Rating: 
Summary: True Lies had me crying . . .
Review: . . . happy tears at the end. I was seriously concerned that Dajah was going to fall for the uninspired, immature and totally inept Rick. I was too thrilled to see her walk away from a relationship that had no substance and nowhere to go. Rick and Gina were two pitiful characters who definitely deserved each other; neither had the intellect of a flee. I truly felt sorry for their daughter who, even at an early age, was being taught nothing positive and (considering who her parents were) had no positive role models to emulate. I kept hoping that the daughter would be placed with a foster family who could nurture her and give her a real chance at a future.
Another very interesting read, Ms. Johnson-Hodge. Four cheers!!
Rating: 
Summary: Very real and very good novel
Review: A favorite among readers, author Margaret Johnson-Hodge gets better and better. Her latest, True Lies, is one of the tightest novels she's ever written. The story revolves around a sincere, goal-oriented, but problem-plagued man named Rick who has fathered a child with an unstable drama queen named Gina. Although they are no longer a couple, Rick dotes on their daughter, four-year-old Kanisha, and dealing with Gina emotionally sends him to places he never wanted to go. Through it all Rick tries to develop a romance with Dajah, a woman who sometimes gets frustrated with the drama, a woman that Rick hopes will make his life complete.True Lies reads like a movie; it's very vivid, and the characters are so well drawn that when you read the dialogue, you can literally hear their voices. Margaret Johnson-Hodge shapes and sculpts her characters with amazing precision; she doesn't make all men look bad, or all baby mamas look trifling. She digs deep and helps the reader to understand the characters' motivations for the decisions they make. The novel takes surprising turns that may cause one to talk out loud to the book, grow disgusted with some of the characters' decisions, and make you feel as if this story could be anybody's. True Lies is just that authentic. This is a commanding and appealing novel, and it's highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Taking a chance on reality
Review: Are true lies the same as half truths or little white lies?
In any event, the book True Lies by Margaret J. Hodge is an
intense, thought provoking story about the things we tell
ourselves and others in order to survive. The three primary
characters were tangled in a precarious triangle, each trying
to believe the half truths they've been telling themselves. Rick wants so much to believe that his live in girlfriend is
growing up and that she is ready to shed her hip-hop lifestyle,
because he wants some mature good times out of life. Gina met
Rick when she was seventeen and though they've been together
seven years, she is still acting like a teenager. The glue
that holds them together is wrapped neatly in a four year old
package named Kanisha, she is his one true thing; his absolute.
Rick is a good man and is committed to his relationship, then
he bumps into Dajah. Dajah Moore, remembers the last time she took a chance, she
was eight years old, and it left her with a scar on her knee.
But when Dajah meets Rick, and even though he is not really
free, enough warmth is generated to make her think she is
headed for another big fall. And this time more than her
knee will get scarred. I've become accustomed to how Ms. Hodge writes, the drama never
overshadows the characters, and this time she delivers again.
The story is so basically human, that it will have readers
sitting back pondering the solution; a solution where undoubtedly
someone will reap and someone will lose. A wonderful human interest
read, I urge you to pick this one up. Reviewed by aNN Brown
Rating:
Summary: All of Johnson-Hodge Books are favorites
Review: But this one really kept me glued to the pages. Rick and Gina,Rick and Dajah, then Rick, Gina, and Dajah. What a nightmare. Two and a half women, including little Kanisha, stretching one man extremely thin. This story was heart wrenching and real. No time for glossing over and Hollywood endings. No one tells a true story like MJH.
Rating:
Summary: True Lies
Review: Dijah Moore is a good looking, hard working sister who refuses to be burned by love again. Rick Trimmons is a good looking, hard working brother trying to maintain his composure with the carziness he has to go through with his ex Gina. Rick only puts up with Gina because of the love of his life, his daughter Kanisha. When Dajah and Rick's paths cross they begin a relationship that should last forever, but Gina has plans of her own. I really enjoyed this book, the only thing I don't like about Mrs.Hodge's books is that none of them have a happy ending. None the less she is a talented writer.
Rating:
Summary: That Never Ending Connection
Review: Ever experienced the qualm of dating a person with kid(s)? Wrestled with weather or not you wanted to deal with that drama? If you haven't, you know someone who has. True Lies is an in depth voyage into the difficulty of getting involved with and loving a man who has a child, a permanent rope binding him to another woman. Margaret Johnson-Hodge opens that damn of water that often drowns the outside woman. She explores the terror of stepping into a ready-made family and the turmoil of sharing your man not just with his child, but also with his child's mother. The True Lies cast of characters includes Rick, the naive, well meaning father; Gina, the young, belligerent mother; and Kanisha, the cute daughter. This cobbled together Tonka toy family is weakly built on dependence, and barely surviving on lopsided love. Enter Gina, a demure, sophisticated young woman with style and aplomb...and you've got a recipe for chronic chaos and willful war. Johnson-Hodge's supple writing and colorful cadence buries us in the characters' explosive emotions and toxic relationships. She weaves a story of growth, trust, love, and disappointment. True Lies, like her other stories, is thought provoking, and mirrors the candid complications we experience in some of our own relationships.
Rating:
Summary: SEEIN' WHAT WE WANT TO SEE
Review: FAST PAST READ. SOMETHING EVERYONE CAN RELATE TO. THE AUTHOR DOES A WONDERFUL JOB MAKING CLEAR HOW, MANY TIMES WE CONTINUE TO EXCEPT THINGS THAT ARE LESS THAN DESIRABLE. SOMETIMES IT'S JUST EASIER TO EXCEPT PEOPLE AS THEY ARE, RATHER THAN SEEING THEM FOR WHAT THEY TRULY REPRESENT. TO THE AUTHOR I SAY "A JOB WELL DONE!" CAN'T WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT ONE.
Rating: 
Summary: mixed bag
Review: First, I really like the way Rick is portrayed. Instead of another dog figure Margaret Hodges has created a man who loves his child and wants to do the right thing, even if it means sacrificing his own happiness. In the name of love and duty Rick makes some terrible decisions but the author made me see why he made them. I want to see more characters liket this. Dajah, his love interest really didn't catch me. She's so frosty and it takes so long for to warm up it didn't seem likely that a love story would get started. The character of Gina left me annoyed. Must even baby's mama in black fiction be portrayed as a [bad], money grubbing, man draining tramp? Yes, Gina is the problem but she was presented as more of a [model] than as a human being. Ultimately, this book is a mixed bag.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: Great job Ms. Hodge - You did it again! I really felt sorry for Dajah - It seemed as if she wanted desperately to be with this guy - She gave him every opportunity. The ending was a surprise - I never thought she would have realized that he could not give up Gina - I know it was especially hard for her - the time of year did not help either.
Rating:
Summary: lies so true...
Review: i absolutely loved this book! thanks again MJH for another thought-provoking and excellent storyline. rick(although his intentions were good)is on the verge of messing up a good thing he has w/dajah while trying to deal with his child's mother. he is to be applauded for stepping up to the plate and being more than just a check-writer to his child. dajah's character displayed what it truly means to love yourself more than you love someone else. the story centers on whether rick and dajah can manage to make their relationship work despite all of gina's(his daughter's mother) tactics to keep them apart. to avoid giving away the ending, i'll just say READ THE BOOK! in defense of ms. gina...i will say that she was really too young to have had a baby and rick should have known that before getting involved with her. gina's a good-time, live-for-the-moment-girl and it shows in ALL her actions. dajah is what rick and his daughter need in their lives, but when are we truly honest with ourselves? because we all know that somewhere within the truth, there is always a lie....
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