Crave

Rating:
Summary: What exactly is love
Review:
What exactly is love and to what extent do some of us go to get it? Darnella Ford addresses this question in Crave, shows the frailty of the human need to love and to be loved. It is a some what dark story of a woman who missed out on love and affection as a child and how it affects her when she gets older, basically leaving her with a craving to be loved, suffering from illusions of normality, and a low self-esteem that controls her decisions.

Michael Morgan is confused about life and love and is convinced that through her sexual exploits she can find a man who will give her the love she seeks. Almost in a daze and going from man to man, she doesn't quite grasp that love cannot be found between the sheets. Because of this, she sets herself up for constant heartbreak, pain and misery. While the trauma of her situation should eventually wake her up from her actions, she can't release the yearning she has inside. Just when she is at her lowest, she meets a wonderful white man who she's not so sure about initially, but then she ends up falling for him -- falling in the worse way. It is the way that Michael is known for falling for men (hard and quick) in an unending cycle on her search to love.

The characters, both protagonists and antagonists were well-defined and yet vague when needed, offering a perfect balance to this disturbing, yet sometimes funny book. I especially liked the interactions between Michael and her two best friends in the book, both of whom are suffering with their own issues of drug addiction and homosexuality.

Poetic and dramatic, Crave is a relationship novel, yet it crosses the line into something more and stands out on its own. Addressing the issues of self-worth and mental illness with the normal story lines of other relationship novels made this book more alive, more focused, and more set on bringing the lessons home.
By: Dela Williams
SistaGirl Book Club Reviewers
sistagirlbookclub.com




Rating:
Summary: The story is intense and disturbing
Review: "Crave" is the lyrical and tragic story of Michael Morgan the daughter of a
mentally unstable mother and emotionally absent and later deceased
father. Michael did not experience love and security as a child and spends
her adult life searching for the love and acceptance she craves so
desperately. Michael confuses sex for love and ends up with a perpetual
broken heart until one day after a countless number of wrong guys and
unrealistic hopes for happily ever after, She starts to look inside for the
love she is lacking.

Darnella Ford is an awesome writer! Her prose is beautiful. The book is
both funny and heartbreaking and Ms Ford's writing seems absolutely
effortless. She brings Michael's pain to life in vivid detail and you can
literally feel Michael's intense need for love and her total confusion
about how to go about feeling good about herself. The supporting
characters, including, Michael's mother, the astrologer and Michael's best
friend, are also exquisitely written. These characters are well defined
when necessary and purposely vague as appropriate. This attention to
detail puts Ms. Ford heads and shoulders above most African-American
contemporary fiction writers I have read, who if they do have a well
defined main character, have poorly developed secondary characters.

The story is intense and disturbing in detailing the depths Michael will
sink in an effort to get and keep a man. While Michael is extreme in her

presentation, I do think that every woman can relate to Michael in some
way, and find something in this book to ponder. I would highly recommend
this book to anyone looking for a quality read.(...)

Rating:
Summary: Hooked On Crave
Review: "Crave" is the story of Michael, a female who seeks love and wants to be in love so badly that as the reader, I felt anxious for her. It's a steamy, disturbing visit into Michael's lusts, crushes, and desires. Darnella Ford thrusts Michael at the reader without any sugar coating or pretenses.
Crave is very much a relationship book. Michael's relationships with friends, her mother, and her men kept me turning pages because of the issues which Ford dramatically dispenses.

I loved this fast paced story and I have highly recommended it because it is an unusually honest look at a female's struggle to understand relationships and the male's perspective.
Ford ingeniously challenges the reader to be vulnerable and open minded while being drawn into the story.
"Crave" had a poetic flair which I adored.

Rating:
Summary: Hooked On Crave
Review: "Crave" is the story of Michael, a female who seeks love and wants to be in love so badly that as the reader, I felt anxious for her. It's a steamy, disturbing visit into Michael's lusts, crushes, and desires. Darnella Ford thrusts Michael at the reader without any sugar coating or pretenses.
Crave is very much a relationship book. Michael's relationships with friends, her mother, and her men kept me turning pages because of the issues which Ford dramatically dispenses.

I loved this fast paced story and I have highly recommended it because it is an unusually honest look at a female's struggle to understand relationships and the male's perspective.
Ford ingeniously challenges the reader to be vulnerable and open minded while being drawn into the story.
"Crave" had a poetic flair which I adored.

Rating:
Summary: Craving Love In All The Wrong Places
Review: Crave by Darnella Ford is the story of a lonely soul seeking love and acceptance in all the wrong places. Michael was never really taught the meaning of true love. As a child, her only source of true unconditional love was her father Sergio. Colleen, Michael's mother was a self-absorbed woman who in polite circles would be considered eccentric and a bit crazy. She spent most of her marriage and Michael's childhood seeking constant attention from her husband and perfection that can only be found on a movie screen. Colleen's constant nagging and need for perfection eventually drove her husband away from the entire family leaving Michael alone to seek the love she craved but could never find in a dysfunctional household.

Michael is introduced to sex at a young age by a scene she secretly witnessed between her babysitter and the babysitter's boyfriend. She carries away from this event the belief that you can give sexy and receive love in return. It is this belief that takes her through puberty, straight to an adulthood filled promiscuity, shaky friendships, and bad decisions. Michael's pattern of bad decision-making eventually leads her to Eddie, the first man to seemingly know and understand her. It is in her relationship with Eddie that we see how far Michael is willing to go in her search for the love she craves.

Crave is the tragic but classic story of a woman seeking love in all the wrong places. However, Darnella Ford has made her version of this classic story stand out from the rest. Ford's writing flows like poetry, drawing you into the story from page one. She takes you into the inner thoughts of our heroine, making Michael real by allowing her to tell this story in her own unique fashion. Ford also creates a strong cast of supporting characters but keeps them in line with the story by allowing Michael to explain their importance in the story of her life.

I could not put Crave down. Michael and her search for a love and acceptance captured me from the very beginning. I understood her loneliness for in my own way I have been there. I felt her pain and confusion because I could relate it to my own experiences. I recommend this book to anyone seeking quality writing and a story that touches emotional strings.

Dee-Dee
R.E.A.L. Reviewers


Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read!!
Review: Crave delivers an honest look in the life of what many single women go through - the desire to be loved for who they are. This is not to say that every woman needs a man but all of us have a desire to be loved whether it's from family or a significant other. Michael doesn't always handle her crave for love in the best manner but I think if you take the time to read this book, you'll feel a pleasant resolve to her situation. Bottom line, buy the book and give it a chance. For some it may take a few chapters to get into but I'm sure that it will satisfy your crave for a good book.

Rating:
Summary: In Love With Love
Review: CRAVE is a fascinating melodrama which delves into the darker side of love and dysfunctional relationships. It is a passionately written story of lust, desire and compulsive behavior which delineates its protagonist's obsessive search for love and self-worth.

Michael is a romance junkie who is consumed with an insatiable need for love and affection. She spends an inordinate amount of time nurturing relationships which end up leaving her heartbroken and frustrated. Michael's story is deeply steeped in sexuality and pain and the reader is sent on a tumultuous ride as she goes through an alarming sequence of unhealthy entanglements.
Ultimately, she encounters the one man who seems capable of filling the empty chasm within her soul, but at what cost???

Crave is essentially about one woman's struggle to reclaim her self-worth and dignity in an undignified world. The story unfolds effortlessly and Darnella Ford's fluidly poetic writing style adds to its unique flavor. Her characters are very well developed and authentic.

Reviewed by Autumn
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: Crave, I Dare You
Review: Darnella Ford's Crave is brilliantly written, and the story line is exceptionally rare.

The author will capture your undivided attention by questioning true love, and by exposing the emotional scars that seekers of true love might endure. Creative writing and poetic interpretations of the highs of romance, and the lows of breaking up accompany the situations that arise in this novel. What happened to the main character is definitely a depiction of the trauma and frustration that most of us suffer while dating.

In addition to addressing mental health issues, the author cleverly points out the importance of seeking self-help and spirituality. To say the very least, this book was inspirational, because the author has described emotions that are usually too complicated to put in to words.

I have recommended this book to both single men and women.

Sincerely,

Vee Bright

Rating:
Summary: Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places
Review: Have you ever wanted love so badly you could taste it? Have you desired someone with such intensity that you could be accused of being a stalker or a fatal attraction? Michael Morgan, the main character in Darnella Ford's sophomore release Crave, experiences this type of yearning to the nth degree.

Michael Morgan Hughes is a girl who comes from a very "interesting" family that some may label as dysfunctional. From the moment her mother sings a sorrowful version of the lullaby Hush Little Baby and tries to teach Michael to ride a bike by pushing her into a tree, it becomes apparent that Michael's mom is anything but normal. As for Michael's father, he deals with the situation as best he can until he turns to booze. Jack Daniels becomes his best friend. One night after a physical altercation he leaves for good. Later police deliver the bad news that Sergio, Michael's father, was killed in a collision.

The death of her father is a traumatic loss for young Michael and represents the beginning of her quest for love. She later witnesses her babysitter having sex and quickly realizes the power of her own newly developed body. As a woman, however, the power proves ineffective, as her desperate search for Mr. Right is unsuccessful. She embarks on a series of sexual conquests including, Lorenzo, Gerry, Marshall, Rashid, William, Keith, Antonio and even her neighbor friend, Sky, to name a few. However, she always ends up right where she started alone.

That is until Eddie Matsen enters the picture. Eddie is different from any other guy she's dated or slept with. Besides being white, he has a special something about him that draws Michael in and leaves her breathless. For all intents and purposes, he seems to be the one. He meets her mother and even drives Michael to see about her best friend Molly Wood, a drug addict who is in and out of rehab. But after a month of being in a committed relationship Eddie ends the relationship and Michael is left alone yet again.

Ford's writing style draws you in like a magnet. She combines complex, afflicted characters with poetic prose that is lyrically sweet, yet deep and thought provoking. Ford has taken the looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places premise and added other gritty elements to the story such as abortion, bisexuality, and drug abuse. Although not as provocative as her debut release Rising, Crave is a powerful exploration of one woman's unrelenting quest for love.

Rating:
Summary: Every Woman Can Relate........
Review: I absolutely loved this book and vow to buy EVERY single book Ms. Ford writes for as long as these eyes can see. Never have I witnessed an author, who so poetically and articulately explains one woman's deepest, darkest and most desperate feelings on paper. We are introduced to a woman who yearns to be loved so deeply and while not agreeing with her every decision, can totally understand and relate to these feelings. I myself have seen some of these dismal days and was never able to vocalize to myself or anyone else my motives of why we as women do some of the things we do. After reading this novel, I was forced to look deeply inward and examine my own issues and re-evaluate some of my own STUFF. Thank you, Ms. Ford, and know that one sista' in Southern NJ is eternally grateful for your eloquent voice. If you have ever hurt before, get this book. If you have ever done something in the name of love that you regret, get this book. If you have ever traded your body to taste one drop of affection, get this book. Every woman at one time in there lives can absolutely relate. I LOVED IT !!!!!