Kia DuPree

Confessions and Reflections

Nicola has it hard as a single mother trying to raise three children on her own. When she loses her job, gets evicted and finds herself moving in with a friend and losing control over her children, she realizes that her life is a lesson for her children, but mainly her young daughter Tinka. Will she be able to teach Tinka how to remain true to herself while loving her sons?

Full of potential, it’s obvious to others that Teyona aka Tinka is a different kind of girl. She’s always reading, writing poetry and seeing things inversely. As their family begins to change, Tinka tries to maintain her identity. But soon, she starts to adapt to her environment, trading her books in for fashion and boys. Though she tries to keep herself in line, she feels pressure from her mother to be the one to survive their lifestyle as her older brothers have apparently failed to live up to their potential. Can Tinka make her mother proud or will she become another victim?

SILENCED by Kia Dupree is voluminous. I love how you meet the characters, the community and you instantly become intricately involved in. As the story moves forward, you find yourself praying for this family as their lives seem to be in a turnstile with heartache and drama nipping at the heels. This is a very realistic account of the choices we make and why. SILENCED is worthy of a recommendation.

Reviewed by: Crystal… (more)

I don't usually go for urban fiction, but I quite enjoyed this. Although the protagonist, Camille, is only her teens, this is definitely an adult book (or maybe the later grades of high school) with VERY explicit sexual content and swears on almost every page.

Basically, it covers the teen years of Camille's life, beginning when she moves into a new foster home and the father rapes her every night while the mother looks away, following her descent into prostitution under the management of a smart but seriously psycho pimp, and then ending with her efforts to better herself. Along the way Camille meets a lot of other girls in situations like her own, and their lives and fates are also recorded in the story.

There aren't really any surprises in the story (I still can't figure out what was the "shocking truth" mentioned in the cover description), but I thought the characterization and dialogue were spot-on, and I enjoyed reading about a life and lifestyle much, much different from my own.… (more)