Don’t let these beautiful clothes and sweet smiles fool you. If pushed too far, they will wreck you. You’ve been warned.
Photo Attributed to Paradise Fashions (www.paradisefashions.com)
As a little chocolate girl raised in a Baptist church, anytime I heard the phrase “I ain’t been saved all my life” it was usually followed by a speaking of tongues in the language of Richard Pryor or a laying of hands upside your head. Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley must have had that phrase in mind when they brought two of their wildest characters together. In the novel Sinners and Saints, Jasmine Larson Bush and Rachel Jackson Adams are two first ladies who are forces to be reckoned with and when these two collide, you better run for cover.
Pastors Hosea Bush of the City of Lights Church and Lester Adams of New Hope Baptist have both been nominated to run for the coveted position of president of the American Baptist Coalition. Well, it isn’t exactly coveted by the pastors themselves, they just want to leave the outcome up to God. However, Lady Jasmine and Lady Rachel don’t believe their men truly grasp the importance of winning this race. How else will they get the title of first lady of the ABC if their husbands don’t get their heads in the game?
For these women, this isn’t about just winning, this is about crushing the competition, the envy of your peers, the endless brown nosing, and the power, oh the power! MUAH HAHA HAAA! MUAH HA HA HAAA! Ahem. Excuse me. Shall we continue?
These women use every dirty trick in the book to make sure the other looks absolutely ridiculous. To say they were successful would be an under understatement. Some of the antics they pull are HILARIOUS and some just make you cringe. I don’t want to give any of it away, it’s just too good.
(Okay, I’ll be nice and give you one example. Well sort of. SOMEONE invited SOMEONE to a praise and worship service who used to strip with SOMEONE back in the day.)
While these two titans clash, there are other “saints” who have their own secret agendas. Watching and waiting, plotting and planning, and wheeling and dealing…um…scheming and uh…um…well…. nevermind. You get the picture.
This was an excellent read to me. There was drama but there was virtually no vulgar or obscene language or description. There was also the opportunity of redemption for each woman and a lesson that sometimes it is better to leave well enough alone because you never know what the other person has on you. (Which is the second reason why I can never run for office.)
Enjoy!!!
NOTE: If you can’t get enough of Lady Jasmine and Lady Rachel there are other novels they appear in.
Lady Jasmine appears in the novels:
- Sins of the Mother by Victoria Christopher Murray
- A Sin and a Shame by Victoria Christopher Murray
- Lady Jasmine by Victoria Christopher Murray
Lady Rachel appears in the Amen series, including:
- Let the Church Say Amen by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
- Everybody Say Amen by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
- Say Amen, Again by ReShonda Tate Billingsley