Baby girl Mandy grew up on the rough side of Chicago in awe of the big girls whose drug-dealing boyfriends draped them in jewelry. Admiring a girlfriend’s diamond ring one day, Mandy earned the nickname “Ice.” She didn’t know the heavy price they had to pay right away—the fear, the abuse.
Mandy was, in fact, a diamond in the rough, coming of age and conforming to a lifestyle which had only a dead end waiting for her. When true love, kindness, and respect—embodied by Mark, aka “prince charming,”—attempts to rescue her from that life, he’s met at the altar with gunfire—courtesy of Tyler, Ice’s ex-boyfriend from the hood.
The fairytale love story struggles to become real. However, dreams like that don’t come true for poor black girls from the wrong side of the tracks. Or do they?
Ice finds out the sour side of having a “sugar daddy.”
CANDACE WATSON takes thrill-seeking readers for the ride of their lives in her newest novel, Ice, where a young girl’s life is forever altered by the choices she makes. You will experience profound outrage as the author presents some tough social truths in this thought-provoking book. Be prepared for sleep deprivation because Ice is a real page turner!
Professional Reviews
By Cheryl Smith Dallas Weekly
Ice: Careful don’t burn yourself
Author: Candace Watson
Reviewed by: Cheryl Smith
October 10, 2007
Ice does what many parents can’t do—it provides a candid, in-your-face and realistic look at the violence many young girls are subjected to at the hands of their boyfriends.
Author Candace Watson tells the story of Mandy, a young girl who looks for love in the form of a good-looking drug dealer who she just has to have.
When Mandy, better known as “Ice,” sees Tyler at the skating rink, she knows he is the man for her. Never mind that she is jailbait to him, she begins a plan to become his “woman.”
Little does she know that she is in way over her head and she is entering into a relationship that will eventually turn abusive and possibly deadly.
Sure Tyler lavishes Ice with gifts. He knows just how to give her what she wants: fancy clothes, cars and a big beautiful house. But with all those trappings comes public humiliation and numerous beatings.
And Ice continues to live with the threat of death.
While death comes first in the form of her unborn child, Ice should be equally concerned about her own life as Tyler has already told her that she is his for life.
Young readers may learn from Ice’s story as she continues to return to Tyler, no matter how abusive he is.
To their credit, Ice’s friends are unlike many girlfriends who encourage their friends to stay with their boyfriends despite infidelity and abuse. Ice’s friends don’t appreciate the abuse.
Ice will keep the reader enthralled, wondering what will happen to this young lady as she attempts to get her life together.
And Tyler is like a bad penny, forever surfacing and wreaking havoc in Ice’s life, until the end.
The author provides an honest look into the life so many young girls and older women are subjected to. Abuse is no laughing matter as more and more accounts of abuse are being reported and the victims are getting younger and younger.
Ice is about choices and how those choices can become deadly. If you know of young girls, put Ice on the top of your gift-buying list. Just remember that you shouldn’t wait until her birthday or Christmas to give this all-important gift.
Upon completion, I immediately took the book and gave it to 18-year-old Alayna, encouraging her to read it.
We need to let others learn from Ice’s story.
NOTE: To have your book reviewed, send a review copy to Cheryl Smith, Dallas Weekly, 3101 Martin Luther King Blvd. Dallas, TX 75215.
If you have a book you would like reviewed, contact Cheryl at csmith@dallasweekly.com
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