Reviews for Bling: A Novel

The average rating for Bling: A Novel based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-05-13 00:00:00 Beth Smith Bingo A Thon: Diverse Rep I read this book years ago when it was first published. I loved it and I would always recommend it to others. A couple weeks ago I recommended it a friend and she asked me what it was about and I realized I didn't remember anything about it. So I decided to reread it to see if I still loved. Bling is about a Mimi Jean who is 20 years old and dreams of becoming a singer. Enter Lamont Jackson a music industry heavy weight. He signs her to his label and turns her into a "ghetto fabulous" super star. But at what cost? Bling as you can tell from the title was published in 2005 and it shows. The pop culture references and the language was definitely of its time. The word "fag" is used a lot, but this wasnt shocking because that word was very common in Hip Hop of that era. Bling is like a time capsule, it took me back to my high school days. Back when I would listen to my Cash Money and No Limit cd's. I would come home and watch TRL and 106 and Park. It was a different time, there was no Facebook or Twitter. MySpace was all the rage. I remember wanting a BlackBerry so bad but my parents refused to buy me one. It was good times. After rereading Bling I still enjoyed it a lot but did I love it? No. Do I plan to still recommend it to others? Yes! But this book is not for everyone. Bling is fun and fast paced read. The blurb on the back calls it a Hip Hop fairy tale and I agree. Bling is a scandalous, tantalizing and sexy urban contemporary. I'm glad I reread it.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-12-27 00:00:00 Patrick S. Crotty This was a quick read. In whole, the story is about a young woman named Mimi who was discovered by a hip-hop mogul. She quickly becomes his hip-hop princess. (Think of a Mary J. Blige type being discovered by Diddy.) While her life rockets from mediocre to mega-rich, she launches an album and falls in love with the mogul, Lamont. They have a seemingly fairy-book romance. The rest of the book is a mix of characters that weave themselves in and out of their lives and in and out of the music business. While nothing about the story was profound, it did entertain me. I couldn't honestly recommend this book to anyone. Mainly because it did not leave any reside with me when I finished read it. I didn't care enough about the characters to wonder about their lives when the story was over. I honestly finished this book because I started it, not because it was intriguing. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, it's just not a story I would ever return to a second time.