A Taste of Honey...May Be More Than You Bargained For... Check out Gamal Hennessy's Debut Novel!

A Taste of Honey: 

A Novel of Crime and Passion  

By Gamal Hennessy

I don't know about you, but I have trouble with an erotic novel that doesn't have a great background story. So I was very pleased and excited to read A Taste of Honey! If you like it sexy, you're going to find it here... If you like crime stories, like I do...you've also got a good story here! But, if you have sex and crime in one book, more than likely it's also going to get gory, with some parts difficult to absorb... You are thus warned...

It seemed only appropriate for our two lead female characters to be the Honey that many of you will know...right?

An important definition begins the book: Honey Trap: a strategy where an attractive person coerces another person into doing or revealing something...

I wonder why they many times use females for this role...yes, they might succeed, but they are being placed in sometimes very dangerous situations... Hopefully, the women have been taught much and have the skills and knowledge to act on her own, but sometimes...

Nikki hated fucking men like Gregori
Yvenko. His hands were like sandpaper
on her skin. His breath was rotten from
cigarettes and garlic when he kissed her,
and he was the exact opposite of Chris.
Whenever she had to suffer through an
evening with Gregori, the memories of
Chris on top of her kept her sane.
She did this for him...
~~~

Nikki was a member of an organization using female operatives to seduce men--or women--to share information. Nikki had been seduced herself by Chris, introduced to the pleasures of love and how she could use it to entice others to reach out to her. It wasn't surprising she fell in love with Chris... That was her first mistake...

Her second mistake, in my opinion, was staying with an organization, just because she was "in love" with the leader, while the rest of the crew, especially one, Simon, made it quite difficult for her to do what she was asked to do, while her supposed backup made crude remarks during the entire operation. Chris would just tell them to keep their personal concerns to themselves... Yeah, right, you know how that went, don't you? I couldn't find anybody that I was willing to put in for Simon, so chose an image of him... You'll know why when you read the story. All I can say if that he is mean...and hates women...
'nuf said...

I loved the curve that Hennessy threw in when Nikki flew to Argentina. Nikki had been told that they were going on a vacation. She was to fly down and Chris would get there as soon as he could after he got everything arranged to be gone awhile...

The Astor Piazzola International Airport in Mar Del Plata proved to be even easier than Grantley Adams. Her halting Spanish was weak compared to the customs agent's formal English, but a warm smile here and a suggestivw look there made extensive verbal translation unnecessary. She breezed out of the airport and into the salty Argentine air faster than any grocery checkout line in New York.
She ran like a woman on stilts toward a bright red cab and climbed in headfirst like a child. Her own voice seemed more eager and shrill when she told the driver where she wanted to go. What was she doing? Where was all this excite3ment coming from? This was her first time in Argentina, but it wasn't her first trip abroad. Chris had taken her to Mexico and South America several times over the past few years oince she was "part of the team." Was it her desire to see Chris? She was certainly hungry for him, but she knew she would see him today. She didn't even know if he was in town. Protocol demanded that they establish cover first. It didn't matter that this was a vacation and not an operation. It didn't matter what her libido might need either. She slumped back into the seat of the cab. The excitement would have to wait a little while longer...again.
She spent five days alone with her excitement in Mar Del Plata. She walked the streets as a tourist during the day: window shopping, sightseeing, and pretending to take pictures. It was an excellent way to learn the layout of the city, plan potential escape routes, and detect possible surveillance. She spent her evenings in the local restaurants and bars, charming her way into mixed groups of men and women to avoid the predators that might prey on an isolated female. This gave her a chance to absorb the mood of the people and adapt to the pace of the city. She spent her nights alone...

~~~

When Chris arrived one day while Nikki was out, he had the room romantically set up with dim lighting, music...

Nikki walked through his door and slipped into another world. The scent of warm lavender floating in the air, mixing with the salted reeze coming through the open balcony doors to create an aroma that reminded her of wine. And not just any wine. It was a specifi sensory memory of a strong red wine that he licked from the palm of her hand early in their affair. Her first step into the room brought a tickle on her skin as memories of those nights came back to her.

There was only one light on in a corner of the large plush suite. the dim flicker and the moon from the open window danced shadows across the room and made the size of the space hard to define. Christ loved to take her in the half-light. The sensation of feeling him, while not being able to see him, haunted her with dark fantasies when she was alone. The way he touched her and the way he moved could spark the illusion of loving two men at the same time. Her breath was heavy and heated by the time she made her second step into the room...By the time Nikki took her third step into chris's room, she waded in her own arousal. Without a word, she dropped her purse, took his hand, and allowed herself to be led to the balcony.

There was another squeeze before he turned her away
from the bay and toward the center of the city. "Did you
get a chance to visit the marina..."Okay, why don't we
take a tour...
"I'm afraid we don't have time, honey. We have a window
of opportunity coming up and I need you to be up to
speed.
His words sucked the air out of her lungs. "What?"
What do you need me to be up to speed for? We're
on vacation, right?
~~~

Chris devoured Nikki on a lounge chair overlooking the darkened ocean. She became his puppet when his mouth dropped between her legs. As the slow circles of his tongue messaged her tip, she sang in low moans that he controlled more than she did. When his fingers curled up to stroke her inner softness, she shuddered and squirmed at this command. She had no control of the way her body responded, and she had no desire to take control. When his hand and mouth engulfed her together, she lost her sense of time and place. She lost her sense of self. Everything fell away. ...Only pleasure was left, and Nikki surrendered to it...

                                                             ~~~

And that's when I began to reallllly hate him!

Chris had never intended a vacation. He had another job to do and Nikki would be right in the middle of it...and had never been told!

And then he saw her.The first thing he noticed
was her movement. She had a feline
sensuality that turned heads as she moved
through the crowd...
!!!

Target: Cruz Maritime, third largest shipping concern in Argentina...They had dozens of ships moving between Europe and South America... Her job was to seduce the head of the company and obtain shipping information supporting illegal activities... Of course, Nikki was furious...so much so that soon Chris was giving her a background story where Chris could lose his life or never be able to go back home if they didn't handle this job... And she gave in...

It was never hard for Nikki to move easily into a crowd of people and immediately get noticed. She knew when

she had caught Manuel's attention...

And the game was on... Nikki and Manuel quickly established

 their desire for each other and soon Manuel was taking her to his yacht, barely making it on board when he pulled her down, removing her clothes...Nikki began to help when she noticed...Dominique, Manuel's wife, watching... Afraid at first, soon, Nikki turned to watcher her as he was watching them... Soon a small smile began and Dominique moved out from the shadows...

Hennessy has done an excellent job in writing the parts for his characters... I was intensely hating the bad guys, feeling a little sorry for Manuel who had inherited the shipping company and had never had any real interest in it... but I still didn't expect...at all...what was to come! This is a very cool book, even though there are violent scenes that, unfortunately, do fit well with the bad guys that have been created...it didn't take long to realize what they would be willing to do!

Apparently, the author might have published portions of his book along the way, but the novel includes the entire story and even goes back to before the present story and gives readers information on how Manuel and his wife, Dominique, met...a very nice extra bonus! I'm assuming he was getting some good feedback on his shorts, but, still, I'll wager that nobody will be prepared for the climatic actions ending the story! Let me know if you guessed any of it! 'Cause I sure didn't!

Highly recommended if this sounds like a book you'd enjoy...just remember, I did warn you about a couple of things...but actually the violence bothered me, while the sexuality and the characters involved were very well done and fit perfectly within the overall story. Well done for a debut novel!

GABixlerReviews

One of my all-time favorites so had to include!

Gamal Hennessy is an author from New York City. His fiction blends elements of the Usual Suspects and Jason Bourne to create a unique type of adult crime fiction.

His literary inspirations include John Le Carre, Barry Eisler and Anais Nin. His first anthology, Smooth Operator: The Life and Crimes of Warren Baker reached number three on the Amazon's list of new spy fiction. His first novel, A Taste of Honey, was released in May of 2014. His next anthology, The Dark End of the Street will be released in the fall of 2014 and the sequel to Taste will be published in early 2015.

Family Saga Moves from Pre-Civil War to Present Time by Bobby Dennis Jr. Great Street Lit Based Somewhat Upon Facts...

In the spring of that year a young slave girl, 15 years old, named Amanda ran away from a big plantation near Charlotte North Carolina. The plantation was the Kane plantation. They didn't grow cotton, born, or wheat. What they grew were slaves...

Since importing slaves had been outlawed, the country sought to grow its own. On the Kane plantation, they grew only enough food stuffs to feed the slaves and the Kanes. A work force was necessary, so they had to have an overseer, his name was Elmer Spivey... Elmer had also fathered at least 15 more children from slave women, and made sure they were quickly sold. There was one slave woman who wouldn't have him. A big, jet black slave, named Bessie... She was a pure blood Zulu from the coast of Africa... Bessie was the favorite of the plantation owner, one Thaddeus Matthew Kane...Thad Kane was Amanda's father. Bessie was her mother, the only slave woman Thad had ever had.

A pure blood Mandingo who came to America...by the name of Josh, fell in love with her and she with him. Her pregnancy was the result of their affections...Elmer pulled his pistol and shot Josh dead...Amanda waited in the shadows with an axe. As he passed her she stepped out and sung the axe, and cleaved his head in two...She took off running; six months pregnant...

BloodLine of A Kane

By Bobby Dennis, Jr.

If this is not a genealogical study of one family, I wouldn't know what was--Even if most of the names are fictional! The author has clearly demonstrated the emphasis of "putting family first" and how it was drilled into them right from the beginning--drilled in by love as well as guidance to each child.

The Kane family began when a pregnant teenager ran away from the slave plantation where her father was the master and her mother was a Zulu from Africa who was kept only for the master, as he wished... When Amanda had been born, the same message went out to everyone, but that didn't stop Amanda falling in love and then her lover being shot! She ran, not knowing where she will go!

Amanda was on the run for three months when she stumbled into a Cherokee Indian Camp. The women of the camp helped her but the tribe also had welcomed a shaman priest who also had "run away." When Tan Lao Tzu saw her, he claimed her immediately as a second wife, knowing that he would and did have to fight other braves who challenged him...

I think this was my favorite part of the book, as Tan Lae Tzu as well as his present wife and child took in Amanda and they became what would become the beginning of the Kane bloodline. Mandy and Yellow Bird became as sisters and cared together for the family. But they also learned about what they would do to ensure they could protect the family, including learning how to use all the weapons available to them as well as Kung Fu.

He was black as midnight with a
head full of dark curly hair...A
beautiful and health boy...

By the time Raven was 15 years old, he was
 the biggest man in the camp and he would grow
 bigger. He stood 6'3"and weighed 220 chiseled

pounds. He wore his hair in two thick braids

 that hung down his back. The only warriors

 in the camp who could stand with him her his

 father and brothers.

I couldn't help picking out my vision of the baby Raven hs he grew to head of the Kane family...I image he would have been a serious boy having learned so much--including how to read and write English, Indian and Chinese... He also learned much about being a shaman...

 "Raven and Little Bird. In time they will be the

greatest warriors this tribe has ever had.

 Each family group is attached to a clan. By virtue

 of Sparrow being my wife, we're a branch of the

 Bear clan. So we represent the head of the clan, 

the others will follow our lead...   

The next morning Lao Tzu went to the Tepee where Amanda was the night before. He brought her a buckskin dress and moccasins for her feet, and a bowl of food. He ducked thru the entrance as she lay there asleep with the baby in her arms. The baby was wide awake and quiet, his eyes followed Lao as he came across the room. Lao had never seen such awareness in one so young, or the eye control. He knew this would be a great one with the proper training and he planned to be the one to train him...

They headed to the trading post which was a weeks ride from the camp...
As the six Braves rode up to the trading post they noticed a group of horses with blue and yellow saddle
blankets, with crossed sabers and the legend U.S. on the corner...
They dismounted and each grabbed a bundle of pelts and entered the trading post...
As Raven and his crew came to the counter and laid down their pelts, Sam Purdy offered them a drink.
Ray and his band never drank the white man's fire water. They had seen its results so they turned it down.
Sam Purdy turned up his lips, sneered then asked. "You too good to drink with us nigger?"
~~~

At the time they began to have sufficient skins to trade, they went to the closest trading post. It only led to trouble...

But it was those that had been at the post, when they met the Kane clan, who faced their deaths... I really believe that it was how the white men treated them that brought about the inclusion of violence in their lives. I wish I could say that it would not have happened any place else, but history already proves what happened. Still, after the deaths were hidden away, They took over the trading post, planning to ensure that the Indians were no longer cheated! But soon the town had grown and one man from the white side of town learned that a railroad would be stopping there and started plans to take over all the land that would be needed... 

And so the Kate clan grew... As children married outside of the clan, Raven would talk to the family about his family and offer to bring them in as part of their protection for all family... But outside influences started to bring in drinking, drugs and more...

Ogilvey was turned into a killing field and the whites were running. Chaos reigned, as the whites approached the ranch of the Bird Clan.

Deaths of family members began... Revenge was sure to follow...

The Saga continues through decade after decade as family fought to stay together and to receive the honesty, integrity and  protection that the Clan offered to others. The book continues along historical activities that occurred to help readers keep track of the time line. 

Content is violence and graphic intimate sex within marriage is included. There were maybe a few instances outside of marriage but most connection resulted in marriage. Both of these areas, I felt, were handled as well as can be expected. There were few times when actions were initiated by Clan members, except in response to somebody's move against them. But when that happened, the whole Clan took over!

The only problem I had with the story had nothing to do with the story... There were lots of editorial issues...so beware... if that bothers you enough not to want to read the book... Myself, when I read up front--"like to thank the Florida D.O.C and their policy of not letting prisoners in disciplinary confinement have library books and the unnamed correctional officer that took the one I smuggled in; couldn't have done it without you! A word to those who hated and didn't! believe. I told you..." I don't know about you, but those in prison are meant to be helped, I thought...If they cannot read books, it seems that would lead to more trouble than if they could keep their minds occupied!

So...I'm going to recognize just what Bobby Dennis Jr. had to go through to get his book published! and Highly recommend it as an in-depth look of how a slave runaway became the matriarch of the Kane Clan who stayed together for almost 100 years! Great story!

Congratulations and I hope you keep writing and maybe make enough money that, next book, you can maybe get some helper from an editor! Good Luck with your future story telling.

GABixlerReviews

About the Author

Bobby R. Dennis was born on Oct.2, 1960 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. He has lived through the turbulent 60's, the free love era of the 70's. He witnessed some of the most traumatic events of the century. He is the son of a convicted drug king pen, who has served time in several maximum security prisons in the Florida D.O.C. It was there that he discovered his knack for writing the stories of the life he has lived. It was there while serving 25 years for armed robbery that he met Ausha Rogers and the two developed a bond that was a strong as brothers. While both were on disciplinary confinement a shake down took place and a novel was taken from Bobby because the policy of the D.O.C was that the only reading material allowed in D.C was religious material. Bobby's anger coupled with boredom gave him the will to try and write a novel of his own. It was there that the draft for what would later be called The Redemption was written. Ausha was the first one to read the book and from his response the dream of Hoodwrittens as well as The Kane family saga was born. Ausha was released first and Hoodwrittens became more than a dream it became a reality. We intend to introduce to the world what we label as " Fac-tion, a combination of fact and fiction!