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What a day for Regina Harris—one of her friends killed a man, another is about to get back with a man she almost committed suicide over, her sister decides to become a Buddhist, her ex-husband has a big secret, and her eighteen-year-old niece has just announced that she’s gay.
Regina spent her early years sniffing coke, boosting goods, and collecting sugar daddies to pay her rent. Finally, she turned her life around and became a successful writer. But someone from her past has come back, and she’s about to head down a road she’s already traveled. Sadly enough, despite her friends’ warnings, she gets mixed up with the guy again and repeats past mistakes.
Sixteen years ago, Little Joe was sent to prison for what he thought would only be six months at the most. But now he’s out of jail, and his reputation as a bad-ass drug dealer is still going strong. No one messes with him without paying the price, and he picks up right where he left off sixteen years ago, including getting Regina back in his bed.
I had a hard time liking Satin Nights. The whole novel is filled with foul language and characters that you can’t help but hate. I didn’t even really like Regina. I loathed Yvonne, who had absolutely zero morals and couldn’t even find an ounce of remorse for accidentally killing someone’s grandfather. Tamika was the only one I could stomach, mostly because she was the voice of reason, but even she lost some of my respect for going along with the others a bit too much. In the end, it was very hard for me to be happy for these women. Personally, I like my fiction with more escapism and not a whole lot of real life. I live real life every day—I read to escape it.
With that said, Ms. Quinones Miller does an excellent job bringing to life the streets of Harlem with the drug wars, dealers, and gangsta sistas. The novel couldn’t have been written any other way—foul language and all—and still been realistic for the characters and setting. If anything good can be said about Regina, Yvonne, and Tamika, it’s that they stick together as friends through everything—loyal to each other no matter what. If you like rough, vulgar, foul-mouthed women, then you’ll love this novel. If not, I suggest you pass on it and pick up something by Michelle Stimpson instead.
