Love Don't Live Here No More Book

The year is 1989, Long Beach, California. When Ulysses Jeffries's mother decides to move her family from the drug-infested East Side to what she believes is safer North Long Beach, Ulysses and his little brother Bing are hurled into a world like none they've experienced before. Instead of moving on up, they've just moved on over.

From a classically trained piano-playing gangster named Buddha, to the next-door neighbor, a foster mother turned basehead named Crazy Betty, to Uncle Mike, a freeloading relative who has a knack for showing up when times are good and a knack for leaving just before they turn bad -- these characters and more take you on a journey like never before. With growing conflicts in the streets, and at home with his mother, Bing, and his mother's new live-in boyfriend Harvey, Ulysses is forced to make decisions that will forever alter his life. It's clear that his only chance of survival is through close friends, family, and the music he loves.

Love Don't Live Here No More is the first in a drama-filled series of novels called Doggy Tales that takes readers from the unforgiving streets of Long Beach to the bright lights of show business. The novel also comes with an original single that provides the backdrop to this compelling tale.

Library Journal

Despite the hardened title and recognizable authors, hip-hop star Snoop Dogg and playwright Talbert, this work falls short of being a top street novel. Ulysses Jeffries relates his experiences being black and male in Long Beach, CA, in the early 1990s, giving the novel a memoir feel. The teen dreams of rapping his way to the big time but instead enters the drug game, slangin' crack for father figure Buddha, one of the book's stock characters. Larger than life, Buddha is a street presence nobody messes with; weird Aunt Estelle is a holy roller; Harvey is the lazy boyfriend of Ulysses's mother; and Aisha is the girl Ulysses falls for who's too noble to date a drug dealer. Danger is everywhere in the 'hood as Buddha's enemy, Chino, cruises the streets, but there's no violence until the cliffhanger ending. The brief chapters can't hold up the many story lines. Snoop may be fading from the spotlight, but his name will still generate interest. Recommended for larger metropolitan libraries. [The novel comes with an original single intended to serve as a backdrop to the story.-Ed.]-Rollie Welch, Cleveland P.L. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.