First time reading this author but not my last. This book made me late for work because I could not put it down and overslept the next morning!!!! The writing had you drawn into the characters, and made you feel many different emotions. Usually the woman is the one that needs the strength from another, but in this book it was the man. It was nice to read a book that may be labeled urban fiction, but a strong black woman is the main character. Kudos to the author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this book in return for my honest review.

Passion of the Streets is filled with twists and turns and was entertaining. However, I can admit to being thrown off by the stereotypically rendering of the characters. Almost every hood and black stereotype was played out here. Getting past that there was humor and reality filled moments. Good debut.

This is the first book I've read from this author and I ended up enjoying it a lot. I have to be honest though, it did take me a while to get into this story because it is definitely a different type of read from my typical books. I had to look past a lot of the stereotypes associated with these African American characters and just take it for what it is, a story. If stereotypes easily offend you then this book will definitely have you feeling some type of way. I enjoyed the characters a lot; Oni, Gia, Jamil, Shock and for a while I even enjoyed Iverson. This story definitely had some twists, turns and surprises that I didn't see coming. I absolutely loved the "sisterhood" between Oni and Gia and I enjoyed quite a few laughs with these two characters and their antics. Jamil was a great character even though he didn't have the best role models and I loved the way he treated and protected Gia at times. The ending was sweet and I enjoyed it a lot. I would definitely love to read Oni's story and I look forward to reading more books from this author. I just have to start each story with an open mind and not be all up in your feelings. If readers are looking for a good thug type read then I would recommend this book because in the end I did enjoy it.

The good girl meets the bad boy and fall in love.

Jamil and Gia come from opposite sides of the tracks, with Gia being a college grad and athlete, and Jamil being a drug dealer, The two meet by chance and Gia breaks down Jamil’s wall of distrust. The two quickly fall in love. Of course, this romance is threatened, mostly by Jamil’s past, but the two persevere. Street literature fans will probably like this book, as this novel has all of the elements of a street lit book, plus this book has a few twists and turns. Being that I like street lit and urban fiction, I have read this type of story line before and wasn’t surprised by some of the happenings in the book. In addition to the book being predictable, the romance between Gia and Jamil read like a teen love story instead of a romance shared by two grown adults. The sex scenes were a bit uncomfortable to read, but I get Jamil’s feelings. After all, he never experienced love from anyone before. This book will be released in April if interested in checking it out.