June 28, 2007

Paperback
ISBN: 0743287371
Pub. Date: May 2006

From the back cover:
Jasmine is back! The scandalous diva from the bestselling novel Temptation returns to stir up trouble in New York City.

After fleeing Los Angeles when her attempt to break up her best friend’s marriage fails, Jasmine is now a changed woman…and a Christian. She vows to attend church every Sunday, swears off married men, and begins her search for the soul mate she is sure God has for her. Now living in the Big Apple, she has shed twenty-five pounds, shaved ten years off her age, filled her expensive apartment with designer clothes…all to begin her man-finding mission.

She quickly meets her dream mate — a preacher — who falls head over heels in love with her. Surely, God is good! But things start slipping when another man from Jasmine’s past refuses to stay there, and an unexpected pregnancy threatens to sabotage all of her dreams. Will Jasmine’s lying and scheming continue? Or will she finally learn that honesty is the only path to redemption?

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I loved this book! However, a word of warning, there are a few sex scenes in this book, although the story does have an inspirational message.

I wanted to bop Jasmine upside the head throughout the book. Although she did grow and become a stronger Christian **spoiler ahead!!** I still did not understand why she never told her husband about all of the lies she’d told him! There was still a lot of things she’d done that she didn’t reveal to her husband, or to her husband’s father. Although she professed to being a Christian, I still found her behavior needed much improvement. The way she threw herself at Hosea’s father really got on my nerves!

Although, she finally does admit to loving Hosea, and I do believe she really loves him, I still think their marriage would be in deep trouble because, sooner or later, the truth about all of her lies will be revealed! Her husband doesn’t know her true age, he doesn’t know how she’s made several advances to his father, and the list goes on!

I’m wondering if the author is planning on doing a sequel to this novel? If so, that would explain why Jasmine never tells Hosea the truth about all of the lies she told. That might be explored in the sequel which may show Hosea and Jasmine having marital problems?

One scene that really caught my attention was when Frances Mae, Jasmine’s neighbor(an atheist) brings over dinner for Jasmine. It reminded me of one of the scenes I read in the anthology, Have A Little Faith. The story in this anthology involved an angel(or ghost) named Maybelline Brown who brought pies to her sad and depressed neighbor named Olivia. Although Frances Mae is no angel, she brings a lot of spice and mystique to the story.

Other books that I’ve read and enjoyed by Victoria Christopher Murray are: