Rating:  Summary: I Just Can't Get Enough of That Basil Review: "Not a Day Goes By" is the story of my favorite ELH character Basil Henderson. If you've read other ELH novels then you know that Basil is a sexually confused bad boy. Nut in this book Basil meets his match when he meets and falls in love with Yancy Braxton. Yancy like Basil has made brief apperances in other ELH novels but this is the first time we get to read her story. When these two get together it's truly explosive.
Rating:  Summary: Good But Could Have Been BETTER! Review: As a supporter and fan of E. Lynn Harris, I looked forward to reading his latest release. Like many of the reviewers, I too was able to read it in one setting. I Njoyed most of the "trip" through the pages, and liked the fact that the author weaved in personalities of other characters from past books, thus making the lives of Basil and Yancy more real as recollections of past situations arose. Short chapters are one thing, but these were choppy! Of all the author's novels, Not a Day...is NOT one of his best, which is a bit disappointing, because up until this point, his writing has always gotten better. One thing for sure, there are enuf hints in this work that leads the reader to believe that there is MORE TO COME. Maybe Basil's "lane changing" will cause him to sho nuff wreck!!!??? Not A Day Goes By is the selection for our September book club discussion. I can hardly wait to hear what my fellow reading sistah's have to say...
Rating:  Summary: "Something To Cry About" Review: First, let me start off by saying that E.Lynn Harris is a masterful storyteller who takes his readers on a enigmatic ride. The story was well-organized which consist of mendaciousness, sensual indulgence, passion, and secrets. In this story, John "Basil" Henderson, a erotically appealing, irresistable and diabolical ex-football player has a history with both men and women, plans to marry Yancy Harrington Braxton, a young exquisite talented fledging Broadway star whose enchantment bleeds aspiration. Basil is madly in love with Yancey. He feels like he can settle down and have children which will stop him from being a player. But, Yancey does not want children. At the same time, he is trying to confront his sexual ambiguity that he has for men. Yancey loves Basil, too, but her career comes first and then, money. Yancey and Basil believe that they are a match made in heaven. But, when Ava, Yancey's mother reveals the secret to Yancey about Basil's sexual life it threatens their possible future together. Is Basil going to reveal his secret to Yancey about his sexual life? Could there still be a lavishing wedding? On the other hand, E.Lynn Harris keeps his audience in indetermination by adding intricacy of past relationships. However, Basil who has had a painful childhood which is troubling him to over come obstacles in his life, as well as, his flushed need to seek out male companionship and Yancey who has been broken-hearted by her first love. This increasingly iniquity novel is a page-turner.
Rating:  Summary: Great book for a lazy day! Review: I bought this book a long time ago because I read some great review about it, but didn't get around to reading it until this past week or so. I couldn't put it down! The characters are so well-written and the plot is fast moving to keep you interested. Plenty of relationship drama and suspense; definitely a page turner. Can't wait to read another novel from this author!
Rating:  Summary: It won't win a nobel lit prize, but it's a fun ride! Review: I liked E. Lynn in my early twenties and haven't read a book of his since the first two came out. I wanted to check him out and see how he's grown as a writer (and how I've grown as a critical reader). This book was fun, and I couldn't put it down, but I do understand why critics are frustrated by the overwhelming amount of Black novels that read just the same way this one did, with a few too many overly dramatic metaphors, too much name dropping (especially with clothing designers), and unnecessarily bourgie details. Harris is very descriptive; almost too much so. There were moments when I was drawn out of the story by too-long lists of adjectives about simple things like the napkin a character was using to wipe her mouth. Overall, a fun read. Just go into it knowing it ain't that deep.
Rating:  Summary: Whoa! Review: I liked this story. It was pretty interesting. I would not read it twice and it is not on my #1 recommendation list, but I did still liked it.
Rating:  Summary: Give me a break!!!!! Review: I personally don't know how this book got such good reviews. It Sucked!!!! It took to long to get to the point. Maybe the last couple of chapters it got good, but this is the kind of book you read when you don't have anything else.
Rating:  Summary: My second try at E. Lynn Harris - with a pleasant surprise Review: I read "Invisible Life" years ago when I lived in Chicago and E. Lynn Harris was just beginning to get recognition after a major publisher had picked up his self-published novel and printed it to much success. I myself thought the book was kind of flat, the characters a bit whiney about "am I or aren't I?" and it was a slow read for me. Despite all the press and reviews and million-copy sellers, I had rejected reading another Harris novel until I began reading jacket covers of his latest novels and became intrigued with John "Basil" Henderson enough to give "Not a Day Goes By" a try. Well, I'm not sure if I have mellowed, or if Harris has just gotten a stronger hold of his talent, because I really enjoyed this book and have already started the sequel, "Any Way the Wind Blows" - Basil is an ex-pro football player who is now a partner in a very successful sports agency. He has been a player, dog, and sexual adventurer all his life, and seems to have the best of both worlds in that he can get men and women between the sheets with equal ease. Handsome, masculine, succressful and rich, and blessed physically in a way most men would envy, Basil is enjoying the good life of the playa --- that is, until he meets Yancey Butler, Diva in the making, a Broadway actress/singer/dancer that turns Basil on his ear and inside out in bed. The book begins with Basil calling Yancey the morning of their wedding to say he can't go through with it - and from there on, the rest of this tightly-written novel is a flashback to what led up to that phone call. We learn that what drew Yancey and Basil together in the first place were their terrible, lonely childhoods, where neither of them felt loved and Basil was actually sexually abused. Two wounded souls that reached out to each other, it seems Basil and Yancey are truly in love. But both are hiding their share of secrets, and in some ways running games on each otehr (Yancy, especially, is good at this) - add to the mix Ava (Yancey's mother and one of the MOST narcissistic characters ever put on paper) and Zurich Robinson (gay ex-athlete finally out of the closet, much to the disatisfaction of Basil's agency, who wants to bring him on as a partner, whom Basil has the hots for even if he can't admit it), and you have the makings for a big-city African American soap opera that - oddly enough - makes you really care about the characters and what may happen to them. Basil Henderson is the kind of guy any woman or gay man could fall in love with - a bad boy with a heart, though that heart may be permanently damaged. Yancey comes off at first as self-serving and egomaniacal - like the pure diva she wants to be - but finally, toward the end, you see that she has a soul. By the end of the book I was fully caught up in their relationship, and in the complications they created for themselves because they can't be true to their hearts. It ain't Shakespeare, but E. Lynn Harris is a great storyteller who will keep you reading until "the end" -- even if the end isn't perfect or even happy, much like real life. I look forward to reading more and more of his work - and yeah, would give anything to meet a Basil of my own.
Rating:  Summary: great Review: I read this because my sister said it was a really good book. This is one of the literary masterpieces everyone dreams of reading. A mixture of sweet and erotic romance. E Lynn Harris seems on top of the game here.
Rating:  Summary: AWESOME! DEFINITELY A MUST HAVE! Review: I'm very bias when it comes to Mr. Harris. What can I say except he is a incredible writer. I love the way each of his novels pick up where the other left off, yet introducing new characters and discovering things about some of the old ones along the way. Each and every novel he has written I own. I never would have imagined that I would be reading novels that mostly consist of bisexual and gay men. But wow! The stories are just so fantastic I can't seem to get enough! Any E. Lynn Harris novel is a MUST HAVE!!!!!!!
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