This book is about a church bishop, whose wife (the church's First Lady) has died. Prior to the First Lady's death, she and her friend (the church secretary) wrote a series of letters to be delivered after her death to 4 women of the church whom would be in the running to become the new First Lady after her death.The four women are: Marlene, the bishop's first girlfriend, whom he has a child with and she is currently a recovering drug addict; Savannah, a younger woman whose father (a deacon in the church) wants to improve his status at the church so he is pushing for his daughter to become the next First Lady; Monique, the "harlot" of the bunch, who dresses provocatively and is gossiped about by the other women of the church; and Lisa May, the "perfect" one who would make a wonderful First Lady.This book had its moments, but was kinda boring. I could pretty much figure out right away who the Bishop would end up with. None of the women or the Bishop were very interesting characters. I did like the story line of Marlene's struggles with her drug addiction. Certain events seemed like kind of a cop out (especially the outcome of Monique's predicament), and also the ending.All in all, I give this a generous 3 stars, it did keep me mildly entertained, but it did drag a bit and the characters were boring.
I absolutely loved this book! I don't read too many books written by male authors, let alone African-American authors. I picked this book up in the Hartfield Airport in Atlanta, Georgia because I had heard about it for sometime and I was glad I paid the price for it. The reason I gave it four out of five stars is because I wished the pastor would have told Lisa Mae about her cruel ways. I was expecting him to find out if what Marlene was saying was true. Then there was the constant mention of T.K.'s favorite foods, pork chops (any type of way it's cooked) and Savannah's peach cobbler. And the other reason is because the bond between Savannah and Monique just seemed fake. To be competing against the same man and acting as if they were sisters made me want to gag. Besides these three minor headaches, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I must say I was surprised he ended up with Mo'Nique at the end although I was rooting for her after the abortion ordeal. Y'all I didn't spoil the book. You have to read it to understand because if there's one thing Carl Weber's good at and that's adding twists and turns to the story. Great job! Will be reading The Choir Director and The Preacher's Son.
What do You think about The First Lady (2007)?
So far, this book tends to be unrealistic for me where a first lady on her death bed would write letters to other women to be the next first lady for her husband Bishop T.K. Wilson. You also see the behind the scenes, where bishop didn't even know the Lord and went under a former deacon wings and became a changed man. (I was a little surprised to see him drinking with his friend, to talk about women, and who would be the next lady in his life).I just read less than halfway, and read a disgusting part that I wasn't anticipating to read...not sure I will finish this book! Otherwise, his writing is pretty good but not really liking the story (only found one typo so far) even though it was different than the norm. I guess I was anticipating something else based on the title via eBook on the library site (didn't see synopsis ahead of time).Leisure read. It was an okay read. Adrienna Turnerwww.adriennaturner.webs.com
—Adrienna
loved this! ★★★★★
—Stashia
I'm glad I read this out of order, because I don't know if this one would've hooked me like The Choir Director. The same great storytelling is there, but I'm not sure character development is the same. Not enough of the Bishop's point of view, maybe. The ending seemed a bit rushed. Or maybe the build up to his choice was too subtle. And Lisa Mae and Loretta really got away with a serious crime! Knowing what I know about one of the other women, considering the role she played in this book, I'm trying to figure out how her character from where she is now to where she is in TCD. Seems odd...
—Tqwana
