Customer Reviews

Christmas in the Hood (Street Chronicles)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nikki Turner Presents Street Chronicles Christmas in the Hood is comprised of five stories dedicated to showing the `hood' version of the holiday.

Holiday Hell by Dee Blackmon takes readers through Noelle's dilemma of coming up with money to exchange for her sister, who was kidnapped, by Christmas Eve.

Me and Grandma by Mo Shines tells of a grandmother's hustle to provide a good Christmas for her grandchildren, including those that were `street' related. With the help of her notorious thug friends, she not only cooked up a great meal, but an even better Christmas.

A Christmas Song by Seth `Soul Man' Ferranti, Fats attempted to hustle from behind bars to buy presents for his children and their mothers. When his plan foils, would he make it to Christmas in one piece?

Secret Santa by K. Elliott is about an exotic dancer, Shante, who was robbed before Christmas. With children to make happy and not many paying customers at the club, how would she create the magic the holiday brings?

Charge It To the Game by J.M. Benjamin, another story set in prison, found Victorious in a sticky situation. Not only was he locked up, but he could not get in touch with his girlfriend, Meeka, or his best boy, Supreme. The situation thickens when a cellmate is bonded out of jail by someone extremely close to Victorious. Guess what he is getting for Christmas...

Praises to Nikki Turner for the idea of creating an urban fiction, holiday-based anthology. The stories captured the manufactured Christmas spirit; the thrill of buying gifts with money you do not have and scheming on how to get money that does not have to be returned. Though a powerful and relative theme, the stories fell short of the expectations of such a great idea. They grasped at the anguish versus elation that Christmas brings but did not provide enough imagery or character development to actualize its potential.

Reviewed by Darnetta Frazier
APOOO BookClub

This book was slow and boring. Stick to urban stories and leave christmas alone. These stories suck.

Ok to make a long one short this book was pretty good.I enjoyed all the stories.The only one I couldnt get into or didnt bother to finish was A Christmas Song by Seth"soul man" Ferranti.I dont know what direction that story was going and when he started to introduce a billion characters I knew it was time to skip over it.Other than that the rest were good.

I haven't read but one of Nikki's offerings, and this book kind of drew me in especially the story about the stripper who gets ripped off at Christmas time, but in the end gets the ultimate blessing. I really liked that story. Secret Santa is the name of that. i really liked it because I can relate and been there too. I believe every sister should have a Secret Santa out there to set her back on the straight and narrow.Out of all the stories, "Charge it to the Game" was the one I didn't care for. That Meeka was a true piece of work to begin with and then to do what she did was not right. I don't care what you said, but it was not right. "Holiday Hell" was grim but the ending made up for it. The story about the dope dealing grandma was great too. There are a lot of senior citizens in the game now trying to supplement their checks and what not and that is not right. All around, a good book.

I've had some hood Christmases myself but none like these, The first one was ok, although I was wondering about a stripper catching feelings for these brothers so quick..2 weeks? yeah ok.I did like the ending though. Holiday Hell was a good one,Me and Grandma was interesting too. I didn't really care for Christmas Song had I was trying to push myself to read it but forget about it..aaarrrgghh!

K.Elliott ****.5
Mo Shines *****
Dee Blackmon ****
J.M.Benjamin*****
Seth Ferranti****

RATINGS BY STORY:

1.) Secret Santa- K.Elliott ***
2.) Me and Grandma-Mo Shine ****
3.) Holiday Hell-Dee Blackmon ***** (My favorite story)
4.) A Christmas Song-Seth "the soul man" Ferranti-****
5>) Charge It To the Game- J.M. Benjamin -***** (My favorite story)

RATINGS BY STORY:

1.) Secret Santa- K.Elliott ***
2.) Me and Grandma-Mo Shine ***.5
3.) Holiday Hell-Dee Blackmon ****
4.) A Christmas Song-Seth "the soul man" Ferranti-****
5>) Charge It To the Game- J.M. Benjamin -****.5 (this one was my favorite)