The beloved—and hated—Jasmine larson bush returns to battle her own past in a compelling new novel of love, faith, and shame from the Essence bestselling novelist. In Temptation, A Sin and a Shame, and most recently, Too Little, Too Late, Jasmine Larson Bush—a scheming, manipulative, man-stealing diva who was “saved” just in time to become a preacher’s wife—entertained fans with her conniving ways and acts of redemption. In Lady Jasmine, a desperate time from Jasmine’s past threatens the family and the future she worked so hard to build. In order to save her marriage with Reverend Hosea Bush, Jasmine was forced to reveal every secret that remained in her past to him—her real age, her real weight, her real shoe size. She thought she had told Hosea everything. But when Jasmine is blackmailed about a terrible truth from her past that she “forgot” to tell Hosea, more than just her marriage is in jeopardy. Determined to keep the life she fought so hard to save, Jasmine is willing to commit any sin, even murder, to leave her past behind her. No one can know the truth about the First Lady of City of Lights Riverside Church. No one can know that, beneath Jasmine’s veneer of a redeemed Christian wife, there lies a sinner—especially her trusting husband.
Lady Jasmine
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Victoria Christopher Murray is the bestselling author of five novels, including Too Little, Too Late and A Sin and a Shame. She lives in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Death was on her mind, but Jasmine wasn't thinking of her own demise. Her hands still trembled as she looked down at the letter she held.
Would the charge be first degree murder or would it be more like manslaughter? Either way, she would go to jail for both before she allowed anyone to reveal this secret.
Jasmine read the words that she'd already memorized: Get your husband to step down from the pulpit or else everyone will know what you did in the summer of 1983.
Hours had passed since she'd first read the letter last night, and she still trembled. Until a few weeks ago, those days had been totally forgotten; expunged from her mind many years before. The summer of '83 was just a small blip on her life's radar. A mistake. A secret.
But it was a big secret that she'd kept from everyone -- including her husband, Pastor Hosea Bush.
Jasmine closed her eyes and remembered the question Hosea had asked her just five months before when they were in Los Angeles.
"Are there any other secrets, Jasmine? Any other lies?"
She'd told him then every truth she could remember, revealed every lie that she'd ever told -- how she was forty-three and not thirty-eight. How she'd been married before. She'd even told him how much weight she'd really gained since she'd had her baby. She'd told her husband everything she could think of.
But she hadn't told him this.
"I have to talk to Hosea," she whispered, remembering the commitment they'd both made never again to keep secrets.
She could tell him -- convince him -- that this was something she'd simply forgotten. But even as she had that thought, she knew that would never happen. There was nothing that would ever make her tell this truth. If Hosea found out about this, she'd lose more than her husband: Hosea might even try to take their daughter, Jacqueline, away from her. This was an unforgiveable sin; at least it would be in Hosea's eyes.
No, she would commit murder before she allowed this to come out. No one could ever know that she'd spent the summer of '83 hanging high and swinging low from a pole.
No one could ever know that Jasmine Cox Larson Bush, the first lady of New York's City of Lights at Riverside Church, used to be a stripper!
Copyright © 2009 by Victoria Christopher Murray
The shocking shrill pierced the black quiet of midnight, but Jasmine had no intention of answering the telephone.
"Don't stop, baby," Jasmine panted when Hosea lifted his head from beneath the sheet.
"Gotta get that," he gasped. "Might be important."
Jasmine glanced at the clock: 12:17. She rolled over, closed her eyes, and, in her mind, returned to the place where she and Hosea were before the telephone rang.
Hosea still knew how to take her straight to heaven. And it was even better now, since he'd stopped thinking about their having a baby. Once conception was taken out of the equation, only pure pleasure remained.
Like tonight. He'd had her singing praises in seventeen languages. And she still had a few native tongues she wanted to test, so whoever was calling, whatever the reason, it had better be worth interrupting some of the best --
"What!" Hosea shouted and clicked on the lamp. "I'm on my way!"
Jasmine sat up straight. "What's wrong?"
"Pops! He's been shot!"
Tossing aside the satin duvet, Jasmine ignored the shock of the cool air as it wrapped around her nakedness. "Shot?" She stood stiff as Hosea leapt from the bed and dashed into his closet.
"That's all Brother Hill said," Hosea yelled back. "He's at Harlem Hospital with Pops now."
The shock finally released her, and Jasmine ran into her own closet. Her mind swirled with questions as she stuffed herself into a pair of jeans, then grabbed a sweatshirt. Shot? By whom? Where? When? By the time Hosea stepped from his closet, Jasmine was ready.
He said, "You don't have to go. I'll call you."
"I'm going with you." Her tone said there would be no further discussion. "I'll check on Jacquie and wake up Mrs. Sloss." She took two steps, then turned back and held Hosea in her arms. "He's going to be okay," she whispered.
His eyes shined with fright, but he nodded like he agreed.
Taking charge, she said, "Instead of driving, let's take a cab. I'll meet you downstairs." She dashed from their bedroom across to the other side of the apartment and tiptoed into their daughter's room.
For her second birthday last month, Jasmine had transformed Jacqueline's bedroom into a princess's pink haven. She peeked into the four-poster toddler cot and straightened the comforter that was bunched around Jacqueline's feet. She kissed her cheek, then knocked on the adjacent door.
"Ms. Jasmine," Mrs. Sloss, their live-in nanny, began the moment she opened the door, "something wrong with Jacquie?" Her voice was filled with sleep, but her eyes were wide.
"No." Jasmine was already rushing toward the living room. "Hosea's godfather just called. Someone shot Reverend Bush."
"Oh, no!" The nanny followed behind her. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Just take care of my baby."
As she waited for the elevator, Jasmine paced and tried to think. But even by the time she ascended to the lobby, she couldn't make sense out of this news.
"Mr. Bush is waiting for you," the doorman said, as he held the door for her. Jasmine stepped outside and paused to say a quick prayer. Then she jumped into the waiting cab and they sped off into the midnight quiet of the February night.
Their steps echoed like rapid fire through the hospital's hallway. Jasmine squeezed Hosea's hand right before they stepped to the nurses' station.
"I'm here to see -- "
"Hosea!"
When Brother Hill ran up behind them, Jasmine's eyebrows raised a little at the sight of the man in a jogging suit. She'd never seen the church deacon without a tie.
"Where's Pops?" Hosea asked right after he embraced his godfather.
"He's in the Trauma Unit." With his hand on his shoulder, Brother Hill led Hosea toward a room as if his godson had come alone.
Jasmine took a deep breath and followed the two men. It took everything within her not to be upset with the way Brother Hill ignored her. She had to remember that this wasn't about her -- this was about Reverend Bush, a man she'd grown to love.
But the truth: it was hard not to go off. Taking insults from Brother Hill and his band of bandits -- the decades-long friends of Reverend Bush who didn't think she was good enough to be Hosea's wife -- had become part of her life. These old-timers who'd known Hosea since his childhood were still holding on to her past; they'd never forgotten how Hosea had fallen in love with her while she was secretly sleeping with (and becoming pregnant by) another man. And they certainly hadn't forgiven her for tricking Hosea into believing he was the father of her unborn child.
What was their problem? If God had forgiven her, and Hosea had forgiven her, and Reverend Bush had forgiven her, who were these people to treat her as if she was some kind of sinner?
The sound of her husband's voice brought Jasmine back. "So tell me, what happened?"
Brother Hill started shaking his head before he even began to speak. "We walked out to the parking lot -- we'd been at the church late reviewing the fiscal report and he was still working on his sermon for tomorrow. But when I got to my car, I realized I'd left my keys. I went back inside, and that's when I heard the gunshots. By the time I got back to Samuel -- " He stopped. "The doctors gave us this room so that we could have privacy."
When they stepped inside, Mrs. Whittingham, Reverend Bush's assistant and one of Brother Hill's bandits, stood and hugged Hosea. The woman hesitated, then gave Jasmine a loose embrace. Turning back to Hosea, Mrs. Whittingham asked, "How you holding up, baby?"
Hosea's eyes blinked rapidly. "This doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone shoot Pops?"
Mrs. Whittingham said, "Detective Foxx was one of the first policemen there," she said, referring to one of the City of Lights members. "He thinks Samuel got caught in the middle of some gang fire."
"How bad is he?" Jasmine asked.
Brother Hill shrugged. "The doctors haven't told us anything. We've been waiting for -- here's one of the doctors now."
Jasmine's eyebrows rose slightly as the African American woman clothed in surgical scrubs approached.
Brother Hill made the introductions. "Doctor McCollors, this is Reverend Bush's son, Hosea."
Shaking hands, Hosea asked the doctor, "How's my father?"
"Well, he was shot twice -- once in his shoulder. But it's the shot that he took to his head that's the serious problem."
"Oh, my God!" Jasmine whispered the words that were spoken by all of them.
The doctor continued, "It's caused a lot of swelling and bleeding. We're going in to remove some of the pressure."
"I want to see him," Hosea demanded.
"We're taking him into surgery now. It'll be a couple of hours."
"Doctor McCollors?" A policeman, standing outside the room, motioned to the doctor.
"Excuse me," she said, before leaving the foursome standing in stunned silence.
Seconds later, the quiet was broken by, "Hosea!"
The high-pitched woman's voice made Jasmine frown before she swiveled around. She watched Pastor Wyatt, the associate pastor at City of Lights enter the room with a slight woman. The mousy-looking female, whose hair was upturned in a sixties-style flip, handed the tray of drinks she held to the pastor before she rushed to Hosea and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I'm so sorry," the woman squeaked over and over . "Ivy!" Hosea pulled back and, for the first time since they'd received the call, he smiled a little. "What're you doing here?"
"I'm visiting Sarai," she said, turning to Mrs. Whittingham. "I hadn't been home in a while and decided to take a sabbatical this sem...
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Victoria Christopher Murray is the Essence bestselling author of the novels Truth Be Told, Joy, and Temptation. Visit her at www.victoriachristophermurray.com. She lives with her family in Inglewood, California.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Saved In The Sanctuary!!!!,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Lady Jasmine: A Novel (Paperback)
Jasmine Lawson Bush is back. Was able to hold on that Hubby, Hosea after a lifetime of lies were revealed. First Lady Jasmine promises no more lies, no more secrets. The Jezbel life is over and done. She is now living for the Lord. Life would be wonderful if that was true for Jasmine. Jasmine proves yet again that like an animal when backed into a corner you come out scratching. To protect what yours how far would you go? Few more lies, blackmail, thoughts of having someone killed and even covering up a death. All these to protect those near and dear. To save a marriage, home, family even a life. This novel takes you there. Sistah got to do what a sistah got to do. Except Jasmine doesn't expect GOD to intervene. He never left her side. She wonders off. I really enjoyed turning the pages on this one. I think there had better be a sequel.
Hat's off to the pennmanship of Mrs. Victoria C. Murray. I have recommended it to all my friends.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Singing the praises of Lady J,
By Keleigh Crigler Hadley (author of the Preacher's Kids series) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Lady Jasmine: A Novel (Paperback)
How many of us believe that we have been "washed white as snow"?
Victoria Christopher Murray has aptly tapped into one of the greatest fears we as Christians have, and that is we will never be good enough for God. In Lady Jasmine we see the First Lady of the church succumb to one of Satan's greatest tricks and lies. Wonderfully written, we can identify with Jasmine's struggles and inner demons because we have all been there. Some of us don't make it back, and at one point I wondered if Jasmine would see the light. Which makes the story even better because it is not predictable. There are great unexpected twists that make this book inspiring, encouraging, and uplifting to Christians and non-Christians everywhere. I remember thinking while reading,that we all make mistakes. But the great part about it is that God allows us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and move forward. Just because you fall down today, doesn't mean that tomorrow you must remain down. Ever slipped out in public and actually fell down? Jumped up real quick, didn't you? The next thing you did was looked around and prayed that nobody saw you. (Just a little side note to you--SOMEBODY always sees you.) Just as quickly as you bounced up from a "real" fall, you can bounce back from a figurative fall. In Jasmine's mind and so many other Christians minds, good Christians never fall. Unfortunately for most of us, we have to learn the hard way that is simply not true. I plan on passing this book on to a couple friends that are currently wondering if they are "good enough" to be Christians. I think Jasmine's testimony, trials, and triumph will serve as a great example that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God", but Christ's love can redeem us. Keleigh Crigler Hadley author [...]
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
God don't like ugly,
By Reader Rabbit (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lady Jasmine: A Novel (Paperback)
I'm sorry, but I just can't believe God would continue to bless someone who lies as much as Lady Jasmine does. And not just small lies, major ones. And the last time I checked, God also didn't like us doing His work which is just what Lady J did with the sheming she did in trying to keep her husband as senior pastor. And about her husband Hosea... I found him to be weak in spite of the author trying to make him seem strong for remaining with Jasmine. He was gullible beyond belief and just how many lies is he supposed to accept from this woman when he continues to say how hoensty and trust at the most important things to him? I have read all of the books about Jasmine and I have to say that I liked her less and less with each one. I only read this one because I thought she was finally going to change for real. But, I think she will continue to lie her way through anything and manipulate the husband who loves her unconditionally. Whether this is the last book about Miss Jasmine or not, it will be my last.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
