What does a woman do when she needs to prove that her boyfriend is not in love with his wife? This is the dilemma facing physical therapist Jasmine Falls, who goes against her common sense and good home training and becomes romantically involved with Daniel Roberts, a community organizer with a wife and two young children. Jasmine is blissfully content with her secret love affair until it begins to cause friction between herself and her best friend, Candy, who sees Jasmine's love for Daniel as selfish, despicable, and just downright dumb. And then there are Jasmine's parents, who are well on their way to admitting that the daughter they reared to be open-minded but not stupid has fooled around and gotten herself mixed up with somebody else's husband. Desperate to keep Candy from yip-yapping about her being a homewrecker and to keep her parents from lying awake at night wondering where they went wrong, Jasmine does the unthinkable. She breaks into Daniel's house. But unlike some more infamous home invaders, Jasmine's goal is not to knock off Daniel's wife or make goulash out of the family pet. Her only objective is to do what every woman in her position wishes she had the guts and opportunity to do--become a fly on the wall of her lover's life so she can bear witness to the fact that Daniel is in love with her, not the woman he's been married to for the past thirteen years. The question is, does Jasmine see what is meant to be or what never should have been? In this passionately written story of love, choices, family, and friendship, Rose shows the other woman in a way she hasn't been seen before, even by herself.

In The Mirror

Literature & Fiction

Rose, Odessa

Women's Fiction

Cool Water Press

During her senior year in high school, renowned sculptor Tonya Mimms discovered that she is different from all the other girls, except for that one girl, who winked her left eye at Tonya and made her feel as though she had been kissed on the nape of her neck. Since that horrifying, precious day, Tonya has been using her artwork to forget how painfully sweet that wink felt. Ten years later, Tonya meets Malcolm Holland, a charming accountant with a dazzling gap between his teeth that lures her in the way a man's secrets seduces a woman's ear. Suddenly, that girl from high school fades from her memory as Tonya finds herself genuinely in love with a man for the first time in her life. But Tonya's happiness turns to fearful bliss when she happens upon Satin Pierce, an alluring, fascinating bookstore owner, who has one of Tonya's sculptures prominently displayed on a shelf in her bedroom, as if in anticipation for the fateful day that she will make Tonya remember the thrilling sweetness of that first kiss on her nape. In Water in a Broken Glass, Odessa Rose paints a landscape where identities sculpted by art and narrow boundaries are put to the test of life and all of its possibilities.

Water in a Broken Glass

Odessa, Rose

Contemporary

LA Caille Nous Pub Co

In May 2007, a homeless woman is found living in a man's house.  She sneaked in the year before through an unlocked door.  The owner did not hear, smell, sense or see anything out of the ordinary, except for the mysterious disappearance of food, which eventually led him to install surveillance cameras.  Soon after, one of the cameras broadcasted the image of his uninvited guest.  The police were dispatched.  They searched the home from top to bottom and eventually discovered the woman curled up inside a closet.  After hearing this incredible story, 40-year-old, physical therapist Jasmine Falls concocts a similar scheme, convinced that if that woman could get away with living in a stranger's house undetected for three hundred and sixty-five days then she can get away with living in her boyfriend's house for five days.  Can't she?   Set in the author's hometown of Baltimore, MD, In the Mirror tells the humorous, contemporary story of onetime law-abiding Jasmine Falls, who breaks into the home belonging to community organizer Daniel Roberts.  She does this not because she is in desperate need of a place to stay, but because she is bound and determined to see for her parents and best friend what she knows in her heart.  But when Jasmine becomes that proverbial fly on the wall of Daniel's life, will she see what she believes is meant to be, or will she see what never should have been?   Written with compassion and vivid detail, In the Mirror is a compelling, heart-to-heart tale of love, choices, family and friendship. 

In the Mirror

“Rose’s meditative insights into family closeness and loyalty and her exquisite sense of detail make this a promising debut and a strikingly unusual romance.” –Whitney Scott, Booklist\n". . . A major triumph of African-American lesbian literature.” –Accredited Online Colleges.org\n“Mrs. Rose has created real people—flawed, strong, hopeful people—and allowed us to watch their lives unfold and share their struggle, growth and emergence.” –Talibah Chikwendu, The AFRO American Newspaper\nRenowned, Baltimore-based sculptor Tonya Mimms focuses on her artwork to the exclusion of everything, including her thirst for love. Then one day, Tonya’s firm footing in the artworld slips when she takes on a project that pushes her completely out of her artistic realm.\nWhile running from the sculpture, Tonya bumps into Malcolm Holland, a handsome accountant with a dazzling gap between his teeth that lures her in the way a man’s secrets seduces a woman’s ear. A few weeks later, Tonya happens upon Satin Pierce, a strikingly beautiful bookstore owner, who has one of Tonya’s sculptures on a shelf in her bedroom. Soon, Tonya becomes the centerpiece of a love triangle, in which she is forced to choose between the man of her dreams and the woman destined to be her reality.\nA multi-dimensional story, Water In A Broken Glass illustrates the complexity of art, love, and sexuality.

Water In A Broken Glass

Parenting & Relationships

Don't Be Afraid to Fail. Be Determined To Succeed!

Essays & Correspondence

Cool Water Publishing House LLC

Kizmic's Journey

United States

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rose, Odessa. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Rose, Odessa