Mainstream Fiction

Tracy Price-Thompson

Villard/Strivers' Row

0-37550-651-9

February 2003

(4) Nathasha Brooks-Harris

PLOT SYNOPSIS: 

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and full of twists and turns, Tracy Price-Thompson's latest release explores the hearts of two lovers caught in a great cultural divide and the trials they face when lies are told and secrets revealed.

REVIEW: 

Juanita Lucas is an attractive misfit. The light-skinned, green-eyed beauty was shunned by the jealous children in the Brooklyn housing project where she was raised by her aunt and uncle. Every day of her life was a fight because of her looking so Caucasian.

Scooter Morrison lost his mother to tragic circumstances down South, so he was shipped to Brooklyn to be raised by his relatives. He and Juanita meet and become the best of friends. He’s also a social misfit because he’s different at an early age, but no one knows why. That difference is what cements him to Juanita. Together, they are like kindred spirits, two lost souls.

They befriend two Puerto Rican brothers who live in their neighborhood and from that day on, their lives are never the same. Jorge is the bad guy of the two, the one who wouldn’t know right if it was to hit him in the face. He is bad to the bone and hatred and jealousy run through his veins. Conan, on the other hand, stands for everything that is right and good. He’s gentle, manly, good-hearted and kind. He meets Juanita and his heart goes pitter-patter. He assumes that because of her green eyes and coloring that she is Puerto Rican, but he doesn’t care about her heritage. He loves her and aims to have her.

Juanita loves Coman and in time, they have a great relationship, shutting the world out. However, their biggest opponents are her Aunt Hattie, who had issues with Hispanic men because of a bad personal experience and Jorge, who is jealous of the time Conan spends with Juanita and takes away from him. Even Scooter is against their love because his best friend spends less time with him and hangs out with her man instead. He eases his pain with realizing he’s gay and taking on gay lovers until those unions go sour.

Although she has love in her life, something’s missing. She wants to know who she is and where she came from. She knows deep in her soul that something is not as her Aunt Hattie told her and she longs to find her roots. When she does, she unlocks some things that were best left alone.

CHOCOLATE SANGRIA is not another BLACK COFFEE as many might think. This book is another story unto itself. The only similarities between the two books is that they are both set in Brooklyn.  However, CHOCOLATE SANGRIA is a real treat for booklovers. It’s like reading a soap opera in a book with its colorful cast of characters, constant conflicts and drama at every turn. There’s never a dull moment. There are some suspenseful scenes that will keep readers turning the pages because they won’t want to miss how the plot unfolds.

Price-Thompson’s unique writing style takes readers there—to the center of the action in a poor Brooklyn neighborhood. With her clever use of language, readers are able to smell the fish frying, the arroz con grandules cooking and see the “icee man” selling snow cones on the corner. Or they can hear the elevated number two train shaking the project windows as it rumbles through the neighborhood late at night. Anyone who knows or lives in Brooklyn will appreciate the throwbacks to the past that she accurately throws in and uses to pepper her plot.

Description, plotting, characterization and dialogue are impeccable. She writes about some basic issues, but makes them her own by showing them in a new light, thus bringing them to life and making them sparkle.

She doesn’t let readers go quite that easily without tugging on their heartstrings a bit. CHOCOLATE SANGRIA will make readers laugh, cry, scream, and cuss. Readers are sure to become emotionally invested in this story, which means that as an author, she did her job and then some.

In terms of craft, CHOCOLATE SANGRIAis all that and a plate of turnip greens and cornmeal dumplings. It goes the extra mile and is sure to keep Price-Thompson on the top of the bestseller lists for along time. In conclusion, readers who enjoy a good story that doesn’t let go and will keep them riveted for hours must read CHOCOLATE SANGRIA. Take a sip; no, drink the whole cup, then tell all your friends to read it so they don’t miss out on what is sure to become the hottest book of 2003!

nathasha@romanceincolor.net (1st March 2003)