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kenda m

kenda m

Hello my name is Kenda and i am a 29yr old female who loves to read african american authors.I currently live in Virginia I have a son who is 11 and a daughter who is 10!
  • petersburg, VA, USA
  • member since May 10 2008

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Public Notes

  • Leola

    Leola says

    Thank you so much for your interest.

    You can find Hussey Place on Amazon.
    Walmart, Barnes and Noble, and borders had it in the stores, but where I live they all sold out. Amazon.com, Walmart and Barnes and Noble online, and borders online might be your best place to find it right now.
    If you don't mind reading all dialogue/play-like literature that delves deeply into sexuality, drugs, and crime, I also published The Truth About Lies, The Truth About Lies II, and X5 AND ME under Lee Charles. They can only be found online. Borders Marketplace, and Amazon.com are two common places.
    Again, thank you. Pray that you and your children remain well and blessed.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Leola

    Leola says

    Hi, Kenda. You read some of the best stuff. Hope to see my novel, Hussey Place on your shelf in the future. You are most loved.
    Lee/Leola Charles

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Rhonda McKnight

    Rhonda McKnight says

    Hi Kenda,

    It's been a while. How are you doing? What have you read that's been good. I've had some great interviews on my blog.
    www.urbanchristianfictiontoday.com

    Have a great week!

    Rhonda McKnight
    Secrets and Lies, coming Nov 24th
    www.rhondamcknight.net

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • token787

    token787 says

    Hello,
    Come visit my new book site www.bookiesproboardscom.proboards.com

    Token

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Mz $eXy .

    Mz $eXy . says

    thanks for adding me. looking forward to discussing great reads with ya!

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Debra Phillips

    Debra Phillips says

    Poignant. Shocking. A page turner. These are some of the words found in the good reviews of d.y. phillips’ new book: Love Trumps Game. Reviews can be found on
    Amazon.com.

    Love Trumps Game by d.y. phillips

    For an excerpt of the book, check out the author’s website at. www.debraphillips.homestead.com .

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • DallasDiva710

    DallasDiva710 says

    Hey Kenda,
    Just stopping by to say hi. Haven't heard from you in a while. What are you read at this time? I'm reading Working Man by Melanie Schuster. It's a good quick read. I've been alternating between romance and urban fiction. LOL

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • ssunshine

    ssunshine says

    Yes, he passed Thursday. Very good book:(

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • MARLENE

    MARLENE says

    HI FRIEND,
    HOW ARE YOU? I WAS WANTED TO STOP BY AND SAY HELLO. I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A FABULOUS WEEK!

    posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )
  • America K

    America K says

    The Author of this book America King(alias Kevin Lee)is historically one of most important people of this century. With heritage that include Mohamed Ali, Coretta Scott King, Supreme and more . Being the first man reincarnated makes America unique if not iconic figure in american society .The last reining King (King George) of the 19th and 20th century . With the King reaching acurate age
    he steps back in family business . His love is music playing a behind the scenes role as ghost writer for many years . Now helping the future take Hip Hop to the next .... with a chapter included for everyone in the entertainment industry .
    So remember "The Children are the future and the future is bright"

    http://hiphopthelastreligion.com
    Buy online at Amazon.com OR LULU.COM

    posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )
  • MARLENE

    MARLENE says

    HEY KENDA,
    HOW ARE YOU DOING?

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Jassafari

    Jassafari says

    Thanks for the befriending!

    JASS!

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • MARLENE

    MARLENE says

    Hi Friend,
    My new book, ISLAND BEAUTY comes out today and I would love it if you would check it out and purchase a personalized copy. I would really appreciate your support. To purchase book or check out my other books please visit www.newworldpublish.webs.com Thank you and have a blessed day!

    “ISLAND BEAUTY is the best piece Marlene have ever written. She have really matured as a writer. I think it would even make a good movie. There is great suspense and conflict. Marlene shows life and how it really is, even when we think we have good friendships, life can throw us a curve ball. I really enjoyed reading her story it was great, the tone was good and it was exciting. Keep up the good work!”

    Gidorah Matthews Author Of:
    Methuselah's Rainbow
    The Secret Exposed: What Every Christian Should Know
    The Windowsill Children Series

    Sage Churchill has always had the best of everything, a loving father that gave her everything her heart desired and good friends to kick it with, which always made life more exciting. She thought her life was perfect, until the day her father makes a deathbed confession that shatters her world as she knows it.
    When Sage finds out that her mother, whom she was led to believe died, may be alive and living in Jamaica, her world is turned upside down. She is faced with the toughest decision of her life. Does she search for a woman she’s never known or does she ignore her longing for a mother’s love?
    Sage, Nicky, Tish, and Lace have been friends since pre-school. But their relationship suffers when they bring the drama to Sage’s doorstep. Her girl, Nicky, has gotten herself involved in the drug game and has Sage’s name all caught up in the mix, bringing the authorities to her door. Tish, has a mystery lover and when that person’s identity is revealed, it may tear the girls’ thirteen year friendship apart and possible cause one of them to lose their life.
    Will Sage find her mother and live happily ever after? Will she survive the drama? Or have a nervous breakdown?

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Linda Y

    Linda Y says

    Kenda, just stopping by to say hello.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • zluv

    zluv says

    Thanks a whole bunch.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • zluv

    zluv says

    Good Morning Kenda - Wishing your a Happy Mothers Day in advance. Enjoy

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Bunnitaz

    Bunnitaz says

    Hi, I just wanted to let you know that there's something new going on with our group (I Love Reading Challenges) please go to the group to check it out!!! Happy Reading

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • zluv

    zluv says

    Hi Kenda - thanks for befriending me.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Leola

    Leola says

    Hi Kenda M. here is a chapter from my new novel.
    Chapter One
    1967

    During cold weather, in upstate Rochester, New York, Lena sat in her living room on her tattered cloth love seat that faced the window. Every summer morning, weather permitting, at 5 o'clock, Lena sat in the frayed wicker lounger situated on her one-riser wooden porch of her shacklike bungalow, with the chipping paint and broken shudders that were in desperate need of cosmetic attention. The paint was so worn and faded, there was no longer any distinct color-just a faint distinction of the shudders being a darker shade than the house. The same house she had birthed her baby Gweneth in by the hands of a midwife, on January 19, 1930.

    It was a time when even the North was still somewhat rural in areas, very much separated by black and white, and older housing existed for mostly the poor or those of color. Gweneth was born during these times-times when many people of color lived on what was called camps while migrating to the North from the South. Camps were considered their temporary homes. To Lena, in some ways, Hussey Place was a slight reminder of those times, those temporary homes. The housing was shabby and so was the landscape. The only difference was that her husband, Kenneth, actually bought their home a few months before Gweneth was born, and it was more than a tent or one-bedroom shack. But Lena was happy to be with Kenneth. She would have lived with him in a shoe. He had done right by her and took her as his wife while she was pregnant in order to give her baby girl a name. Lena felt blessed.

    In her time, being unwed and pregnant was frowned upon. Lena felt that she had no other recourse at the early age of fifteen but to marry Kenneth Galloway. Not only did Lena believe that Kenneth was a very handsome man-but a very honorable one-until the day he up and left her and Gweneth and never returned. Lena waited with patience and hope in her heart for Kenneth's return, but as time went on, circumstances surrounding her at age twenty caused her to become so bitter that when Gweneth finished School of Home Design, Gweneth quickly left old upstate New York for California, to pursue her career in architecture and design.

    Hussey Place had always been too seedy for her, anyway. Oh, it could have looked brighter, much brighter, if someone had just taken the initiative to plant more flowers, trees, and add some decorative outdoor benches and remove all the raggedy seating that crowded most of the porches. A fresh coat of paint wouldn't have hurt the houses, either, but no one seemed to care or think that there was a chance of improving the old alley, and Gweneth couldn't bear looking at the place any longer.


    If only Gweneth knew. Her mother and most of their neighbors were the former children of sharecroppers, who had never owned anything, including the land they seeked a living from, when they'd lived in the South. Most of them didn't know how to do any better, because they had never had any better. Although interior cleanliness was important to the people of Hussey Place, exterior appearances was an option. They were just happy to have their own plot of land.

    Kingdome Synthe was a resident of the neighborhood, but not of Hussey Place. He had full custody of his daughter, Kyanna. Kyanna and Gweneth had been friends before their parents met. Kingdome would take the girls out and acted as a father figure. Lena was their mother figure, braiding and styling hair, dressing the girls and herself in all sorts of pretty things, and cooking for everyone. As far as Lena was concerned, her life was full again, although she and Kingdome had never taken a romantic interest in each other. But Lena deemed him to be her true friend because of their similar circumstances, his faithfulness and dedication as a friend, and the understanding they had for each other's situations. Kingdome's wife had also left him with his baby girl. Not only did Kingdome love to cook, he loved to eat. He and Lena sometimes fought playfully over the kitchen and who would do the cooking. The two would play cards, checkers, and other games with the children for hours at a time, almost every day, and things had been good. But when Kingdome found a real love interest, he and Lena drifted apart. This caused Lena to grow bitter again, and this time, more hateful, allowing herself to become overweight and dowdy over time, and become drawn to the seedy look of the alley.


    She sat on her porch in her special chair. With her long, willowy fingers, she scooped up a hunk of watermelon into a hand that did not match the large arm and body that it was attached to. However, it agreed with the thin, dark face that usually scowled-a face that would have been more than pretty if she hadn't scowled so frequently. Lena was only in her early fifties; the dark skin and wavy hair she inherited from the Charles clan, who were of Native American descent, were very distinct, down to her cheekbones and her skin, which looked leathery and wrinkled but was so smooth it crinkled with her facial expressions.

    Lena spat a stream of snuff over her banister as she held a raggedy fan in her other bony hand, fanned, and warded off the flies and other insects that were attracted to the sweet nectar of her fruit. Snuff was a form of smokeless tobacco that she started dipping when she was a young woman. She would tuck the coffee-colored wad into her lower jaw and chew until all the bitterness came out. After a comfortable time would pass, she would spit out the brown rivulet, sometimes skeeting it through her teeth. Many women who lived in Hussey Place dipped snuff. Some hid in the house and spit their remnants into a tin can, but not Lena. She didn't care who saw her. She slowly and lazily rocked back and forth in the old wicker lounger with the lumpy, stuffed pillows while watching, like a devoted spectator at a sports arena, each tacky-looking, but neatly tucked-away, house in the neglected circle.

    Lena wouldn't leave her spot until way after the sun went down-no matter what the season. At times, neighbors didn't know that Lena sat in her window for hours on bad days. Others forgot that she sat on her porch far into the night during mild weather, and some just didn't pay her that much attention at all. She was no more to them than a wave, a nod, or a brief hello. She was just a nosey old woman who was jealous and watched others going on with their lives, because she'd chosen not to live out her own. It was as if the one man she'd lost was the last.

    After spitting her snuff out, Lena chewed her fruit slowly, and wickedly watched her neighbor exit her front door and take the one step down onto her front porch.

    The beautiful brown woman turned and smiled. "Hey, Lena!"

    She had the same long, thick black hair, figure, and beauty as her twin sister. Her even brown skin was still flawless. The same as Lena remembered Venn's twin sister's to be.

    Lena allowed her chuckle to roar within her stomach so that no one else could hear. Each encounter with Venn Bazedale was just a taunt. She had no real interest in the pretty young woman. Lena held a straight face, "Hey, Venn, suga. How are you today?"

    "Just fine, Lena! Fine!"

    Venn was one of the few people on Hussey Place who worked or took up any time with Lena. Lena had poisoned pets, sprinkled vegetable gardens with ingredients to stump the growth, and had shooed away children who were barely near her door. No one could ever prove that it was Lena who had poisoned pets or killed their gardens, but everyone knew how nasty Lena could act and therefore kept their distance.

    As Venn turned to lock her door, Lena cut her eyes wickedly and smiled as she remembered Chell-Venn's twin sister. Each time she saw Venn, she'd please herself with the same thoughts.

    Venn walked over to Lena's worn-down fence. "Lena. Did you know about the new center that's opening?"

    Lena took a deep breath. She didn't want to scare Venn away altogether; she loved her secret game. She gave Venn a fake smile and crossed her arms. "No, baby, I sure didn't."

    "Yeah. That's where I'm headed. I'll be working there part-time-evenings. They got some of everything down there for everybody-kids and all, Lena."

    Lena stared at Venn blankly. Why would she want to associate with any of the people from around her way? She barely talked to them as they passed by. And Venn was the last person she wanted to get close to. Venn was the only one who didn't know it.

    Lena almost chuckled as she spoke. "Well, you go ahead and enjoy your new job."

    Venn could hear the cynical, venomlike tone of Lena's voice. She cleared the embarrassment from her throat. "Uh-hum. Okay, Lena. Have a nice day."

    Lena laughed inwardly but grinned outwardly. She enjoyed Venn's uncomfortable stride and watched her until she was out of view. Mission accomplished.

    Lena finished feeding her mind with the thoughts she loved as she leaned back, closed her eyes, and relaxed.


    She and Chell had gone out together to one of the old hole-in-the-wall clubs. Lena had gotten close to Chell and pretended to be her friend, allowing her constant visits to her home, but only when Lena's husband was away for long periods of time. Lena couldn't let Kenneth know that Chell was coming over, or that she had seen him offer the young girl money. That would mess up her entire plan. Lena couldn't let that happen, but pretending to be Chell's friend was inwardly eating away at Lena.

    Lena was desperate. She felt that she had to do whatever it took to keep her man-and tried to never shy away from her plan-of pretending that she and Chell were equals and best of friends. It was a struggle for her, but she endured. When she felt that she and Chell were close enough, she successfully helped Chell to get out of the house by lying to her parents so that they could hang out together like two old friends. Chell would be spending the night and helping her out with some odd jobs. Chell almost had to cover her mouth so that she wouldn't grin and giggle as she listened to Lena lie for her.

    Lena dressed Chell in the prettiest outfit that she could find, made up her face, and did her hair. Every now and then, she'd purposely snatch or comb Chell's hair a little too hard, causing Chell's sentences to break up, or her to say, "Ouch, Lena. That hurt, Lena. Lena!"

    Lena would only halfheartedly apologize, but Chell hadn't noticed. She had still giggled and chattered through the whole ordeal. She was so excited, and hadn't quieted down until they were seated at their destination and the band began to play at the old hole-in-the-wall.

    Lena had remained quiet the entire time, not really hearing a word Chell said or the band. She was going through her plan, over and over again, in her mind. It had to work or she'd be without her man. She'd even caught her man a few times talking about Chell in his sleep and moaning. Sure. The twins were pretty, even beautiful, but Lena had been quite a looker herself. And she'd done more for that man than the average woman would have back then.

    Chell was only seventeen at the time; Lena was twenty-eight and was to look out for Chell. Instead, she'd set her up. When the band began to play, Jay Mocker called to Chell. Chell looked over at Lena, then back to Jay Mocker, who was now shushing her with his finger.

    Chell shook Lena's shoulder. "Jay Mocker callin' me-"

    Lena quickly turned to her and snapped, "Then go see what he want, girl! I ain't goin' no place!"

    As soon as Chell got close enough, Jay Mocker pulled Chell into the men's room, where several men began to attack her. Her clothes shouldn't be torn or soiled. Lena wanted it that way. She had to seem genuinely shocked by Chell's story. Chell had to look like a liar when she returned to Lena. Lena had paid good money for things to look a certain way, and had spent a lot of uncomfortable time with Chell. It all had better work, or she'd report them with Chell if she had to.

    Lena remembered watching the scene through the battered and cracked door. Sonny was muffling Chell's screams while two men held her arms. Mack Dolin lifted her up by the legs. She was dropped to the floor and left on the men's room floor when they thought they'd heard an unfamiliar sound. They slowly and cautiously exited the bathroom, looking around before doing so. They were all too frightened to complete their mission.

    Lena stood on the other side of the wall so that she couldn't be seen.

    Jay Mocker remained near the bathroom. When he saw that the hallway was clear, he went back to Chell. He stood over her dazed body. "You sho is pretty, Chell."

    Chell reached up for help.

    Jay Mocker pushed her hand aside. "Not till me and you get better acquainted."

    Chell tried unsuccessfully to make her screams be heard over the band.

    Lena wiped the sweat from her face and forehead as she watched her prey being tortured. The hurtful sounds Chell made excited, and satisfied, her. But Jay Mocker moaning out about her attractiveness angered Lena more; it seemed to make her ears ache, made her wish that Chell would be damaged for life when he was done with her. How could Chell have been so naïve as to believe that she could mess around with her man and she'd forgive her so easily? She'd pay for that, and Lena wanted her to pay in the worst way ... shamefully. She remembered how she pretended to be on her way to the bathroom when she saw Chell staggering out of the men's room. How she quickly helped Chell back inside, helped her to clean up, and lectured Chell after Chell told her what had happened. Neither one was to speak another word about the incident to anyone-and from Lena's point of view, she suggested maybe an older man wasn't what Chell needed, and she should stay away from all of them.

    Chell never perceived that Lena knew all about her husband giving her money. At first like a father figure, then to woo her. And although Chell had turned him down, Lena was angry. She was going to make sure that Chell wouldn't want her husband or anyone else's. But none of that had mattered. As soon as Lena's husband sought Chell out again, she ran off with him, believing no other man would want her. She was sure if she had stayed in Rochester, someone was soon to find out about her being raped, and then not even Lena's husband would touch her.

    When comforted by Venn, Chell's twin sister, Lena pretended not to care that her husband had run off with a mere child, but she did. She cared every day.


    That had been twenty years ago-back in 1947. She was still making Venn pay today for her twin sister Chell's mistake. Venn remained in that forsaken house that reminded Lena of her sister. The comfortable house that always had a mother that adored her children and made sure that they always looked perfect and ate well. And a father that kept that house in tip-top shape, and now Venn's little prize was still taking care of their house.

    But where was Lena's man? Yeah, Venn would pay until the day she or Lena died-no matter how much Venn sided with her or apologized for her twin sister's indiscretion. Lena sometimes wouldn't say a word to Venn; at other times very little when Venn tried comforting her out of a guilt that she had no business owning. But each day, as long as Lena could breathe, she'd make sure Venn paid for her hurt and loss.

    Lena allowed the aromas of the stews, meat loaf, chicken, pork chops, and boiled corn that wafted through the air to caress her nostrils and draw her attention away from her old memories. The houses were so close Lena chuckled secretly and shook her head. The thought of being able to tell what was going on in each home, right down to the flavor of Kool-Aid that she knew was being mixed in large generic containers and being poured into mason jars loaded with ice, made her take a deep breath.

    She closed her eyes and imagined those aromas-Grape, or

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Teresa D Patterson

    Teresa D Patterson says

    For some reason, I just can't finish it. It's a good book. I just keep losing my focus on it. I'll get another book and put PUSH to the side. I really liked the beginning, though.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )


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