Customer Reviews

The Highest Price for Passion

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

 

 

After a long and unknown delay (at least to me) this book makes it to the shelves. I saw this book probably 2 years ago and the cover jumped out grabbed my attention. The fact that it was being published by Strebor Books made its stock jump a few notches as well.

So when I saw it in my store I was very excited! At the very beginning this book has some bite because it was brutal, sexual, mean, and driven. Unfortunately it slowed down and slowed down QUICK! I'll tell you first the things that I did like. The story itself was good and the main characters (or so I thought) weren't spared when the story called for them to be beaten, raped, killed, shot at, humiliated, bought, sold, whatever! I appreciate when an author just goes with the story and lets it tell itself. I wish she would have stuck with that.

Now for the bad parts: I don't know if the publisher was just tired of waiting on this one, if the author was rushed to finish this or what but this was just not a good read. The author jumped around a lot between time periods and never really made it clear a lot of the time which character was narrating. She switched between first, second, and third person and that slowed things down a lot! Now, a lot of authors will tell the story from a number of different characters point of view, however, the storytelling between the characters in this book did not flow at all.

She would tell us about a slave and then jump to telling us the story from that slaves parent's point of view, and then from the slave's parent's point of view from the future (or past). In my opinion it was too much and had a lot to do with why this wasn't a very good book. This was one of those books where I REALLY wanted it to be good because there is a lot here to work with and I did like the premise, the violence, and the sexuality. Some of the deeds the author describes are just plain mean and extremely painful and that is why I was drawn to the first part of this book. I just wish it didn't stop. There was too much jumping around, uneven dialogue, rushed storyline, and not enough cohesiveness to make this a worthwhile investment, whether it be time or money.

This book was very, very good. I loved the slavery setting. This book was different from any other lesbian books i've read. Who would have thought about writing about homosexuality and slavery? Great book!

I enjoyed this book very much. Barely could put it down yet was mostly intrigued by the part that classifies this book as a lesbian book. I had no idea, I see that there were plenty of references to two Slave Masters to being gay and one situation where a Mistress to being gay but I'd hardly say that this was a good read.
I enjoyed the book because too often in our oral history lessons we speak of how the Master's would use and abuse the Slave girls/women but hardly ever hear of the Mistress and Slave Men or the Master's and the Slave MEN... that to me, is real life.
Yes the author jumped around a lot and if you were not paying attention you would get lost and I agree with L. Romich - the cover of the book makes you think the book is about something totaly different, you'd never guess it was set during slave times considering the woman on the cover is clean and of all things, has on a pair of crispy white panties...
I don't think that the description of the book on the back is accurate either... after starting the book I had to go back and cross reference what was on the back with what I was reading the entire thinking... is this right?
It's a good book, aside from the cover of the book, the description on the back and the indication that this is a lesbian book... it's a winner to me

It is in the 1800s and slavery is alive and well in America. Families are torn apart and people are stripped of their dignity all for working on the plantation. Unlike her white counterparts, Annie Few Smith did not agree with slavery and was always at odds with her husband on this issue. Things get out of hand when the love for a slave that Annie grew up with gets out of hand. Fast forward twenty years later, and Annie's now grown daughter Passion is in danger of being captured and sold into slavery. Annie has protected Passion from this since she was a baby, but her luck may have ran out.

The Highest Price for Passion is an innovative novel by Laurinda D. Brown. Brown tells an excellent story with a historical back drop. The scenes in this book are so descriptive that you can picture everything that is taking place. You will see how this story is told through the eyes of the slaves, the masters and their wives. Readers will feel all of the emotional drama that takes place in this book. Brown does a wonderful job of incorporating true historical events into this novel without losing the reader. In reading this book, you can tell that this story was a well researched project. The Highest Price for Passion is an enthralling page-turner with unforgettable characters.

Reviewed by Radiah Hubbert
for Urban Reviews

I hate to sound so bad but this book was terrible. It seems like with every book Laurinda Brown writes she gets worse and worse. I was expecting someone brilliant and I got just another bad book by laurinda. I am so glad I read my friend's copy. I said after Strapped I wasn't going to purchase another L. Brown book unless I read it first and well I am so glad I didn't buy this.

This was NOT at all what I was expecting....When I first saw the cover for this book months ago...I couldn't wait for it to become available.....B/c....After reading "Walk Like A Man" by Laurinda D. Brown...Which was off tha chain!!!....I was expecting for this to be equally as good...But, it just didn't grab me like her other novels have...I mean it's an OK read but....It's not a book I'd want to re-read again...

Freedom is something that is simply taken for granted in the modern world. "The Highest Price for Passion" is a novel of romance in the time of slavery on a plantation. A particularly beautiful and bright slave drives a master and mistress apart for her affections. A vividly written, entertaining and enlightening tale, "The Highest Price for Passion" is highly recommended for fiction fans, especially those regarding African American issues.

Ms. Brown has outdone herself again!! This book was a great read as usual!

Set back in the 1700's to 1800's, unfolds the story of a beautiful girl that was born to the white slave master and the handsome slave. It tells the story of a friendship that was one of a jealous nature and a love so strong that not even the unspoken rules of a white woman and a slave could stop the passion and love that had for one another, not even her husband. When he finds out he is hell bent on making them suffer. There is also and underlying story of how the slave masters would punish the slaves when they ran off, that kinda intertwines into this story. I'm not gonna say what it is, but I can honestly say I have never read about this in any of the southern/slave type stories I have ever read. It makes you really look at it a little differently.

This book was a fast read for me BUT the thing that I really had a hard time with is that this book was set back in the 1700's and I find it unbelievable that the slaves and owners would be cussing and using the words we hear today. Its just during that time period I am sure they probably had their own slang but highly unlikely they were using the words of today. That really threw the book off for me. Also the author kept going back and forth on the narration of the story. In looking at the cover you would have never known that this book was set back in this time period. All in all it was an okay read.