Customer Reviews

Plenty Good Room

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PLENTY GOOD ROOM by Cheri Paris Edwards
November 10, 2005

Amazon Rating: 3/5 Stars

PLENTY GOOD ROOM by Cheri Paris Edwards, is the story of Tamara Briton, a 30-something single African American woman with a successful life working for a child protective agency. She lives alone and is for the most part a loner, with a few close friends. When Sienna Larson comes into her life, a teenager that needs a place to stay, Tamara's life is turned upside down.

Sienna is a teenager that has been in the foster family system all her life. She's known to be trouble, and it isn't any different for Tamara. Tamara does her best to make Sienna feel at home, but the girl does anything she can to get attention, usually something inappropriate. Tamara is not happy that she has to deal with Sienna, who is almost always acting up, but she tries everything including taking Sienna to church. Tamara gets advice from her friend Denise Jackson, a woman who has had success with foster children and soon Tamara notices a change in Sienna.

With her new found faith in God, Tamara finds the strength to care for Sienna, and at the same time she makes friends with Isaiah Perry, one of Sienna's teachers at school. Tamara's life has definitely changed since she had been introduced to Sienna, and not all of it has been bad.

The story of Sienna and Tamara is the main story, but there is a subplot about a young runaway. The two stories run in parallel, and while it can get a little confusing, by the end of the story the reader will understand who this runaway is. Another subplot is Tamara's need to find the true biological parents of her friend Yvette. Tamara states that Yvette is the reason why she is now working to help other children find happiness by finding for them better family environments for these children that are living in unstable homes. All three plots will be tied up at the end, and the reader should be happy with what they learn.

I found the novel intriguing enough to finish it, but I felt that at times the writing could have been tighter. Things felt a bit vague throughout the book, but it is possible this was the author's intention. Regardless, PLENTY GOOD ROOM is well written for being a debut novel. Recommended.

I enjoyed this book immensly. The characters were very engaging and well developed. It was as though I knew each character . The message that I got from this book is that even though we may feel like we are alone in our problems ,God is always with us. That He never leaves us and when we are going through our most disheartening trials as the poem Footprints states, that is when He is carrying us. In one chapter when Yvette/Tamara was running from one place to another not knowing where her next meal was coming from, God stepped in as the old preacher who took her in and fed her. She was afraid to stay and she ran again but He always was with her whether was the old preacher or the teenage boy in the group home who looked out for her. They represented the Lord and His love for us. When she faced her most toughest challenge-Sierra- He placed Denise Jackson in her life so she would have someone to confide in and lean on in her time of need.
As the book came to its climactic end I must point out that God even helped Sierra to find some purpose in her life with her gift of singing. I sure hope this isn't the last I will read about Tamara and Sierra. I would have enjoyed and epilogue at the end of the book ,butI pretty much drew my own conclusions.
I do hope to read more from Ms. Edwards because this was a great read.

It's always refreshing to read a book from a new author, especially one that stands out from the rest. Plenty Good Room by Cheri Paris Edwards is one of those rare Christian novels that offer readers a peak inside the heart and soul of the lost. Readers will get a chance to witness how God truly never leaves or forsake us.

Tamara Britton is a child advocate who leads a quiet, lonely life. In one night her seemingly controlled life changes when fourteen year old Sienna Larson is dropped off at her home. In a matter of days, Tamara's world is turned upside down after she agrees to let Sienna stay in her home for an unlimited amount of time. Normally a calm, controlled person, Tamara often finds herself being pushed to the edge by Sienna's rude and endless troubles.

In the midst of her struggling relationship with Sienna, Tamara's mysterious past slowly comes to light as she searches for a childhood friend. During her search, she learns how to open her heart to relationships. Her openness allows her to create a stable environment and an opportunity to bond with Sienna. Unexpectantly, a romance begins to stir for her with the main suitor being God himself.

Cheri Paris Edwards provides readers an eye-opening look at the disturbing consequences of poverty, drug abuse, child abuse, homelessness, and the juvenile system. Truly foster parents, social workers and childhood advocates have a special role in bringing a sense of security to a lost child. With sadness, some children are totally lost in the system. While they seem to be forgotten, Cheri Paris Edwards shows how God never forgets us. While fictional, Tamara's story is a testimony that deserves to be read!

Tamara Britton works for the Care for Kids Agency in the Stabilization Division of the child protective unit. The translation is: Services to help at-risk families and their vulnerable children.

Sienna, a runaway teen who is awaiting foster care placement-and happens to have an attitude and a foul mouth-comes to stay with Tamara. It's a cinch life is about to spiral out of control for the dedicated social worker. Trouble is "riding shotgun" and with a challenging teen that is expected. What Tamara didn't expect was that she would begin looking into her own past. And with her exploration, Tamara learns that she can embrace life.

While we're on the ride with this twosome, we watch and root for them as they learn to care for each other in a way they didn't expect, and also grow in their relationship with God in ways they didn't realize they could.

I enjoyed Cheri Paris Edwards debut novel, Plenty Good Room. There was some predictability but somehow that didn't detract; it made it somehow nice and easy. Warm, funny, loving moments were added as well as a hint of some mystery in Tamara's background and a bit of romance to light the way. I believe Edwards has a good many other stories to tell, and you'll want to be in on the read.

Cheri Paris Edwards has written a wonderful book of hope and personal growth. Tamara and Sienna are wonderful characters. You'll cry with them, you'll laugh with them, and you'll take them into your heart. They show perfectly how God brings us from a place of feeling alone and unloveable to a place where we can accept the love that only He can give. Plenty Good Room is an important book also because it provides an honest and open look at the foster care system. I hate to admit my ignorance, but I never really thought that a lot of African Americans ended up in the system. This book opened my eyes and made me think seriously about how I can support children in the foster care system.

Cheri Paris Edwards debut novel left me wanting more!! Tamara & Sienna's stories were heartwarming, and I was caught up in the story lines after just a few pages. This story will help you to remember that there is plenty good room in our lives for others, and there is plenty good room for for us in God's Kingdom! Well done!

Ms. Edwards first book is a touching and encouraging message about God's miracles and the power of love. This book uses the context of social services to tell a story of the impacts of abuse in the lives of the two main characters, Tamara Britton and Sienna Larson. Both characters were wounded by their experiences in the foster care system and find family and love through a miracle of God. While the book is a must read for all foster care parents and those who are potential foster care parents, this book is also for those who have struggled with healing their wounds and allowing God's love and the love of others to break through the walls of distrust. As a person trained as a Clinical Psychologist, I have seen too many cases where there is an unhappy ending related to abuse victims and I was glad that the book ended on a happy note. Even though this story is a fiction, it can inspire and give hope to those who feel alone and unloved. In God's house there is "Plenty Good Room" and God can work miracles just when we least expect them. I am looking forward reading more of Ms. Edwards books. I am also hoping that in the future she will write another book that will let us know what happened to Tamara, Sienna and Isaiah.

I very much enjoyed Plenty Good Room, it was like reading two books in one and then coming to a meeting of the minds at the end.

As a foster parent, I thought that this book did a good job of showing the foster system as a backdrop to the story without being filled with just alot of case studies. It really brought home that in the miss of everything these people also have lives.

I found that I could really feel the growth of the main charater and understand what she was going through without being able to determine how it would all end.

The spritual parts of the story really added to the telling without making you feel like you were reading a sermon. It was a nice mix and I felt it shown a good representation of how a person finds themselves and reconnets with GOD.

I have already recommended this book to several of my friends.

Good Job!!

Plenty Good Room is an illustrious tale filled with colorful characters. The main character, Tamara Britton is a quiet and timid woman. When a change of events causes Tamara to become a foster parent of a rebellious teen, the experience is something she never expected. The narrator of the story remains ominous which allows the reader to become involved in the emotions, thoughts, and actions of the main character. All of the characters are relatable in which a reader should identify with each character as the conversations between characters flow naturally (dialect, speech patterns, and all...). The author also does a great job of giving insight on the foster care system for which the novel takes place. If you like novels with mystery and the arrival of a "stranger" that shake things up a bit, then this is definitely a novel for you.

Tamara Britton lives a quiet, uncomplicated life as a caseworker for a social service agency. When she reluctantly takes in Sienna Larson, a rude, streetwise teenager, Tamara discovers what life is like on the other side of foster care. At first, Sienna brings out the worst in Tamara, but as the weeks go by, the troubled teenager unexpectedly helps Tamara deal with long-buried secrets that set her on a journey to confront a painful past and embrace a new future. Although a couple of the plot twists are revealed midway through, others come as a nice surprise. The plot will keep you turning the pages, waiting for the next revelation, culminating in a climax between Tamara and Sienna that is poignant and reminiscent of a defining moment between a mother and daughter. A sub-story within the novel involves two men, Isaiah & Jayson, who are both attracted to Tamara; however, a romance never develops. This concept seems deliberate by Edwards in order to make it possible for the bigger "love story" between Tamara and Sienna to blossom. In the hands of another writer, this could have easily turned into a clichéd love triangle. One of the things Edwards does very well is break down the meanings of certain Christian beliefs, like God's love, so that the beauty of their complex explanations is in their simplicity. More than an indictment on the failings of our foster care system, PLENTY GOOD ROOM is a story about the constant presence of God in our lives, even when we aren't aware of it. Edwards is to be congratulated on the telling of a touching, well-crafted story. PLENTY GOOD ROOM is one of the best Christian novels to emerge not only from the popular Christian fiction market, but also from the ever-growing list of African-American Christian authors.