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Overview
Until that fateful moment when she was shot and left for dead, Regina Harris was living la vida loca with pimps and hustlers and using whatever money she had to get high and forget that she was living in poverty in Harlem. Now she's a college graduate and journalist who has turned her life around, living on the Upper West Side and hobnobbing with movers and shakers. She's become the classy Satin Doll of the Duke Ellington song...but she's never forgotten where she's from.
On a night out partying with her homegirls in Harlem, Regina meets aspiring lawyer Charles Whitfield, who comes from a prominent, upper-class black family in Philadelphia. As a relationship begins, Regina tries desperately to hide her former life — and her friendships with Yvonne, who's a single mother looking for a man; Tamika, who's raising two kids while their father does time; and Puddin', who has a weakness for bad boys and weed. But when Regina's past is revealed, it threatens to destroy both her relationship with Charles and the life she has worked so hard to create.
Synopsis
Regina Harris has it going on. Drop-dead gorgeous, intelligent and a successful freelance writer, the sassy 26-year-old seems the poster child for African American young professionals.But what would her colleagues say if they knew Regina was once a professional shoplifter and career girlfriend? That she was shot and almost killed while hanging out with a drug dealer?
Set in Harlem and Philadelphia, Satin Doll tells the story of a woman living in two worlds, and feeling comfortable in neither. The lovely Regina sips cocktails in Greenwich Village with the literary elite one night, and goes barhopping with her Harlem homegirls the next. There s Yvonne, who discovers the lawyer she is dating is married, but decides to steal him away from his wife. Tamika, who finds out the prison inmate she s been loyal to for three years has married a white woman while behind bars. And Puddin , a cocaine sniffing good-time girl who will snatch off her wig to fight at the drop of a hat.
But when Regina falls in love with aspiring politician Charles Whitfield, she has to choose between her two worlds -- and wonder if her shady past will come back to haunt her.
Jenice M. Armstrong - Philadelphia Daily News
A real page turner! It's about wanting more, getting it, and finding that the brass ring is just that — brass. A great book club choice.
Editorials
Jamal Joseph
Satin Dolls moves, grooves fights and delights. It's wonderfully entertaining and a must read.— Black College Today
Philadelphia Daily News
A real page turner! It's about wanting more, getting it, and finding that the brass ring is just that — brass. A great book club choice.—Jenice M. Armstrong
Publishers Weekly
A major house has picked up another self-published novel, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Karen E. Quinones Miller's Satin Doll, after it hit the BlackBoard African-American bestseller list. The writing here is better and the plot more successfully imagined than most other offerings in this genre. After years of living on the edge in Harlem, Regina Harris is shot and violently beaten. She decides to change her life, attending college, getting work as a writer and finding love with Charles Whitfield, a well-bred, aspiring politician. But Regina's past, Charles's present and the class differences between the two threaten both their relationship and Charles's career. () Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Jenice M. Armstrong
. . . a real page turner! You won’t want to put it down. . . . It’s about wanting more, getting it, and finding sometimes that the brass ring is just that - brass. A great book club choice.—Philadelphia Daily News