Bookmark this: Steve the Penguin…a first novel smash by Mahlena-Rae Johnson

After watching one of the VH1 countdowns of the greatest hits from the 90s, I felt compelled to sit down and start typing this book review…

Ladies…and gents (if the shoe fits), if you traded in your Sweet Valley High books for shows like Living Single, Sex in the City and Ugly Betty, then debut novelist Mahlena-Rae Johnson’s Steve the Penguin is right up your alley.

With one week remaining before her much anticipated 10 year high school reunion, Johnson invites us into the life of Bianca Reagan Erin-Dempsey- a smart, accomplished 27 year old gal from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands who now lives in Los Angeles, the grand poobah of superficiality. Bianca has landed a great job assisting senior exec Stacey Macguire for a women’s tv network called Shake in the “business we call show.” As so many of us African-American women on the go know…all that glitters ain’t gold y’all. When Bianca’s personal inventory takes us through her career, friendships…including her BGF (best gay friend) Rick, family, and men, her insecurities abound as Bianca worries that she will not measure up to the expectations of her friends and family back at home and perhaps her own. Topping the list, is Bianca’s longing for a set of friends that really get her (quirks and all) and the genuine affections of her knight in shining armor.

As the story progresses, Bianca also takes us back 10 years to her friends and more importantly crushes from high school. Do her friends and family back at home meet her with open arms even though she arrives sans a husband and 2.4 children? Does the dork she was in high school interfere with her chances for romance? What’s up with DannyOcean112 and The Lawyer? Who the hell is Steve the Penguin? Why do we all seem to have that friend who latches on to the worst men in the name of having a man? For those answers, my friends, you need to read this book.

All in all, Steve the Penguin is a great read, very current in its adaptation (love the use of online chatting in some of the chapters) and composed with wit at the helm but without sacrificing gravity of the longings of main character, Bianca. As an added treat, those of Caribbean descent will identify with missing great food from home and the contrast of life in the islands to life in the states.

Oprah honey, when you read this post make sure you check out Mahlena-Rae Johnson’s first novel Steve the Penguin, add it to your book of the month list, and invite her on the show. She promises not to jump on your sofa. 😉 Oh, and tell Gayle that she’ll like it, too!

For the rest of youz, buy the book http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Penguin-Mahlena-Rae-Johnson/dp/0979935709

and check out her blog http://stevethepenguin.blogspot.com/

Mahlena-Rae is currently working on a sequel, so stay tuned for more from this blazing author on the rise.