Customer Reviews

Ghetto Heaven

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The story of Toni and Vinita is a tale of two women from the hood just trying to make life work for them. They both deal with family circumstances from two different opinions on how to succeed in life. Both women have dreams and try their best to make lemonade out of the lemons in their life. As they struggle to keep their hopes alive, along come black knights to rescue them from their world of despair. Promising relationships (through fiery trials) are secured with Myron and Mathew (their new men). Just as the women are about to exit their dark pasts, they are quickly snatched back into the mutt all over again.

Toni's first boyfriend, Tec plays a role that may forever leave consequences for Toni to deal with her whole life. He disappears at the end of the story, but I am certain that the author has a surprise for us when he concludes the story in the sequel.

The girls came from hell to heaven and back to hell again...but then you decide for yourselves. I enjoyed this book!

First of all, this book [...], the cover did nothing for the book, it threw me off with the dice (been done before True to the Game) and the bullet hole (been done before K'wan), there was nothing about the characters that says Ghetto Heaven. Now, this book, after finish reading it, i was like "What the [...] was that." To me, the novel made no sense --i felt that this book was too far fetch. The ending, could have been much better, i saw where the authors were trying to go with it, give out a message, but it wasn't working. Nice try though. I give it one star for the effort, maybe the next novel will be much better....becasue this book was nowhere near Ghetto Heaven

Erick S. Gray did a great job putting ghetto fabulous with the rich upper class. Friends Toni and Vinita both have dreams of leaving the ghetto world behind. Times have been rough for these girls and they can't take it anymore. But we all know there is always a high price to pay for freedom. With possessive, drug-dealing, killer boyfriends, a crack head mother, a rape and a jailed brother these girls have big problems.

Just like in the fairy tales, alone comes the knight in shining armor...but alas! there's not one knight there's two, one for each girl! But us grown folks know that fairy tales don't always end happily, especially there's war brewing in the ghetto starring Tec and Little Boy Ronnie, the girls boyfriends.
Where are the shining knights?...well they come into the girls lives just in time. But before rich boys Mathew and Myron could ride them off into the sunset; secrets, lies and tragedy all start to unfold leaving any thought of fleeing the ghetto just a mere memory.
You wanna slip into Ghetto Heaven for a couple of hours? Take a read of this book.

ERICK TAKES YOU INTO TONI'S WORLD. I PROMISE YOU WILL LOVE IT. TONI HAS THE DREAMS TO BE MUCH MORE BUT THE WORLD SHE LIVES IN DRUGS MURDER AND MAYHEM IS ALL THAT IS KNOWN. TONI HAS IT ALL A MOTHER THAT DOSE NOT CARE. A BROTHER THAT IS LOCK-UP AND A GANGSTA FOR A BOYFRIEND.GHETTO HEAVEN WAS AND A VERY GOOD READ. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT YOU NEED TO CAUSE ITS ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT THE HOOD BUT WITH THIS ONE IS A BROOKLYN FAIRYTALE!

I read this book after reading the reviews for Crunk and what was said about it. I decided to read both books from cover to cover and base my own opinion. I think that despite grammatical errors this was an intriguing story. Yes the concept has been done before, poor girl meets rich Prince charming, but the way in which it was done held my attention captive. It was like I was watching a movie in my head while reading this book. The characters had depth and dimension. I could actually visualize the worlds that the author described. I read this authors first work "Bootycall" and I must say that the improvement in his work is shown. He has definitely come into his own. Much love and luck in your future endeavors.

For anyone who lives in this community or anywhere near this type of community, this book was definitely an eye-opener that gave us different views of and from 'the ghetto', a term I don't like but... Overall, the characters were well developed/brought out - except for the main one - TONI! She could have been more than pretty, tough and scared if we could actually visualize her, understand why she had so little patience with her Mom and why she bothered to do some of the things she does. I give the author thumbs up still - A book like this should be required-reading. So keep on writing and exciting and educating your readers!

I started reading this book at 2:30 this morning and finished it four hours later. I didn't even want to get up to go to the bathroom.

The story blew me away, I'm not going to say what it's about cause it's already been said, but I will say that it moves fast, it's hilarious, thought provoking, a tear jerker and VERY serious at the same time!

Too many of us dismiss this contemporary urban fiction as a trashy fad, and while some authors' work DOES leave a lot to be desired, Erick Gray certainly is not one of them.

Since I work in publishing, it was hard to ignore some of the typos but it didn't take away from how POWERFUL this story is. In fact, it almost ADDED to the realness of the book because it was straight up RAW.

Many authors exploit the plight our community is in to make a dollar; again, Erick Gray certainly is not one of them. He tells a gripping and heartbreaking tale of poverty, despair, consequence, death, love and hope while leaving the reader entertained but also with a very compelling message that must not be ignored.

I am going to tell everyone I know about this book - K'wan and AlSaadiq Banks are my other two favorites in this genre and I urge you to check them out as well for some indisputable, knock-you-on-yo-azz TALENT!!

I have always loved reading stories about young women who beat the odds of adversity and strife, find their prince charming and live happily ever after. Ok, I know that's a fairytale, but a girl can dream can't she? After reading GHETTO HEAVEN by Erick S. Gray, I found myself comparing the storyline to that of one my favorite fairytales of all time, Cinderella. But, Cinderella in the hood? I know that this may be a stretch of the imagination but think about it. It could happen. This woman who is still a little girl at heart, really loved the fairytales.

Growing up in the hood can be a daily lesson on survival, if you survive. Toni Benjamin is a young woman who seems to have had more than her fair share of life's struggles. Her mother is a drug addict who supports her habit by stealing and/or prostitution. Her older brother is serving a life sentence in prison for killing the man who turned their mother out. With no one to care for her and teach her the ways of the world, at a very young age, Toni begins her education of life on the streets of Coney Island, Brooklyn. Her daily concern is earning enough money to take care of her most basic needs. When she meets very rich and very handsome Matthew Peters, only then does she begin to think about life outside the culture in which she grew up. Matthew, somewhat disconnected from his world and looking to experience more in life, sees Toni as his lifeline. But, having been tucked away in his ivory tower on Long Island, he knows nothing about the ghetto or the life Toni lives. Neither is prepared for the changes that need to happen in order for them to exist together.

As they contemplate a relationship, several people stand in the way. Toni's gangster boyfriend Tec will kill anyone who dares to mess with his turf. Matthew's domineering fiancée and mother will stop at nothing to see that he gets to the altar. They both work in tandem to keep him close to their vest. Will Toni turn him out? Will Toni's coach turn into a pumpkin at midnight with no prince charming? Will her prince charming even be interested once he finds out the truth?

Erick S. Gray has written a very fast-paced, action-filled story about life on Coney Island. Can you say, page-turner? It was very hard to put this book down. I will admit that the language at times was offensive, the killings were brutal, and there were a few grammatical errors to contend with. But the characters and the overall story kept me enthralled. Mr. Gray did an excellent job of managing several plots and a huge cast of characters without missing a beat and leaving just enough to hint at a sequel.

Reviewed by Brenda M. Lisbon
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

Beautiful. Just Beautiful. I honestly have never heard of Erick Gray until i saw he have published a book with one of my favorite authors, K'Wan. I know about K'Wan work, but i did not know about Gray's work. So i saw that my local library had ghetto heaven and at first i thought... great another urban tale. Dude deals drugs, dude gets a hot chick, and they go ride or die. so i picked it up and read the synopsis and saw that this book was something different than what i am use to. And i can tell you, it was one of the best books i have read. I had read it three times within the time i had it at the library and i bought it over the internet. Great work. I believe that Erick Gray proven to us that we are never too old to believe in fairy tales.

the book i got was in great condtion but the book was a waste of time save ur money .

sign a true book worm