January’s Book of the Month: Before We Were Wicked by Eric Jerome Dickey

First and foremost, we lost a giant in the Black literary world on January 3, 2021. We didn’t find out until January 5th that Eric Jerome Dickey passed away. In honor of a man that seriously opened my (Renée’s) eyes to the Black Romance genre, we chose one of his books for January. I used to be obsessed with reading his books, articles about him, reading his interviews. So, he was a huge influence on my journey in deciding to become a published author.

We just want to say Rest In Paradise to Mr. Eric Jerome Dickey🖤

 

Below is Episode 24 and it’s full of spoilers. If you haven’t read Before We Were Wicked, skip down to our reviews.

 

They say the love of money is the root of all evil, but for Ken Swift, it’s the love of a woman.

Ken is twenty-one, hurting people for cash to try to pay his way through college, when he lays eyes on Jimi Lee, the woman who will change the course of his entire life. What’s meant to be a one-night stand with the Harvard-bound beauty turns into an explosion of sexual chemistry that neither can quit. And when Jimi Lee becomes pregnant, their two very different worlds collide in ways they never could have anticipated.

Passion, infidelity, and raw emotion combine in Eric Jerome Dickey’s poignant, erotic portrait of a relationship: the rise, the fall, and the scars–and desire–that never fade.

Get your copy: https://amzn.to/3oDpgeY

Renée’s Review

Whew! This was soooo raw that it hurt me. Ken Swift was a great guy doing some bad things. Even so, he was really was a good person who fell in love with a fool. Yes, a freaking fool.

Jimi Lee was rude and arrogant and I didn’t like her the entire time in this story. I was so mad at Ken for being so sucked in. Jimi Lee should’ve made decisions that would’ve created the life she wanted. People make mistakes but the “mistake” they made didn’t have to ruin her life in the manner that she allowed it. Life didn’t have to be over. The way she behaved in this book because the relationship she agreed to be in was so outta line. The woman acted like she couldn’t make her own choices and then blamed everyone else for everything.

Let me get off of her. I’m getting irritated writing about her lol.

Ken Swift did his best but he was so dag on sprung on this woman and it made him a plum fool as well. I hated seeing this play out but I cannot lie and say that it was not interesting. Sexy but by the time I couldn’t stand Jimi Lee, the sex had my eyes doing backflips. She didn’t deserve the Soul Snatcher lol.

We read the second book in this series before reading the first so all this backstory felt weird in the beginning. Now as I’m reading the first book, Bad Men and Wicked Women, sooooo much makes sense.

I’d recommend it. Even reading them out of order, it was a good story. One that made you mad but kept you reading. 😂😂

Telicia’s Review

If I had known prior to reading this book that a black man would love his woman with everything in him and not get no love in return, I would not have read it. I really enjoy feel-good books but everything wasn’t bad, I really enjoyed reading about black history #BLM. Also, this horrible relationship is very realistic because sometimes the good guys have it rough and don’t get a break😥

Bridgette’s Review