The unlikeable lead character -I Luv ’em!
Danni Ahmed from UNBROKEN could best be described as bat shit crazy when the reader first gets a look at her:
The stench of alcohol invaded his nostrils even before he saw the girl, the screen door blasting open with such force it almost swung back and clipped her.
He was out of his chair with a bobble head nod in greeting, holding the glass in his hand. “G-good afternoon Ma’am.”
“Oh just shut the fuck up.”
It goes downhill from there for Alex Campos, in a role reversal where he’s the hot new guy trying to land the girl. But Danni’s used to guys like Alex, suckups who want to play for her father. Her dad’s considered the kingmaker where they live, a high school coach who’s sent more of his players to the pros than any other. Why he’s not coaching at the college level is anyone’s guess, but most people would probably say it’s because of his wayward daughter. UNBROKEN is a contemporary romance featuring a strong willed young woman who refuses to kowtow to anyone, even an iron willed father and the boys who’ve fallen under her spell.
By comparison, tough as nails Layla Reeves from DRAWN TO YOU/JUST THE WAY YOU ARE has a new body and a new attitude, only so called friends want to keep her down. Before her weight loss she was the girl they could call at the last minute to babysit, or the one who had their back in a fight. Now that she’s no longer the chubby funny girl, people say she’s different. But the truth is, they never really knew her:
“Promise you won’t look. I want this to be a surprise.” His voice returned to the soft tenor she remembered from high school.
Layla was just about ready to break her promise, needing to see his face at the big reveal, slipping off her coat to let him see how much she’d changed.
Instead she was staring face to face with her former self, sixty pounds heavier, head thrown back in throaty laughter, her apple bottom seated in a canvas of pearl and crème. It was amazing how a pallet of colors could form a spot on likeness of a person. Brush strokes swirled upwards or zigzagged into squares, hundreds of them that somehow meshed into her twin.
Of the three, Nadia Shakur is in the inenviable position of defending her actions after accusing a local bar of racial profiling. But what seemed so clear has gotten muddied by statements of people who claim she got what she deserved. I decided to add in the twist of the bar owner’s sex on a stick brother who also challenges her scenario of events in the novella INSEPARABLE. Will she be strong enough to stand up to them all?
Sneak peek:
I didn’t want to be a party-pooper. I really wanted to have a good time, especially after the stress of finals. I couldn’t see myself going back to school after Christmas break and all I had to show for it was some doorman’s attitude haunting me. So we made our way to the ladies room, trailed by some guy who was checking out Yomi’s butt. He asked her to dance and she gave me a look that clearly said Mommy, is it okay if I dance with the nice man?
I had to laugh at her expression, ’cause it was a relief to feel something besides anger. “Go on. I don’t need you to babysit.” Besides, I was more interested in tweeting about the hell I’d been put through than fixing my face.
“There’s an open stall,” Em said, then she gave me the “ugh” look, as if using the bathroom and my phone simultaneously meant I was a nasty heffa. I didn’t bother telling her I wasn’t going in there to do the number one or two, but to get to my Twitter and Facebook account.
“Emma, you don’t have to stay. I’m gonna be in here a while.” I figured she wanted to be out there with Yomi, dancing and flirting. I love my cousin, but that’s just how she is. If there’s a booty shaking song on, she’s the girl on the dance floor screaming “Heyyy!” and getting low with some guy she just met.
Read longer excerpts of these novels here