Reviews

Before We Were Wicked by Eric Jerome Dickey

aliciabooks's review against another edition

3.0

THIS BOOK HAS THE POWER TO PREVENT MORE UNPLANNED PREGNANCIES THAN ANY SEX ED BROCHURE

samstone's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

raisinglebarre's review against another edition

2.0

A little disappointed in this book. What I thought would be a good representation of a black man staying and raising his child quickly turned into a continuation of the idea that black women that choose to be with black men end up unsatisfied and wanting more because black men cannot provide for them.

treberry's review against another edition

4.0

“Money made it easy for a woman to love a bad man.”

BWWW is the prequel and takes us back to the 90s when Ken Swift met his savage love, Jimmi Lee. Sparks flew instantly. Ken gave her the “Soul Stealer” that can make a girl quickly lose her mind. What starts as a lustful passion filled tryst gets real, when Jimmi becomes pregnant. The clash of cultures, families, and beliefs make for a tumultuous road ahead.

The first 100 pages or so was filled with very hot, pornographic, incredibly desirable sex. We definitely see how he earned the name Soul Stealer. The action continued, but I wanted to know more on how Ken & Jake were brought into their “industry”.

I did not like Jimmi Lee from the beginning; she was grimy, and looked down on people outside of her Ethiopian culture. It was interesting to see the dynamic between African/African American lovers. So many twists, so much sex & wickedness!

gabbymich2's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

aquariusunbound's review against another edition

The story felt disjointed an I wasn't feeling the connection between the love interests. 

nightxade's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

empress_extra's review against another edition

4.0

Well, I stand corrected from my previous review of “Bad Men and Wicked Women” that I didn’t see the characters moving in a direction that would warrant a second novel. This one was reminiscent of old EJD writing which is evident by the ten day turnaround of reading it. It probably would have been over for me in five days if I didn’t have work and child raising that consumed me a lot. Maybe even less than that because I really...I mean really kept wanting to get back to this prequel to see what would be said and done next. I will say that Jimi Lee annoyed me for the majority of this novel simply because she whined so much about how her life going from Harvard bound to ghetto living in a flash. I mean, she acted like she wasn’t the one who consented to having unprotected sex with Ken. Like he was the only one at fault for everything (including the baby) and that made me almost loathe her. Not to mention her over-dramatic reactions to Ken’s crime lifestyle that she knew about very shortly after they were married. Jimi was too much and Ken handled it all like a pro. But I digress. This novel was worth it all to see how BMWW began. Now I want to see how Dickey will end it all should he finish this new character introduction he started last year. Very with reading

porshadeun's review

2.0

I usually love EJD's books but this one here didn't get it for me. It was so anticlimactic, which is the opposite of what his books usually are. I often found myself bored reading this. Jimi was annoying as hell. I didn't realize this was a prequel, so I've missed a release. This book makes me not want to read the one released before it.