Customer Reviews

Tangerine (Shades of Style, Book 3)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Her writing is fresh, thoughtful and so original. You become the characters when you read it because Marilynn is so personal...and the characters are so real! Tangerine is such a good book...you won't be able to put in down. You are blessed with each page! Read it with a Chocolate Bar and you're good for the night.
Pam Perry
Chocolate Pages reviews

Jean is the third member of the Garments of Praise team that we get to meet in the Shades of Style series. She's all set to start designing on outfits for NBA teams when the person brought in to collaborate with her is her estranged husband who she hasn't talked to in years because he's been in prison. Nigel tries his best to reconcile with Jean but there's a big wall he has to break down in order to get to her. The two struggle with their relationship as they try to find out how to work together and maybe rekindle the love they once had.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I didn't like it as much as Pink or Jade. Maybe it's because there was such a big age difference between Jean vs Raya and Lily and I could relate more to the two younger women. Jean's also a grandmother which didn't really fit my image of chick lit and the story is more heavy than the other two. However I did enjoy reading about Jean discovering a new relationship with her estranged husband Nigel. This book tackles a lot of heavy subjects such as Nigel being wrongly accused and still put in jail, Monica's problems due to a lack of a father in her life, and what a couple has to deal with when one member has been unfaithful. Jean is very reluctant at first to accept Nigel and it's understandable with the hurt he's gone through. There were lots to learn about the Latino culture in this book. I've always found the idea of a quinceañera very cool and interesting because in the US we don't have something that's equal to it. I liked the fact that it took the granddaughter's help to get the couple back together. It was also very cool to read about hearing designing clothes for NBA teams. Very awesome job. I'd recommend this book for fans of the Shades of Style series. Looking forward to reading about Chenille's story in Turquoise!

The premise behind the novel is fabulous and unique. The couple is married, yet they were separated for such a LONG time that they lost touch with each other. The setup is very believable. Plus, they aren't young anymore (though I suppose that is a matter of opinion) and they even have a teenage granddaughter. Side note**The author still makes them sound attractive, so you tend to forget they are getting gray hair. Also, I love the morality and guilt issues woven into the plot regarding the hero's relationship with Carmen. That made for some great tension. I also loved those Murphy's Law moments interspersed through the story. It makes for some page-turning reading.

The cultural dynamics were also very well-done as were the many things these friends learned from each other during their journeys. There were so many wonderful sub-plots and resolutions that revealed the depth of each character that I was amazed at times with how the author brought out the life in them. These people seemed real; like they were my friends, neighbors, relatives, etc. And the romance between the hero and heroine was downright delectable. Yummy! The love scenes and the gentle humor and camaraderie between the couple were a delight to experience.

My, my, my what we can learn from those who have already taken the journey before us. I liked the main character Jean because she shows us ourselves once we have gotten to a certain age and settled, but just because we have doesn't mean that God has settled with us. This book stands as a reminder there is still always hope for us no matter how old we get and the work God has begun in us, surely he will complete it.

This was a book that really spoke to me. Although I'm not married, nor have I ever been, it's the lessons God is trying to teach us that really touched me. I'm talking about dealing with a loved one who needs help facing a past and dealing with an addiction. I'm talking about taking care of a child and giving them guidance while giving them the freedom to make their own mistakes and find their own way. I'm talking about the story of Advent and the Jesse Tree, where it is mentioned that God wants us to dig a hole as deep as we can go, plant the Jesse Tree (ourselves), and bury it so that it's roots can take hold,it can find water, and grow only prosperous fruit. I'm talking about forgiveness and letting go of what has happened to us in the past so that we can be made whole.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and will have to backtrack to read the first two and the last book in this series. I will definately be planning on buying copies for my co-workers and friends as soon as the store opens tomorrow.

This story brings you closer to the characters and understanding great life lessons that show us all love gets better with time. The story repackages great principles and introduces new ones. While the end is predictable you'll enjoy the ride and learn to love the core group of characters more than you did before. Be sure to get books one (Pink) and two (Jade) and add Tangerine to the collection.

If you're looking for a delicious read, Tangerine's your book. Third in her Shades of Style series, Tangerine is the story of Jean Guerra, one of the characters who inhabit the Garments of Praise fashion house.

Marilynn easily draws you into her story and makes you love her characters. Tangerine is a story about a failed marriage, second chances, the love of family and the importance of friends. Jean is renewing her relationship with God and is feeling her way through a maze of familial and friendship relationships. I just wish I could have parked my feet under Jean's table and shared my heart with her.

The first two books, Pink and Jade chronicled the stories of Raya and Lily--I can't wait for the fourth book to release and complete the circle by telling us the story of Chenille.

TANGERINE, Marilynn Griffith's third book in the Shades of Style series, gives us to an inspiring look at what wrongful incarceration can do to a family. Jean Guerra and Nigel Salvador met and fell in love among the wounded of the Vietnam War. Putting God first, they were married and had one child from that union. By trade, Nigel was a designer, but his career was interrupted by the war. And afterwards, with the compassion of God in him, he is more interested in helping the war veterans. Unfortunately, his compassion was rewarded with a prison sentence for a crime he did not commit. Believing in her husband's innocence, Jean exercises every legal option and uses all their money to get Nigel released from prison. When her fourteen year old daughter informs her of her impending motherhood, Jean makes a choice to focus more on her child. She gives up on her husband and essentially on God also.

Fifteen years later, Jean is a designer and is offered an opportunity with Reebok to design a line of active sportswear with a designer they have chosen to assist her. That designer ends up being none other than her husband Nigel who has obviously moved on with his life. But after all the years of separation and ill feelings, sparks continue to fly between the two. The owner and employees of the company decide to help in the best way they know how; prayer. Can Jean and Nigel repair their broken family? Or, has Nigel really moved on for good?

Griffith has written a truly inspirational read on why we should focus on God in our lives at all times. She covers a multitude of issues in this book. Nigel shows how unshakeable faith is rewarded when one has patience and belief. Jean, though her faith is rocked, finds her way back to God. They both show no matter how bad we as human beings mess up, God has a plan for restoration. The secondary characters and the behind-the-scenes look into a design house were a huge draw for this book. With this being my first book by this author, I'm looking forward to reading some of her other works.

Reviewed by Brenda M. Lisbon
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Tangerine is the third book in Marilynn Griffith's Shades of Style series. Griffith constructs a life of secrets, regrets, revelation and rebirth. In the battle fields of Vietnam, Jean Guerra and Nigel Salvador, met, fell in love, became man and wife, then parents. Nigel being the God fearing man that he is tried to do right by a friend, and for his mistake he was sent to prison for something he did not do. Jean tried to be supportive and fight to clear his name, but when their soon to be fifteen year-old comes to Jean and tells her she does not want to have her quinceañera, but will take the money to have an abortion, Jean decides to focus more on her daughter.

Many years pass and God had it in his plan for these two to be together, so he found a way to put back together what man had tried to pull apart. Jean was asked by Reebok to come up with a line of active wear and they would send someone out to work with her on the project. Little did she know that it would be her long-lost husband.

Nigel had tried to move on, but he was still married to his wife that he had searched for but could never find. Carmen, the woman that helped him get his life back together, was happy to find the mystery wife. Now the divorce could take place and a new life can begin, but for whom?

Tangerine is a book that I recommend to a reader who does not believe in the spirit of true love and the power of God. The fourth book to this series, titled Turquoise, will be out August of this year. I cannot wait.

Jennifer Coissiere
APOOO BookClub

The Shades of Style books were all well written and not one was a disappointment. Her characters are rich and the stories draw you into them in such that by the time you finish you have made some friends that you hate to leave.

I was inclined to ignore her books because of the cover, but take a look inside; romance lovers will not want to miss one of books in this series.

She is excellent and women of color absolutely sing in her books.