You can’t hide it.
You laugh a lot more these days, and there are very few things that rattle you. The sun seems shinier, colors more vibrant, and the days fly by in a minute. Even your body feels different, more alive. Electric, maybe.
Everybody knows what you’re thinking, maybe because you can’t wipe that silly grin off your face. You’re in love, and it shows.
But is that affection returned? In the new novel “Up to No Good” (c.2009, Dafina Books, $24.00 / $29.45 Canada, 288 pages) by Carl Weber, love is often one-sided, and that can be really bad.
On the night before he married his beloved, Darnel Black got the shock of his life. His fiancé was naked in bed, and she wasn’t alone. Keisha was with Darnel’s best friend, Omar, and they weren’t just napping.
Tearfully, Keisha swore that it was a once-and-only thing. Darnel might have believed her if it wasn’t for Omar’s bombshell: it was not Omar’s first time with Keisha, and there were others…
For Darnel’s father, James, life was good. As a Deacon at First Jamaica Ministries in Queens, he was respected by the congregation’s men. As for the church’s women, successful, rich, handsome James could have any one of them he wanted – and did, every night of the week.
Then James met Sandra. Beautiful and twenty-plus years younger than he, Sandra was the first woman James ever really, truly got to know. Reluctantly, amazingly, he realized he was falling in love.
The only problem was that Sandra was friends with Jamie, James’ busybody daughter. Loud, bossy, and Daddy’s Girl, Jamie tried to dictate the lives of everyone around her. She wanted to keep her Daddy from predatory females; protect Darnel from Keisha; and stop Louis, Jamie’s boyfriend, from cheating on her, though Louis swore he wasn’t creeping.
And that made Louis angry. Why couldn’t Jamie believe him? He loved her, but he gave her an ultimatum: stop the jealousy and snooping, or get out. He hoped he’d never have to explain the fake ID and mystery “business” trips.
As anger eats away at Darnel, as James falls deeper in love and Louis, deeper in trouble, Jamie tries to manipulate the men in her life. But when someone’s up to no good, scheming only makes things worse.
Write this down: at about page 255, call your neighbors and tell them to ignore the screams they’re about to hear. Tell them not to worry. It’s just going to be you, finishing this latest oh-no-he-didn’t novel by author Carl Weber.
Nobody twists a plot like Weber does, and this book’s storyline practically spins. “Up to No Good” is the latest in a somewhat-series dealing with the lives of the members of First Jamaica Ministries, led by Bishop T.K. Wilson. Although this book can stand alone, astute fans may recognize a few of the bit players in this novel.
If you’re up for an outrageous story, something that’ll keep you up all night, pick up “Up to No Good” for your bad self. This is a novel you’re going to love.
