Chocolate Sangria

Juanita Lucas is a young woman living in a housing project in Brooklyn. Although she has a very light complexion, she is proud of her blackness, even as she takes a beating from the very sistahs she tries so hard to emulate. Her only friend, Scooter Morrison, is an upwardly mobile brother who also happens to be young, gifted, and gay. Then a chance encounter with two fine Puerto Rican men changes Juanitas and Scooters lives in ways they could never have imagined. There is Conan, a hardworking man who wrestles with both his love for Juanita and his guilt over his brothers death; and Jorge, an unscrupulous bad-boy thug who has no problem using what hes got to get what he wants, until he comes dangerously close to getting scorched by his own flames.

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and unpredictable, Chocolate Sangria explores the hearts of two lovers who get caught in the great cultural divide—

and the devastating consequences of keeping secrets, telling lies, and betraying those you love.

Tracy Price-Thompson is a highly decorated Desert Storm veteran and the author of the Essence and Black Expressions bestseller Black Coffee. A Brooklyn native and retired Army engineer, she is a member of the Alpha Delta Mu Honor Society of Rutgers University and a Ralph Bunche Graduate Fellow who holds degrees in business administration and social work. Price-Thompson was recently a finalits for the a Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award for literary excellence, and is currently completing her third novel, A Taste of Hunnie. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and their children and would love to hear your thoughts on Chocolate Sangria. You can e-mail her at tracythomp@aol.com or write to her at P.O. Box 187, Fort Dix, NJ 08640.

From the Hardcover edition.