Book Review: "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" by Deesha Philyaw

Can I get an “amen”? Deesha Philyaw’s first novel is deliciously gossipy, thought-provoking, steamy, and emotional. Having been an enormous fan of Philyaw’s debut story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, I’m not surprised how good this is. But it’s a lot of fun, too.

“And you know what? I own all the parts that are true. The lies and the lessons. The messes and the mistakes. Because they are the stones that forged the path leading from my difficult past to my beautiful present.”

Scharisse Freeman is the much-younger wife of Rev. David Freeman, pastor of the Hope in Christ Baptist Church, one of the largest Black megachurches in the U.S. Given the age difference and the fact that Scharisse had no real religious background before marrying her husband, it’s taken quite a while for some in the church to warm up to her as First Lady. But she hasn’t let that stop her from using her brand to make millions of dollars.

What she craves more than anything, however, is acceptance from the First Ladies of other churches. Yet a misstep when she was first married has made her a pariah. But when she finally gets an invitation to compete in the First Lady USA pageant, she believes that winning will be her ticket to acceptance.

However, she doesn’t anticipate being in the middle of a huge scandal, which calls her reputation into question. It also highlights the hypocrisy of many so-called devout people, as well as the double standard that exists between men and women where infidelity is concerned. She needs to find her own path and be her authentic self—no matter what.

Schar isn’t always the most sympathetic character, and when miscommunication occurs a few times, I wanted to shake her a bit. But she is a woman who wears her heart on her sleeve, and definitely doesn’t suffer fools! I really enjoyed this.

The book publishes 9/29.

Book Review: "Search" by Michelle Huneven

This is a quietly compelling and dramatic story of a church searching for its new minister. Plus recipes!!⁣

⁣ Dana is a restaurant critic and food writer, and a member of a fairly progressive Unitarian Universalist church in California. At one point in her life she attended seminary and had thoughts of becoming a minister, but that was when her writing career took off. But for her, the ministry has always been the path not taken.⁣

⁣ Lately, however, she’s been less enamored of attending church, despite a friendship with the minister. When he announces his retirement, Dana is asked to join the committee that will identify his replacement.⁣

⁣ In order to represent both the church’s past and its future, the committee is fairly diverse in experience, age, and tenure. Even at the outset, Dana wonders how this disparate group will ever reach a consensus, but she also realizes that this process is a tremendously rich subject for her next book.⁣

⁣ Search is told as if it were a memoir, and Dana faithfully records the tensions, enjoyable moments, and all of her concerns, about her fellow committee members, some of the candidates, even her decision not to complete her ministerial studies. The more Dana gets involved in the search, the more passionate she becomes about the church’s future and its new leader.⁣

⁣ I absolutely loved this. It’s gorgeously written, and it’s a fantastic study of human dynamics. I’m Jewish (although not observant at all), and I found the conversations about theology and philosophy to be fascinating and never heavy-handed.

And with all of the talk about amazing food and cocktails, the recipes are an excellent addition.⁣