Am I My Brothers' Keeper?

"It's a Family Affair" follows the tumultuous lives of three siblings as they try to get their lives together and keep them together after the death of their father.

Silas is the oldest and the most grounded of the siblings. Working in the medical field has afforded him many of life's luxuries. However, it is often hard for him to enjoy these things when he has to keep tabs on his younger siblings.

Donna, his sister, is a single mother working hard to pay the rent. Has she endangered the life of one of her children because of a scandalous secret from her past?

Finally, there is Paul, the baby brother. He and his wife Shelia are trying to live a champagne lifestyle on a generic soda paycheck. Shelia refuses to give up her shopping sprees even though the family is forced to eat noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Paul, a full-time police officer and part-time gambler, just wants enough money to go to the casino and to win big.

Cole-Crossland offers a marginally entertaining story that is supposed to be inspiring. However, it falls flat as a preachy tone about characters that are way too self-righteous to even be remotely interesting. The characters are uninspiring and shallow. The dialogue is stilted and does not flow as what could be considered conversational speech. The plot moves into too many implausible directions, leaving the reader confused and wondering exactly what point the author is trying to make. Last, but certainly not least, is the editing (or lack thereof) throughout the book. There are way too many typos and grammatical errors for this to be taken seriously as novel.

Reviewed by: Flashette ( )