~The High Price of a Good Man~

by Debra Phillips

      Heroine:   very tall, abundant

     Mississippi-born, Compton-bred, and now based in upscale Cerritos, Miss Queenisha Renae Sutton is doing very well for herself as a buyer for Macy's.  But she'd like more going on in her personal life. For starters, how about finally meeting a man worthy of being with her? 

      Lured by her best friend, self-styled voodoo priestess Poetta, to a charity bachelor auction with promises of meeting the delicious Billy Dee Williams, Queenie winds up instead buying a date with drop-dead gorgeous Denzel-look-alike Zeke Washington.  However the auction's promised single outing with him isn't enough for Queenie; she's made up her mind that she wants this man for good. 

      But dating the super-fine Zeke comes with a price even heftier than the $1250 check Queenie cut for the pleasure of his company. The question is: is he worth it?

What worked for me:

      I would love to have friends like Queenie and Poe.  They'd certainly make my life more interesting!  Queenie was a riot and it was fun living in her head, but at the same time it was hard not to try and be her conscience and yell at her when she was about to do something she really shouldn't. 

      It was very easy to visualize the story's colorful, well-defined cast of characters. It wouldn't surprise me to one day see it at the cinema with luscious, lovely Latifah in the lead role.

      Size-wise Queenie was very tall and quite bountiful; so don't judge this book by its cover, it does not do justice to Queenie's statuesque build.

       What didn't work for me:

      The story is in first person point of view and I was thrown off a bit at first when Queenie would switch from her casual dialogue to a more formal-sounding narration.  But eventually I got used to it and began to relish the rich prose.

      Some of the unexpected twists in this story were maybe a bit too twisted and over-the-top for my personal taste, but they still earn points just for being so unpredictable.

Overall:

     "The High Price of a Good man" is sassy fun; a well-written multi-cultural novel which might also appeal to fans of Chick Lit and romance.  Be sure to grab a copy this summer to take to the beach!

Warning: this book features some coarse language, weight-loss, and occult and sexual scenarios.

If you liked "The High Price of a Good Man" you might also enjoy "Love at Large", "All of Me", "The Way It Is", "Inappropriate Men", "Good in Bed", "Commitments", "Living Large", or "Jemima J.".

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