Guest Author - Khara Aisha

I rather liked Homecourt Advantage, a novel co-authored by Rita Ewing. Based on that alone, I purchased Brickhouse. Good for me, because I enjoyed Brickhouse even more.

Brickhouse stars the super-fit Nona Simms. Educated and beautiful, Nona Simms is so physically fit that people began to call her “Brickhouse,” and she gladly accepted. Ultimately, she opened her own gym and fitness center, called Brickhouse, in the neighborhood closest to her heart -- Harlem, New York. A successful and dedicated business woman, Nona’s gym is a huge success. She has supportive and powerful friends, movie stars and athletes working out in her gym, and her own workout videos selling out in stores across the country.

But of course, Nona’s body may be perfect, but her life isn’t. She’s having a hard time finding time for her eleven year old daughter, Kelly. To make it worse, Kelly has developed an eating disorder in her effort to look as stunning, and as thin, as her mother does. Kelly now needs Nona more than ever. At the same time, a sneaky Harlem reverend is spearheading a campaign to bring a huge mall to Harlem. In order to get the Harlem he envisions, and make his own personal fortune in the process, the Reverend is intent on closing Nona’s Brickhouse down.

Nona wants to devote all her time to fighting for her daughter’s health and her business livelihood, but her business partner, Allen, is hiding a secret that has the potentional to ruin both of their lives, despite Nona’s decision to fight for what’s hers. But while Nona has no idea what is going on with Allen, the evil reverend knows all to well. And the reverend is willing to use that information to run Nona and Allen out of town.

I rate this book a EASY, FUN READ. The storyline is very well-paced, never boring for a moment, and although the ending was a little predictable, it was still reasonable and happy, without sounding too much like a fairy tale ending. The writing is clear, but not incredibly inventive or clever. I felt that all of the characters were likable -- almost all seemed to be the kind of people that I would not mind knowing.

And the best part is that even though the characters are all relatively affluent and famous, this story is not about fame, money, or hunger for material things. It’s about friendship, love, trust, and hard work. I just love it when I find an African American novel with characters who aren’t all crazy, scheming or perpetually deluded. I hope that Rita Ewing writes many, many more novels, because I would love to see more African American stories like this one on the shelves.