Sins of the Mother, the Lifetime movie based on Carleen Brice’s Orange Mint and Honey apparently was a big, big success for the network.

The movie premiered Feb. 21 and re-airs tonight and Saturday.

I confess that it’s still on my DVR and I haven’t had a chance to see it yet.

Congratulations to Carleen Brice and Jill Scott!

A Second Helping: A Blessings Novel

by Beverly Jenkins

Avon Books

Jan. 5, 2010

Here’s my review: Eh.

OK, fine, I’ll say more than that. I don’t think this book, which features the continued adventures of Bernadine Brown, was Jenkins’ best work (as a refresher: millionaire Brown has purchased the town of Henry Adams and brought foster children to live there).

The bad: The kids, who were so likable and finely drawn in the first book in this series, Bring on the Blessings, just didn’t work for me this time around.

Their dialogue was overkill, as though Jenkins, whom I continue to adore, worked a bit too hard to make them sound young and fresh. Another unneeded element was the return of scofflaw Riley Curry and his ginormous hog, Cletus; I thought that storyline ended well in the last book and didn’t need to be revisited.

The good: I continue to adore Bernadine and most of the adult characters, I love the town of Henry Adams that Jenkins has created and I appreciate that this novel manages to be spiritual without being either sappy or preachy. Jenkins also managed to create a compelling storyline about a couple dealing with the after-effects of adultery — although that storyline ultimately seemed to fall a little flat.

Nonetheless, I’ll be looking forward to the next book in Jenkins’ Henry Adams/Blessings series — and hoping that it will include fewer storylines and more realistically drawn characters.

Grade: C+

• So I've been learning. @tayari and don't get me started on poetry. We are in a golden age of black poetry! #litchat #
• RT @colsonwhitehead Les Details: http://bit.ly/7LhyM9 RT @varchibald: CW speaks at Center for Fiction Tues. Hoping to hear some '80's slang. #

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The 1992 Nobel laureate in poetry does a reading:

• That's adorable @tayari #
• Amiri Baraka on black literature http://bit.ly/cIpbwk #
• @GEM2001 I get tired of styles quickly, so I may not be the right person by whom to judge. I dump twists for the twistout with a quickness. #
• @GEM2001 I've worn them as long as a week. #
• Ha! RT @insanityreport Black folks survive in SciFi now. We've tripled our life expectancy in movies. MLK would be proud #Progress #
• On the failure of publishers to connect with buyers on the subject of e-book pricing http://bit.ly/bENMkQ #
• I need to figure out a career that will allow me to make money while napping. *yawn* #
• .@ycoleman Indeed. My daughter's just 5 months old and I'm a complete worrywart! #
• @ycoleman Take it from a Floridian who is not underneath dozens of inches of snow: She'll be glad you let her go. #
• Enjoying @sportsguy33's 'The Book of Basketball.' Helps that I can put it down & pick it up without losing a plot. Nonfiction=good that way. #
• @BlackPearlCreat That's wonderful news! But you're the soldier, chemo was just your weapon. #
• Yes, this. RT @skeskali Trying to work up any amount of emotion over the John Mayer thing, but just don't care that much. #
• Confession: I always recognize that Samuel Delany's books are good, but I don't actually…enjoy them. #
• New Samuel R. Delany book out this fall. It's the story of a 70-year love affair, apparently. http://bit.ly/dAgqXT #
• Wed. at 7 p.m. & Thurs. at 10 a.m., Florida Museum of Art hosts event to honor Zora N. Hurston, Volusia Courthouse, 125 W. Indiana, DeLand. #
• Help make wikis for black women in speculative fiction in TV & film (w/eye toward books, animation) http://bit.ly/9XXiot #

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• Tananarive Due posted the cover art for her new Tennyson Hardwick book on her Facebook page
• Tips from experienced writers
• The National Black Writers Conference is in March
• If that’s not enough, the Black Writers Reunion and Conference is in June
• And in case you just can’t get enough of hanging out with writers, Romance Slam Jam (which I attended, and loved, in 2008) is in April
• Leslie Esdaile “L.A.” Banks is speaking next week at Vanderbilt and Fisk Universities

• Not book-related, but this video of an otter eating a clam may be the cutest thing I've seen all day: http://bit.ly/9RiJa8 #
• Female werewolves in pop culture: http://bit.ly/9cTF0y #
• Terribly constructed headline. RT @blackvoices 'Partner' Ben Maisani and Anderson Cooper to Adopt Haitian Orphan? http://bit.ly/a30Do6 #
• I am looking forward to the time when I can again read more than 10 pages of a book at one time without dozing off. #
• RT @aakulturezone Book Review: Dreams That Won't Let Go by Stacy Hawkins Adams http://ow.ly/16uTZB #

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It’s safe to say that I won’t be seeing the movie Precious. I read Push and found it incredibly draining. Nonetheless, I am, as always, pleased that a book by a black author was made into a movie.

Here’s Sapphire explaining how the book became the Oscar-nominated movie: