Customer Reviews

When All Hell Breaks Loose

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Camika Spencer's debut novel is about black twenty something. It is fast and funny. The author will have you laughing and looking in the mirror to see if she's talking about you (whether you're black or white).

On a Sunday morning Gregory Alston has asked Adrian Jenkins to marry him, but when he does all hell breaks loose and he gets more than he bargained for. His mother returns from France, where she has been living since she left the family 20 years ago. His Holy Roller sister Shreese thinks that Adrain is too worldly for Gregory. His dad has locked himself in the bathroom and refuses to come out after his dog dies. His son thinks he is just plain crazy. And if that isn't enough he has Adrain who has more skeletons in her closet than a haunted house. What's a brother to do?

I get the impression that the author, who is black, wrote this book for a black audience. But after reading it I feel it could be about any American family. I know all can enjoy it. What a wonderful read this was. If you liked the movie SOUL FOOD you will love this book.

When All Hell Breaks Loose is a page-turning, entertaining, hilarious, easy to read novel written from the main character, Gregory Alston's perspective. In the midst of preparing for his wedding, Gregory is trying to keep it all together while those close to him appear to be falling apart. His sister, Shreese is carrying on in a scandalous love affair and his mom is back on the scene for his wedding and to rekindle the fire with her husband and a mother-dear relationship with her now grown children. Of course, we can't forget Gregory's male cronies who bring a new meaning to the word dysfunctional or Adrian his fiancee who "has more skeletons in her closet than a haunted house."

I enjoyed When All Hell Breaks Loose and Believe that as Ms. Spencer matures/grows as a writer so will her writing skills; HOWEVER, as a first time writer she's included all the elements which make a book entertaining....crafty/vivid scenes, witty dialogue, interesting characters... and managed to tell a predictable plot in a humorous manner. Additionally, Ms. Spencer was able to tell the story from a male perspective and add sub-plots that smoothly fit into the storyline.

I agree that Ms. Spencer writing reaches folks who probably wouldn't think of picking up a book for pleasure; however, When All Hell Breaks Loose even had some of the 40-something, love to read crowd LOLROTF(laughing out loud rolling on the floor)....and that suits me just fine.

If You Want To Forget About the Responsibilities of Today and Don't Take Yourself Too Serious Then Check Out Ms. Spencers book.

HELL-o! This book had me crackin' up! I read WHEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE over one weekend. I thought my weekend was going to be boring because I had nothing to do, well it was just the opposite. I have never laughed so hard while reading a book in my life!

Camika Spencer has such a unique talent of being able to express life from the male perspective, which is very challenging for a female author to do, which is all-the-more reason to have respect for such bright author.

Gregory Alston, the main character, has it all; a fiance, a promising career, a cool posse to hang with and a strong sense of self-esteem. All hell breaks loose when the women in his life start to wear him down. Greg's sister goes even more church-crazy than she already is, his runaway mother returns and fiance unleashes the key to hell for Gregory when her true colors fly and she gets caught.

I guarantee the fact that every woman who is looking for a good man or believes that a good man is hard to find will want to slap Greg's fiance, Adrian, by the time she has read the entire novel. Why? Well, you'd have to read it to find out.

WHEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE is also great because it is what I call a unisex book, meaning that it's enjoyable to both men and women. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that after I read this book I could not only talk to other women about it; but that I could converse with men about it as well.

I look forward to more work from Camika Spencer.

After reading many(good)reviews for this book, I decided to check it out at the library. I think the book was overrated. There were some good moments, but it seemed like the book was put together over night.

This book is about a 29 year old man, Greg, who proposes to his girlfriend of three years, Adrian. Greg believes that everything is great until all HELL breaks loose. First his sister, Shereese, begins to date a bogus minister from her church. Then all of a sudden Greg's mother comes back to Dallas for his wedding. It doesn't sound that bad, but it's a problem for Greg because the last time he saw her was nineteen years ago, before she left to go to France to pursue her singing career. To top it off, Greg finds out something about Adrian that is going to shock him and change the way he feels about the love of his life.
I had a good time reading this book. It took me like a day and a half to finish because I couldn't stop laughing at Greg's friends. It's pretty cool how Camika Spencer can get into a mans head and write this book. If you didn't know who the author was, you would think that it was a man writing this book. Overall, I recommend this book to those that have a sense of humor and just want to read an easy book after they have read something mind blowing.
:)

Well my bookclub enjoyed every page of this book she was a new author for us and we got our money worth. Boy Adrian was something else but we knew something wasn't right about her and to do a man like that you are what you are and she didn't have to bring Greg into her life like that, but his mother was a for real women and I'm glad the sister got her head on straight. You will enjoy this book I passed it on and everyone say the same thing I couldn't stop reading.

This book was an easy read and funny from beginning to end. I am an avid reader of African American authors and Camika Spencer kept my attention throughout the entire read. I don't know how she attained such a vivid man's point of view but it was excellent. Thank you for giving me something to do during a boring week of jury duty. I read Cubicles the first day and When all Hell Breaks Loose the second. This is definitely a book that I will recommend to others!

This book was okay. I wasn't as explosive as the good reviews nor as horrible as the bad reviews. I think that her writing could use a little fine tuning. (Just a thought, you should take a look before offending people in your audience) I have to agree with some or the outrages from the beauticians and small town college graduates. Hopefully, when she does novel #2, she should slow down and think

When all hell breaks loose, it really breaks loose. The main character Greg is a positive role model and has it going on in his life. His business is booming, his friends are challenging and things are working well with the lady love in his life, enough so that he proposes.

As in real life, what happens when things go well, all hell breaks loose and when you think it cannot get any worse, it does.

This is a page turner and a nice debut novel. It is easy to complete in one setting. It was easy to predict what was going to happen in the end and the author took a few twist to arrive there. One downfall was that the prediction came to early in the book if you are a suspense reader, but it did not detract from the book. A little more developing of the characters will come as Ms. Spencer continues to write, and I expect we will receive more writings from this author.

I read this entire book in one sitting...as usual. Though the book was an easy read that held my attention... I didn't walk away with anything. When I closed the cover at the end... it was like I had hadn't read a thing! I suggest checking this book out from the library... and not spending any money on it. One big plus... the ending was hilarious...though kinda predictable!