Customer Reviews

Red Light Wives

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Working girl. Escort. Hooker. Prostitute. Call Girl. Pro. These are all words commonly used to describe women in the oldest profession in the world. However, Clyde Brooks calls his girls wives, and you'll never hear him calling himself a pimp. The six women prominently featured in Mary Monroe's latest novel, RED LIGHT WIVES, all fall into Clyde's profession in one way or another, be it lineage, circumstance, chance, or loyalty.

Ester has known Clyde for much of her life. When she was a baby, Clyde found her lying in a dumpster, left for dead. Over a decade later Ester and Clyde reunite and she becomes his first wife. But being without a family or lineage has left Ester confused about her heritage and even more confused about her purpose.

Rosalee has been haunted most of her adult life by a supposed curse that virtually wiped out her family. Upon her mother's insistence, Rosalee, her new husband, and her mother fled to escape the curse that Rosalee's mother believes in wholeheartedly. However, Rosalee's mother is rarely satisfied, and she demands that they move yet again. Rosalee's husband refuses to move and she leaves him behind and becomes a new type of wife to Clyde Brooks and a puppet to her mother.

Lula Mae seems to have a dark cloud following her in life. After witnessing her mother's loose ways and later suffering abuse from her stepmother, Lula Mae takes up with the wrong man and finds herself in a tragic situation. Her solution is to flee her problems and make a new life in a new town. But tragedy strikes yet again for Lula Mae, and she finds she must survive by any means necessary.

Rockelle's husband left her and her three children without so much as a Dear Jane letter. Feeling the need to keep up with the Joneses, Rockelle enlists her body as her moneymaker and soon finds herself married to the moll.

Mary Monroe staggeringly brought the four previously mentioned women, two others, and their manager, Clyde, to a luminous life. Monroe did not glamorize the profession, nor did she bash it. Rather, she made certain that she illustrated the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a working girl. Each character holds their voice in the story, and are never left behind or forgotten. She simplifies the sometimes-daunting task of not only introducing a large amount of protagonists, but also following them all through to the very end. RED LIGHT WIVES is a dazzling work by a masterly maven of fiction.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Monroe pens another hit in her latest release, Red Light Wives. As the title implies, the story centers on the complicated interrelationship of four "working" ladies and their pimp, Clyde Brooks. The story is in the telling and Monroe creates full-bodied women with sordid pasts that leave them desperate for money, affection, happiness, and independence.

As a beautiful failed model Rosalie embraces the "life" to provide for her manipulating and controlling mother who is haunted by a voodoo curse;

Ghetto fabulous Rockelle is abandoned by her husband and has a penchant to keep up with the "Joneses" at all costs;

Street-smart Ester is deserted at birth and rescued by a teenaged Clyde, her dedication and loyalty to him is obvious but flawed;

Helen, a mentally challenged girl who mimics her idol (Rockelle), relishes the physical attention from men and boys until fate catches up to her; and

Lula Mae, a country girl, has had it rough from childhood and who is rebounding from losing a lover, husband, and child finds herself penniless, alone, and in the lowest of low places when she meets Rockelle who introduces her to Clyde.

Clyde, devoted father, grandson, and womanizer provides escort services to a variety of clients.

These colorful characters have deep roots, haunting histories, and a myriad of problems that only Monroe can imagine. She taps in to the human psyche of each woman as she connives to leave Clyde and reclaim her life and dignity. Told in alternating voices and true to Monroe style, there is plenty of fast-paced drama with several surprises along the way. I found myself turning pages with anticipation to see how it would all play out. Although the subject matter may disturb some readers, she handles the subject matter with plausible respectability and decency thus delivering a seemingly tolerable, easy, and ultimately enjoyable read. Monroe has earned a place on my favorite author list - looking forward to whatever she releases next.

Reviewed by Phyllis Rhodes
APOOO Book Club
Nubian Circle Book Club

I've read all of Mary Monroe's books and will continue if her writing stays as consistent as she has shown in Red Light Wives. Ms. Monroe writes in a unique style that I can't really describe but that you know when you read her books. It's something in the words she uses to describe her characters and their thoughts that makes you feel she writes things that people think but wouldn't dare say.

I liked reading each chapter from the female's point of view that the chapter was titled. My favorite character hands down was Helen Daniels. I laughed out loud at some of the stuff she said and thought about Rocky. She was sharper than a lot of the other characters gave her credit for.

True Mary Monroe fans will appreciate this effort while new fans will want to go back and read her other works. I have to admit that God Don't Like Ugly is still my favorite but this book also did a good job with character development. As always when I finish her books much too quickly because I can't put them down, I'm ready for another book from this author!

This novel is very, very confusing at times. It tells the story of six females at one time. I didn't completely understand the story until almost the end of the book. First off, this novel is about a group of four prostitutes, each have different backgrounds, but end up with the same solution to their problems, selling their bodies for money. There are a lot of surprise twists at the end. All in all, this is a very good novel and I would recommend this novel to anyone reading this review.
----Pryncez

Mary Monroe's Red Light Wives is a story of six different women with on(e) thing in common; financial struggles. Each of the women had their own plight and for different reasons they all ended up together as wive's in laws.

Unlike your average Pimp of the seventies and eighties Clyde Brooks was different. He didn't beat his woman. He never demanded anything from his wives, but they freely did what they had to do to make ends meet and to keep their head master satisfied. Clyde had a heart and treated each one of these woman special and with as much respect you can show a working woman.

Red Light Wives was a little different from Mrs. Monroe's usual style of writing but I did enjoy it. I urge you to come inside and learn the lives of the Red Light Wives. Each of them have an intriguing story that you will be drawn into.

Stacy D. Campbell
R.E.A.L. Reviewer

WARNING: You have to really pay attention while reading this book because it's a tale of different women but, it all comes ful circle. Mary wrote this book as if she knew this women...yes it's that good! If you are a fan of her work this will not dissapoint even if your not it won't. It keeps you wanting to know what will happen next. Looking for a good read? Pick this one up!

I actually did enjoy this book. I think the author does an excellent job at weaving the lives of the characters together, and painting a vivid picture for us of what's actually going on.

The downfall of this book, and the reason why I only gave it 3 stars, is that I think the author tries a little TOO hard. She often tries to pour too many deep subjects and heavy material in at once, and it gets to be overkill. She could've ligthened up a bit on some characters, and let us into others a bit more.

Overall, it's a good book and a pretty good read.

Mary Monroe's Red Light Wives was not of the caliber with The Upper Room. I know that characters must make some bad choices in order to cause some conflict, but in this tale, all of the characters make bad choice after bad choice - to the point that they were unbelievable. It seemed like Ms. Monroe wanted the reader to see a softer side to Clyde because of the way he felt about his daughter, but he, again, came off unbelievable. In addition, Helen's character, did not seem like a real person. It must have been difficult as an author to get inside the head of someone who was supposed to be mentally retarded. Instead, Helen came off, not as mentally challenged because her thought process was too organized. Instead, she came off as a very naive adolescent.

Sometimes doing what you have to do for survival isn't always worth it. This was recommended with the novel, "The Million $ Divorce." It was an okay read but I remember several years ago reading a book by this author called The Upper Room and I remember really liking that novel. But this one is not nearly as good.

i love ms. monroe's books!! her books are written w/ such detail and excitement that i can never put them down or explain the plot to anyone else! there is always sooo much going on, you are drawn into the story every time. you have to read her books to know what i mean. ms. monroe keep it up! your books are rare treasures.