveiled the tremendous power and importance of African American literary voices. In addition to being the wife of a university professor and mother of gorgeous children, Suzette is a cupcake proprietor who loves singing gospel-with-a-hint-of-jazz. An elementary school librarian, Suzette is currently working on her next novel…in between batches of cupcakes.

Dissent By P.J. Dean

P.J. Dean has taken the term black girl magic to a whole other level in her new book, " Dissent Love Vanquishes All." So often the narrative of African, or women of color in a certain time period is that of slave, concubine, or maid. P.J. has written a story where we are the heroines ( no not the whiny, weak woman looking for a man to save her). I love that this historical romance steps outside of the stereotype. The author is so funny because she presents all of these "warnings" before reading the book like if you dont like strong women this isnt for you!!!! I loved it!!! Although this story is a little heavy on the historical side ( the author did her research) it is a great read and even better romance. Readers take a chance and click this book up you will not be disappointed. 

Synopsis:

1571. France is in stasis. The peace struck after the latest War of Religion between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) is fragile and desperately needs more support to sustain it. The monarchy proposes a royal wedding joining a Catholic princess to a Huguenot prince as the needed bulwark. Negotiations are set in motion. All is good. Or so it appears.

On another front, France has fallen far behind other European nations in its quest to expand its empire overseas. Expenditures from civil wars have sapped her coffers, her energy and have stunted her economic dreams.
Could another marriage remedy the problem by mixing religious unity with the possibility of increased commerce?

Enter Awa, the daughter of a visiting, Roman Catholic, Wolof diplomat from the elite ranks of the Jolof Kingdom in West Africa. She embodies the best of her land in her manner and in her education. She is dutiful, proud, and respectful of her family, but after living a portion of her formative years at the French court, she has become outspoken and a tad willful.

Enter Blaise, the nephew of the most powerful leader of the Huguenot faction in the country. An aristocrat. Learned. Traveled. Haunted. Ladies’ man. Rarely sees a sunrise, unless he is going to bed at that hour. He abhors responsibility of any kind. And Catholics.

Two persons of noble lineage. Strangers. Foes. Pawns. Allies? Lovers?

If Awa and Blaise can cease fighting long enough, could their marriage quell domestic unrest, bring riches and stability to France, but most importantly deliver true love to them before the realm implodes over religious matters again?

Meet The Author:

P. J. Dean has always loved making up stories for as long as she can recall. Fiction book writing was a no-brainer. Scribbling stories since childhood, she put away the thought of becoming a published writer as she got older and as life’s responsibilities beckoned. Work, ill family members and other distractions of lesser urgency stayed her dream. But through it all she never stopped writing. Writing was her escape. It kept her dream alive. After a job loss and after the family illnesses ended, she concentrated on writing with an aim to be published. She finally did, at first on her own, then through an early e-pub and now with Extasy Books. She thanks Extasy for picking her up. The publisher has given her the freedom to create what she wants without pigeon-holing her into writing in a certain way, as many traditional Big Five publishers expected her to do.

She writes historical and paranormal romances with diverse characters. Her interest in history coupled with a B.A in French Civilization helped her write her first book, a historical romance set in late 16th century France with the court of Charles IX as the backdrop. The need to see people of color in more romance books led her to create her own paranormal romance series with an interracial duo and lots of different people. In addition to the aliens.

She hails from the mid-Atlantic USA and enjoys the change of seasons there. Sometimes. When heavy thunderstorms or 45-inch snowstorms or 100-degree summers with matching humidity hit, she dreams of Bermuda. Otherwise, the rest works for her.