Today on the blog we’re spotlighting Melissa Foster’s new release. Melissa and I are such great friends, and I’m so thrilled to have received an ARC of this novel to read and enjoy. 🙂
HAVE NO SHAME
When civil rights and forbidden love collide
“This book will resonate with readers who enjoyed Kathryn Stockett’s, THE HELP, Julie Kibler’s, CALLING ME HOME, John Grisham’s, A TIME TO KILL, Sue Monk Kidd’s, THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, and Kathleen Grissom’s, THE KITCHEN HOUSE.”
Buy it Now on Amazon: http://amzn.to/16TaOSZ
Buy it Now on B&N: http://bit.ly/12WGCY
“Within moments of starting to read, you will be transported back to the Arkansas of 1967 – hot, dusty, utterly rural and edgy. Poor white farmers dependent upon cheap black labor who, due to their superior numbers, are constantly suppressed, living on the wrong side of town, ghettoised and terrified. You will remember scenes from `In the Heat of the Night’ and `Easy Rider’; you will remember that, less than fifty years ago, if you were black, you could be beaten for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if you died at the hands of a white youth, justice would almost certainly be denied you.” Author Roderick Craig Low
SUMMARY
Alison Tillman has called Forrest Town, Arkansas home for the past eighteen years. Her mother’s Blue Bonnet meetings, her father toiling night and day on the family farm, and the division of life between the whites and the blacks are all Alison knows. The winter of 1967, just a few months before marrying her high school sweetheart, Alison finds the body of a black man floating in the river, and she begins to view her existence with new perspective. The oppression and hate of the south, the ugliness she once was able to avert her eyes from, now demands her attention.
When a secretive friendship with a young black man takes an unexpected romantic turn, Alison is forced to choose between her predetermined future, and the dangerous path that her heart yearns for.
My Review:
It follows Alison as she is stuck at home, on a farm, engaged to her high school sweetheart. Her sister lives in New York and is living a new lifestyle. One completely different from how they were brought up, to hate colored people and see them as nothing more than slaves.
As Alison struggles with the hatred for treating people differently and striving to still be Daddy’s little girl, something happens that she never expected. She falls in love with a colored man.
Things for her change then. And the rest of the novel is about how she has to discover herself instead of following the crowd in their small, southern town.
I fell in love with this novel quickly. The topic was such a taboo one back in the sixties, and you feel as if you’re living right there in the middle of it. You’re rooting for the underdog, but deep down, you’re thinking, there’s no way there can be a happy ending for those two. You’re torn. Do you want them to be together? You know what will happen if they do get together.
The emotions you feel for this piece of fiction are real, and you absolutely fall in love with these characters.
Well done! Very well done!
Five out of Five Stars!
****
“A gripping and poignant novel dealing with a subject once taboo in American society.” Hagerstown Magazine
“Have No Shame is a powerful testimony to love and the progressive, logical evolution of social consciousness, with an outcome that readers will find engrossing, unexpected, and ultimately eye-opening.” Midwest Book Review
“A historical novel of love and its triumph, told with a unique and compelling voice.” Bestselling Author Kathleen Shoop
“Have No Shame is a delightful eye opener and a rather poignant book that everyone everywhere should put on their must-read list.” Readers’ Favorite
“A dynamic and heartwarming tale of young love, giving testament to those who struggled so we can live in an integrated society.” Author Rachelle Ayala
“[HAVE NO SHAME] Perfectly catches the South at the dawning of the Civil Rights Movement. Melissa Foster takes us on an adventure that twists and turns unpredictably to a tense climax that renders this novel a true page-turner. This is undoubtedly the best novel I have read in a long time.” Roderick Craig Low, Author of ‘Promises of Love and Good Behaviour’
“This book is not just a story; it’s an experience.” Author G.E. Johnson
Buy HAVE NO SHAME on Amazon: http://amzn.to/16TaOSZ
Buy HAVE NO SHAME on B&N: http://bit.ly/12WGCYD
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Melissa Foster
Melissa Foster is the award-winning author of four International bestselling novels. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, the World Literary Café. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa is also a community builder for the Alliance for Independent Authors. She has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.
Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.
Visit Melissa on The Women’s Nest, Fostering Success, or World Lit Cafe. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.
Keep Up with Melissa:
Website: http://www.MelissaFoster.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Melissa-Foster/240064542695303
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Melissa_Foster
The Women’s Nest, women’s social network: http://www.TheWomensNest.com
World Literary Café: http://www.worldliterarycafe.com
Fostering Success: htto://www.fostering-success.com
Facebook Melissa Foster: http://www.facebook.com/MelissaFosterAuthor (Fanpage)
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3023973.Melissa_Foster
Dreaming Awake 