Revenge

Revenge by J. Brinkley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

 Synopsis
Baltimore college student, Brooklyn Taylor finds herself falling in love with a student who loves the streets more than anything else. Brooklyn begs Tyrell to change his lifestyle, but the more she pleads, the more distant he becomes. When Brooklyn discovers she is pregnant she is elated, but it quickly turns to devastation when she finds out her child's father is on his way to prison. Brooklyn begins to question her love for Tyrell and her future with him. When she makes the decision to stand by him no matter what her friends and family think of him, she prays endlessly to God that he will change his ways. Brooklyn gives birth to their daughter and takes on another job to earn extra money while Tyrell is serving time. He learns about her new job and becomes insecure and abusive upon his release from prison. The last physical altercation they have lands Brooklyn in the hospital where her internalized pain turns into deep-seated resentment towards Tyrell. As she lies in the hospital bed letting her physical wounds heal, her deep emotional scars remain. All she can think of is sweet revenge.

Book Review

This is a case of missed potential. The author had a good plot idea, decent characters and relevant content for an urban love story.  However, behind this beautiful cover was a misstep in execution.
The story opened with the first letter of the heroine's name missing. The formatting was extremely off when it came to the layout and structure of the story.  The story was chaotic and disorganized. Sophomoric and stilted dialogue coupled with incorrect word usage led to poor and confusing sentence flow at times.  Example, "I do really want to put our indifferences to the side".

There a few things that didn't make sense to me as I read and made me feel as if I was missing vital information. Why was Tyrell arrested in her class? How did the police know he was in that class? Granted it was revealed he was actually student, but his education was never mentioned but in passing. How did her parents know to be in her dorm room when she made it back from finding out why Tyrell was arrested? Why were they staying in a hotel when she had her own place when he got out?

I think getting the reader from point A to B is important. You can't get me from point A to F and expect me to guess at what the characters actions or motives were. The plan to set up Tyrell who, our heroine was no longer with, was to see if he really loved her. However, if you've read the book, you know that was in fact not the goal. The ending didn't quite gel with the rest of the story.
I honestly think the author has a good story here that if revamped could be a top-rated tale of love and revenge.


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