Just So So

After reading Prison by Toni V. Lee, I am torn about the review. I didn’t hate the book but I didn’t love it either. There were some thinks I really liked about the book and then there were other things I didn’t enjoy so much.

Sonja Grey is an undercover police detective who has just been assigned a case at her church. A drug dealer has set up shop there. Max Trent, a man that has learned to push all of Sonja’s buttons, has been assigned as her partner. Max has known that Sonja was meant for him since the day he met her but has listened to God’s call to wait on His timing and now is the time. With Sonja’s two eccentric aunties and her church family, Sonja and Max immerse themselves in the investigation. The aunties continuously pull Rock (the drug dealer) and his clients into service and make it hard for him to do business but he is so sure that the police have no idea that’s where he is doing business that he puts up with it. Will Sonja and Max get their man? Will Max be able to show Sonja that he is serious about a relationship with her and will Sonja be able to let go of past hurts and love him back?

Now for my like-dislike relationship with the book. First of all, while I liked the cover, simple and eye catching, I did not think the title was fitting for this book. Sure, the author tried to make it fit by including a few references in the story line but it felt forced. I also liked that the main characters in this book are African American. You don’t see the diversity in a lot of Christian fiction so I am glad to find that it is out there. That said, sometimes the dialogue was a little too much and then other times it didn’t fit (for example, an undercover police is talking to the drug dealer and says something like “Do I look like a cop?” Now, I would think a different word should have been used here). And finally, I liked that Max was quick to share and show his feelings and the book dealt with the temptation of lust. Again, this is something that is skipped over a lot in Christian fiction. But I did not like that the book took so long to wrap up. It seems that there was a minimum page quota and Lee had to drag several things out to make that quota.

Overall, it was a quick read with an engaging story so I would give it a pretty average three out of five stars.

****Westbow Press provided me with a free eCopy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I was not compensated in any way for either a negative or a positive review.