Disclosure: The author of this book received a free e-book copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% the author’s own.

The racially-charged prejudice of the deep South forces eighteen-year-old Alison Tillman to confront societal norms—and her own beliefs—when she discovers the body of a hate crime victim, and the specter of forbidden love turns her safe, comfortable world upside down.

Alison has called Forrest Town, Arkansas home for the past eighteen years. Her mother’s Blue Bonnet meetings, her father toiling night and day on the family farm, and the division of life between the whites and the blacks are all Alison knows. The winter of 1967, just a few months before marrying her high school sweetheart, Alison finds the body of a black man floating in the river, and she begins to view her existence with new perspective. The oppression and hate of the south, the ugliness she once was able to avert her eyes from, now demands her attention.

When a secretive friendship with a young black man takes an unexpected romantic turn, Alison is forced to choose between her predetermined future, and the dangerous path that her heart yearns for.

Have No Shame is an emotionally compelling coming of age novel featuring a young woman who cannot reconcile the life she wants with the one she’s been brought up to live. Have No Shame will resonate with anyone who has ever fallen in love, and those who have been forced to choose between what they know in their hearts to be true, and what others would like them to believe.

My Thoughts:

Have you ever read a book that you loved so much that you find yourself comparing every book after that to that one you love?

I have done that and haven’t found a book that matched my enthusiasm as much as this book that I “love”. BUT…

I have found that I loved

Have No Shame

.

Comparing it to the book that I love and have compared every book to since, is like comparing apples and oranges. They’re just different. They are two totally different stories that hold two totally different meanings to me and I have to tell you that in the realm of “general fiction”,

Have No Shame

is a great read!

Melissa is the author of

Traces of Kara

and I have to admit, she is becoming a favorite author of mine!

I have found that Melissa’s writing evokes pure emotion. When reading her previous story, I felt the suspense, the fear, the thrill of the story. While reading

Have No Shame

, I felt every emotion the main character had. I felt the fear, the love, the hate, the passion, the pain. I felt it all. The story tugged at my heart, brought tears to my eyes, and brought smiles that I could not hide. I could not and did not want to put this book down.

There is a character in the story for every person to connect with. I’d like to say that I am like Maggie, but would probably have to admit that I’m a bit more like Alison in real life with an edge of Maggie!

It’s set back in the late 60’s in a time of segregation and reminds me of the book

The Help

– set in the same time and mental frame – but different. I loved

The Help

and I loved

Have No Shame

.

I highly recommend this book and will be seeking out more books by Melissa to read in the future. So far, she’s two for two in my book for great reads!

About the Author:

Melissa Foster is the award-winning author of four International

bestselling novels. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, the World Literary Cafe. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success.

Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children, she’s written for Calgary’s Child Magazine and Women Business Owners Magazine, and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa’s interests include her family, reading, writing, painting, friends, helping others see the positive side of life, and visiting Cape Cod.

Melissa is available to chat with book clubs and welcomes comments and emails from her readers. Visit Melissa on
or her
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PS: She is very active on Twitter so you can interact with her there as well!

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