Urban Drama Romance Author: Aleita Kay

Aleita Kay is known for her urban drama romance novels, which is a very specialized category. Her writing is mostly about romance, but it includes the true grit of what goes on in urban America, specifically in African American culture. She draws her inspiration from everyone around her. “It could be the girl who took my Starbucks order, the boy who bagged my groceries, or the little girl playing Beyoncé just a tad bit too loud through her headphones. Life is inspiration.” said Aleita.

Aleita and Jack have known each other since the 7th grade. They met in Vilseck Middle School and became lifelong friends.

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How did you start writing?

“I’ve always been a writer. There wasn’t too many things I was good but writing , specifically story telling , had always come naturally. I can remember specifically the very first story I wrote. I was in third grade , living in Alaska and our class was prompted to write a story about a polar bear. That was the first time I remember my imagination just taking off and then by 5th grade I was writing in contests. Winning almost every one I entered Into and it’s been history ever since.”

How do you come up with your characters?

“I don’t exactly have a recipe of how I come up with my characters. 9/10 it’s on a whim. I can be sitting at breakfast with my husband and all of a sudden I’m like “ hey you know I think this kind of character would be dope” and a story evolves around that. I can say though, that these characters are written after my own heart. A little piece of who I am is in every character I write.”

“Life is inspiration.”

Who is your favorite character that you’ve written?

“Definitely Blue! When I was writing out Blues character there was just this instant connection I felt for what he’s gone through in his life but how he somehow still came out on top. Blue is the true picture of “Me vs Me” .. I have a feeling I’ll see blue again one way or another.”

Who are your favorite authors to read?

“I have a very broad spectrum of favorites when it comes to authors I love but Ashley Antionette. Ashley Nicole, and most recently Rae Lyse , a Texas based author like myself. They are my top 3 go-to authors when I’m looking for writing that I know is going to be an out of body experience.”

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Aleita has one full length novel For the Love of Harlem, and two short stories Roses in Winter and The Hustler’s Photograph. All can be purchased on Amazon for Kindle or hard copy. Aleita is working on another novel Stilettos & Slippers, which a snippet can be read in the back of The Hustler’s Photograph. Follow Aleita’s author page @aleitakaytheauthor, and her website listed here, and buy her work here.

review: the lost apothecary by sarah penner

This is going to be my very first book review! This year, one of my goals was to read more books for fun. I’ve always been very good at academic reading, especially when I was in nursing school, which is probably why I didn’t like reading for “fun”. When my anxiety and depression started to peak (let’s be real, I’m still there) I had to brainstorm hobbies I could do for myself. The easiest one was reading! It didn’t take anything but quiet time and a book. So to motivate myself to read, I subscribed to Book of the Month! It’s a monthly subscription for books that are curated for the month! I’ve gotten four books from them so far, and the first one I finished was The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.

It is a historical fiction book that follows the life of three women, Caroline (in present day), Eliza, and Nella (1700s). All of them have been tied to similar life experiences of infidelity, deception, and miscarriage. And all of them go through a string of experiences that altar the way they view their lives and change the course of what’s to come in their future. This book was hard to put down as every chapter in one’s life made you eager to find out the connection between them all.

It is a promise I made to my mother, to preserve the existence of these women whose names would otherwise be erased from history. The world is not kind to us… There are few places for a woman to leave an indelible mark… But this register preserves them - their names, their memories, their worth.”

I marked this quote in the book because it shows the importance of Nella’s registry for her apothecary, whether they were potions for harm for or healing, the women who purchased them would be remembered somehow. A very girl power book indeed.

To be honest, I’m not very good at writing book reviews, and book reports were my least favorite homework assignments in grade school. But what I do know is that for me to want to keep reading this book, meant it was a good read. Because it is hard to get me to stay interested. It made me want to buy a spontaneous ticket to London so I could go mudlarking in the Thames river to find pieces of history!