3.5 out of five stars, Not a bad read.
A Chocolate Affair, the sophomore book in author Sheila Copeland’s three-part ‘Chocolate Series’, reads like a Los Angeles-based version of Sex in the City, where the four black heroines are young, beautiful and successful. However, a major underlying theme in the work seems to be just how differently the women define success, and how they come to reconcile (or at least acknowledge) their differences.The story takes place in an ultra-fabulous Los Angeles wonderland, where the men are rich, the women are gorgeous, and the Cristal is always flowing. The author goes into some detail describing the lavish homes and restaurants frequented by the main characters, even citing real-life celebrity hangouts. Copeland, who has done some work in the music industry, is obviously no stranger to Hollywood’s opulence.
Keisha Johnson is the terribly sweet stay-at-home-mother and devoted wife to NBA player Eric Johnson. Though, she has the ideal marriage, she is insecure about her husband’s opportunities to stray after his recent trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. Very family-oriented, her character provides support and spiritual encouragement to the others.
Jade Kimura Ross is the polar opposite of Keisha Johnson, preferring to pursue her career as top priority, rather than marriage and family. However, she is the new wife of former NBA star, Sean “Sylk” Ross, who has somewhat different expectations of what sort of wife Jade should be. Their marriage is very fragile.
Topaz is the larger-than-life singing sensation, with a successful career and quite a few skeletons in her closet. Her past mistakes cost her relationships with her son and his father, Germain. She will go to any length to win back the love of her ex-husband, Germain. The fact that scandals follow Topaz wherever she goes, mixed with her unmanageable personality, make her the most interesting of all the characters.
Nina Beaubien is Topaz’s cousin and personal assistant. However, Nina finally decides she does not want to ride on anyone’s coattails, not Topaz’s nor the hot-shot producer Jamil, who has asked Nina to marry him. She struggles to find success on her own terms.
The lives of these four women intertwine in ways that are unpredictable and down-right fun to read. There were many moments, when I had to do a double-take, like “Oh no…she did not just say what I think she said!” There is enough scandal to make you feel guilty just by reading it, but ultimately each woman comes to terms with her own success.
Sheila Copeland’s writing style is polished and her dialogue is very believable. However, her too-perfect characters are a bit fantastic and flat. It is difficult to reconcile the characters to real-life people, so they come across as two-dimensional cartoons (i.e. the too perfect wife, the ultra-feminist, the diva song bird and the side-kick struggling to stand own her own two feet.) I also found the constant name-dropping a little bothersome, as it dated the publication, but to each his own.
Overall, I would recommend this book, not on it’s on, but rather in sequence and with the rest of the ‘Chocolate Series’ by Sheila Copeland, which includes the hit title Chocolate Star and Diamond Revelation.
Stay tuned for my official critique of Diamond Revelation, coming soon.
Scoring Summary
| AREA | PTS | COMMENT |
| Overall Story | 1.0 | Got progressively more interesting |
| Writing Style | 1.0 | Impeccably written |
| Setting | 0.5 | Okay at best (half point awarded) |
| Characters | 0 | Cliché characters (no points awarded) |
| Plot | 1.0 | Interesting twists and turns |
| TOTAL | 3.5 | Not bad overall |
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