Social networking is a wonderful thing.  I have been networking with an up and coming author named Tenia Jamilla.  She reached out to me and asked if I had read her book “Ghetto Ballerina”.  When she had asked me about the book, I had heard some mumbling about it, but I really wasn’t familiar with it, so I told her I hadn’t but that I wanted to.  At the time she asked me, I was working on a major project for school and the book isn’t  really in my genre (I don’t usually read fiction), so it wasn’t aThe  priority for me.

I got a copy of the book and flipped through it, the first thing I noticed was that it was not going to be a difficult read, so I glanced at the first few pages.  The next thing I knew, i was a few chapters into the book and I had to make myself put it down so  I could get back to work on my project.

The excerpt from the Ghetto Ballerina website reads:

It doesn’t take Chanel a long time to discover that jealousy is a major dilemma, when you are living the fast life and you are on top of your game.  A cruel twist of fate shows her that not even family can be trusted all of the time.  Where there is jealousy and hate, scandal is always sure to follow….. Chanel’s boyfriend, Nate, shows her all of the finer things in life, while Duke, who is her man on the side, encourages her to stay out of the streets and concentrate on going to school.  The two men in her life collide paths in a deadly way and Chanel is forced to take sides with one of them.  Her decision determines which one of her men lives and which one doesn’t live to see another day.

After reading this story I’m sure you’ll agree that every good girl has a little bit of bad in her..

Chanel is a character that is fully developed and embodies the urban surroundings in which her story takes place.  The dialogue in the book is written in an urban dialect but not to the point where it is hard to understand.  The use of slang is appropriate and doesn’t require one to speak fluent “hood’ to understand.  Tenia brings forth this story in a style that does not lose the reader, regardless of background, she has found a balance that makes it very easy for people of all walks of life to see into Chanel’s world, understand her struggles and tap into her emotions.

Ghetto Ballerina‘s mixture of sexy, humor and suspense makes the book very hard to put down, and more importantly, makes the reader wonder what Chanel is going to encounter next.  The story is said to be one of trust, betrayal and revenge but in actuality, it is so much more than that.  If you want to know how much more, read the book.

Ghetto Ballerina can be purchased from Amazon.com and the last I checked, new copies are 9.99, used ones are 6.99 and it is available for Kindle readers for 8.99.

Links:

Official Ghetto Ballerina Website (link to the book on Kindle is here too)

Ghetto Ballerina on Amazon.com 

Author Tenia Jamilla on Facebook