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Using What You Got

Name: Using What You Got
Author: Karen E. Quinones Miller
ISBN: 9780743246156

by Karen E. Quinones Miller

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Overview

Not just any man will do. Tiara's special someone must be rich, handsome, and willing to spoil her as much as her father does -- if not more. When two prospects arrive on the scene, Tiara prepares to be smitten. But when the suitor she adores doesn't like her attitude, she can't seem to find the word "rejection" in her vocabulary. Determined to strike it rich with a pot of fool's gold, Tiara must choose between the currencies of cents or sense.

Using What You Got is a dynamic tale that sparkles with the blush of first love and the hard-won lessons that endure.

Synopsis

Eighteen-year-old Tiara Bynum is pretty as a princess and just as spoiled. Her castle is the Harlem housing project where she lives with her younger sister, Jo-Jo, and her doting father, Reggie. Every time Tiara snaps her perfectly manicured fingers, the men come running -- because she's "got it like that."

Not just any man will do. Tiara's special someone must be rich, handsome, and willing to spoil her as much as her father does -- if not more. When two prospects arrive on the scene, Tiara prepares to be smitten. But when the suitor she adores doesn't like her attitude, she can't seem to find the word "rejection" in her vocabulary. Determined to strike it rich with a pot of fool's gold, Tiara must choose between the currencies of cents or sense.

Using What You Got is a dynamic tale that sparkles with the blush of first love and the hard-won lessons that endure.

USA Today

[Miller's] writing, just as in Satin Doll and her second novel, I'm Telling, is real and gritty. Some of the dialogue is so well written it might make the reader laugh, cry and root for the characters -- out loud. You couldn't ask for a more flowing, fast or satisfying summertime read. — Sharyn L. Flanagan

About the Author, Karen E. Quinones Miller

Karen E. Quinones Miller's bestselling novels teem with unforgettable characters that are "hot-blooded in every way" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). With Uptown Dreams, Miller presents a riveting urban drama about three neighbors whose spirited friendship is sustained by a shared past and present — and thrives on a passion for imagining what the future will bring.

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Editorials

USA Today

Publishers Weekly

This third novel for Miller (Satin Doll) revisits the Harlem projects, where Reggie Bynum, a former poker player and boxer who now works for the New York City Department of Sanitation, is raising two daughters alone. His wife abandoned the family when the girls-now 12 and 18-were very young, and Reggie, haunted by the memory of his own deadbeat father, dotes on his daughters, sometimes to a fault. His sister, Charlene (Aunt Charley), drinks Johnny Walker Red and hangs around his apartment, supposedly to "help out," but really to stave off her own loneliness. Reggie's younger daughter, Jo-Jo, is a tomboy and talented basketball player, while his older one, the shallow and self-absorbed Tiara, is obsessed with finding a rich guy to rescue her from the projects. She meets Lionel, noticing his black Porsche, his Versace loafers-and nothing else about him. Both she and her father are dazzled by his money and his claim that he is a business major at NYU. At the same time, Tiara meets Rashad, a cab driver who volunteers at the local community center. His apparent nonchalance drives Tiara crazy, but his depth and kindness draw her to him. Tiara's sudden transformation at the end is hard to swallow, supporting characters are even less developed and the plot is predictable. But Miller's prose has a kinetic energy and she includes enough saucy dialogue to make this a decently entertaining read. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Princess of the Harlem projects, Tiara is head over heels in love with a smooth Columbia graduate student, even when she learns that his money comes from drug dealing. But her father has different ideas. With a ten-city author tour. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.