Customer Reviews

Uptown and Down

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

 

 

One of the best books I've read this year.

It is a great read when you want to escape into someone else's world. And why not step into Nora's. Living in downtown Manhattan, successful glamourous Nora and her sexy successful husband Jeff have it all. She is advancing in her career as Jeff is breaking barriers as his hip-hop recording company grows. Manhattan at its best, and summers at the Hamptons. But with the success comes some challanges, and a past mistake coupled with pride threatens to break apart the couple that are so great together.

You'll love both Nora and Jeff including their flaws, and won't want the story to end. I've only been to NYC as a tourist, the book opened new places to me and gave a feeling of being in new Harlem and other places I didn't know. The author brings the people and places alive. Absolutely a book worth owning.

The author writes so descriptively, so powerfully! She entertained all my senses to the flavor of New York. Her characters were so multi-faceted and interesting. This is so NOT the typical formula you see in popular African American fiction. I will definitely read her next work. She is a name I'll follow!

This was an exciting book about a young professional couple with fast-paced careers in NYC. This book is primarily about Nora and Jeff Montgomery and their mutual friend Hilton. But there is also some side drama concerning their parents and a scandalous neighbor. Though I liked the book overall, it felt like some of the characters were underdeveloped. Jeff's mother is an insufferable snob who never wanted her son to marry the daughter of a couple of Haitian immigrants. Their mysterious neighbor Olivia is also very haughty and looks down on Nora because she thinks that she is materialistic and superficial. And we know very little about the Deschamps, Nora's parents. They are not major characters, but a little more depth would have been useful in helping the reader to understand their behavior.

Other than that minor criticism, I enjoyed this book.

This was one of the best human interest novels I have ever read. The writer takes you on a journey ot total involvement with the characters. This is one of those rare relationship novels that is well written, exciting, compelling and hard to put down. I will look for more from this writer. She has a flair for bringing a book to life in the way she is able to present the characters, their lives and their feelings. The realness of the story and the emotions jump off the pages.