Bare Essentials

All He Desires

By Brenda Jackson

Yes, I own it. My favorite recreational reading is romance novels, and I am all about Black Love. Before I read male/male and female/female romance novels, the first ones that drew me in were the male/female novels written by celebrated and bestselling author Brenda Jackson. Book publishers didn’t take her seriously in the beginning, believing that love stories featuring African American couples wouldn’t sell. Needless to say, she proved them wrong.

Jackson describes herself as a “die-heart” romantic. Not only does her work touch so many people; she also demonstrates that true love doesn’t depend on a woman’s dress size. In her anthology All He Desires, she beautifully and passionately portrays voluptuous, full-figured sistahs as sheroes, stirring the love and desire of their men.

The All He Desires anthology includes four novellas:  Bare Essentials, Tempting Fate, The Perfect Seduction, and Simply Wonderful. Today, I will be reviewing Bare Essentials.

Dominique Kincaid is a criminal court judge who was burned by her douchebag fiancé when he told her another woman was pregnant with his baby—a week before their wedding. She is a woman who is about settling down and ultimately commitment, but after having her breakup plastered all over the tabloids, she is still gun-shy over a year later. Now, her loving but intrusive family has been weighing in on her love life or lack thereof.

Jordan Prescott is a successful attorney who has sworn off marrying another attorney after his marriage ended in divorce, and he hasn’t dated a woman in months. While out jogging one day, he lays eyes on Dominique. The chemistry is palpable, and he has set out to make her his—before he discovers that she is the presiding judge on a murder trial handled by his law firm.

Will there be a conflict of interest? Will Dominique and Jordan be forced to take matters behind closed doors in judge’s chambers? Will the final verdict be in favor of love?

On every level, Jackson delivers steam, heat, sexiness, and sensuality to her main characters. She leaves no doubt in a reader’s mind how badly Dominique and Jordan want each other, whether they’re together or apart. In a culture obsessed with weight, she paints with words a smoking-hot portrait of beautiful, voluptuous, full-figured sistahs who own their curves. They are confident, independent women who don’t need a man to be happy; a man would only add to their happiness. Add to this recipe the ultimate ingredient to her stories: the power of love and family. In Jackson’s words, “Family is everything.”

These kinds of stories are what place Jackson among the Best of the Best in the romance genre. All He Desires is available through Madaris Publishing Company, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.   

Representation matters, and Brenda Jackson has insured that full-figured women are well represented in romance. Stay tuned for my next review in the anthology, Tempting Fate!