Dreading something is far worse than doing it!
5 Star Book Review Written by Yolanda Maria
In this rich tale of keeping secrets from the ones you love, secrets collide causing long, lasting and devastating effects. Trice Hickman does it again with her effective, detail woven story with a rich and dynamic flair. I can't get over how well she weaves together her characters with out any contradiction to tell wonderful stories. It makes you read it slowly because you don't want it to end.
In Playing the Hand You're Dealt, we meet Emily Snow and Samantha Baldwin. The two meet their freshmen year in college while studying in Atlanta. The two are instant friends when rich but wanna be homegirl Samantha moves in the dorm room with the help of Samantha's snooty mother Brenda and her rich and fine daddy Ed. Emily is already there with her mother Lucille and the two families get along as if they'd known each other for years. Samantha and Emily are tighter than sisters and thicker than thieves. However, Miss Emily develops a secret that she carries with her for eleven years. Samantha, irresponsible yet loving and a ride or die friend, encourages Emily to move to D.C eleven years after they leave college and not to soon after Emily loses the last of her family. Her mother, Lucille. She also most recently broke up with Bradley.
Her secret would not allow her to live a lie and use Bradley to mask that lie. Emily has had some warning, that trouble would not be far from her. She first received the warning from an old lady in her neighborhood when she was a youngster; then from a little girl with that special gift shortly before moving to D.C. It was confirmed when she met her new neighbor, the flamboyant and wise cracking Ruben after moving to D.C. After moving to D.C, life was supposed to look up for Emily. Instead, it gets real complicated. Spending time around Samantha's family makes keeping her secret that much harder. Especially, since the object of her secret; resides in that household.
Playing the Hand You Were Dealt, made me think. Would I walk away from a chance at everlasting happiness to salvage a friendship? It would be difficult to say that I would walk away from true happiness to save a friendship. It also made me think, is it okay to cheat on your spouse, if you have a bad spouse. I personally feel that if things are that bad, you should end the relationship before starting a new one. However, sometimes unbridled passion is a force to reckon with and at times things just happen. As in this novel, you just have to play the cards you were dealt. Trice Hickman did a phenomenal job, showing how reckless behavior even if warranted because of the behavior of another has devastating effects. But, does lover conquer all? You have to read it to see!
A great read for book clubs. A lot of great talking points. Do you believe in the gift of prophecy? What measures would you go through for a friend? Is anything unforgivable in a friendship? Do damaged people make for damaged children? What is considered cheating? So many more great topics of discussion that will take you into the late night discussing.
The author obviously put a lot of time into the development of each character. Usually, at the end of a novel I'm going back trying to put names with situations. The author made it easy in the amount of background she gave us regarding the characters. I also loved how she flipped a likable character to unlike able at the middle of the story and then made her like able again. Emily. She did the same with the character that I thought I was not going to like at the beginning, by making her my favorite at the end.Samantha. The drama started at page one, when Ms Marabelle dropped the prophesy on Emily. It did not stop until I finished the book. Several times while reading, I put the book down in utter shock. I had to catch my breath before moving on. A definite mouth dropper! I highly recommend this book.
"Reviewed for the Sankofa Literary Society. Book provided by the author or the publisher for review purposes."
