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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Home is Where the Heart Is, March 22, 2006
What is a girl from Sweet Poke, Arkansas supposed to do when she has a backwards family that humiliates her to no end? Get as far away from them as possible. This is the dilemma of Rae Rollins which ReShonda Tate Billingsley presents in I Know I've Been Changed. Rae, broadcast star extraordinaire, has the perfect life. Head anchor at a top Houston TV channel making big bucks and a handsome rich fiancée, Myles. But all that glitters is not gold. The best laid plans are sure to hit a snag when her family invades her space; using her as an ATM, calling and begging for money or showing up, loud and ignorant at her job. Take her cousin Kevin; he is on the news for committing mayhem, robbin' and shootin'. And his brother has the nerve to come to the newsroom and ask for money for Kevin's defense. Rae wishes they all would just disappear. And now Mama Tee is demanding she come to the family reunion. Will the nightmare ever end? But the Bible says pride goes before a fall. Rae has a few things to learn about family, faith and forgiveness.
Rae's perfect dollhouse is about to crumble. Myles' late nights and a new boss, who is out to get her, are about to consume her made- to-order existence. Circumstances dictate a return to Sweet Poke and now she is right smack in the middle of family conflict, reminisces of an old flame and the return in her life of the one person who has hurt her the most.
This novel definitely kept me entertained. The characters were whacky; Mama Tee reminded me of Tyler Perry's Madea. This is the third novel I've read this year that has sister conflict as Rae's sister, Shondella, was a piece of work. Rae was not a likeable character but the premise of redemption prevailed. This reviewer delighted in the theme of "going home", back to one's roots. At times the dialogue of country folk was out of character and the vocabulary a little advanced but overall, the characterizations rang true. Tate Billingsley has struggled with finding her "place" in the literary landscape of boxed-in genres but seems to have accepted her destiny as a contemporary Christian Fiction writer, itself an ambiguous term. Nevertheless, fans will be satisfied no matter what.
Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
May I have Five more stars please? If you weren't a Fan before..., February 2, 2006
You will be after this one!
Reshonda has done it AGAIN, and I for one, am glad she'll keep on doing it... in this latest family drama... we meet and fall for Raedella Rollins who left the small town of Sweet Poke, Arkansas.
In search of bigger and better things she takes a bus bound for the lone star state. She has very little outside of her four mismatched suitcases, a newsroom job offer, and a promise to never look back.
Fast foward to years later, Rae has done well for herself considering her humble beginnings... she's a top-rated talk show host, a celebrity news anchor, and fiancée to Houston's star councilman. The future looks bright for Rae.
But now that she's reached the top, her less than perfect family comes knocking. Mama Tee, the grandmother who raised her, calls with unwelcome family updates, Shondella, her jealous older sister, guilts her into sending money regularly.
Rae is hard pressed to think of something worse than an unexpected reunion with her country kinfolk. But when her picture-perfect world comes crashing down literally... Rae's family calls her back to Sweet Poke and the life she left behind.
Once again Reshonda has introduced us to some of our very own people in her characters (whether we want to admit it or not) she has also given us a list of charactters to fall in love with and wonder about how their stories truly end... I see a sequel for this one as well.
Reshonda deserves 10 out of five stars for this one, and you, your family, friends and even your not so good friends all deserve this gift so run out and pick up 'I know I've been Changed' so that you may all figure out what I've known for years...
ReShonda Tate Billingsley is one of the best storytellers around!
Bravo! Bravo!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE READ, July 16, 2006
This book did not disappoint.
It starts off with the life of Raedella Rollins and her childhood. Raedella has a desire to leave Sweet Poke, Arkansas and make it as a journalist. She is tired of living in a poor town and ever more tired of being poor. Raedella leaves her hometown and in the process leaves her family and first love behind.
Raedella arrives in Houston and becomes a smash hit with the local TV channel. As a result, she lies about her family and where she's really from. Raedella has a handsome fiancee names Myles. She thinks she has the perfect man but her best friend thinks differently.
Everything seems to be going good for Raedella and then her world comes tumbling down and she has to return to the place she hates most.
Once returning, Raedella learns the real meaning of family.
The book deals with forgiveness and how hatred will eat you up on the inside without you knowing it.
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