Product Description

Riding the waves of her national bestseller, Black Coffee, Tracy Price-Thompson keeps the rhythm rolling with this page-turning tale of sexuality and self-identity that puts a startling spin on the bonds of friendship and the devastating consequences of keeping secrets, telling lies, and betraying those you love.

Juanita Lucas is a young woman living in a housing project in Brooklyn. Although she has a very light complexion, she is proud of her blackness, even as she takes a beating from the very sistahs she tries so hard to emulate. Her only friend, Scooter Morrison, is an upwardly mobile brother who also happens to be young, gifted, and . . . gay. While Juanita spends her time finding ways to fit in with the girls in the ’hood, Scooter’s frustration over his sexuality makes him an easy target, and in his tough inner-city neighborhood he finds himself catching hell coming and going.

A chance encounter with two fine Puerto Rican men changes Juanita’s and Scooter’s lives in ways they could never have imagined. There is Conan, a hardworking man who wrestles with both his love for Juanita and his guilt over his brother’s death, and Jorge, an unscrupulous bad-boy thug who has no problem using what he’s got to get what he wants, until he comes dangerously close to getting scorched by his own flames.

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and unpredictable, Chocolate Sangria explores the hearts of two lovers who get caught in a great cultural divide, and the trials they face when black love and Hispanic love spill across racial boundaries.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1297753 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-11
• Released on: 2003-02-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Price-Thompson's first novel, Black Sugar, was a frank contemporary romance about two soldiers who become illicit lovers. This follow-up is just as bawdy, but the situations are more prosaic. Juanita, a 20-year-old green-eyed, light-skinned black woman, has grown up in the Brooklyn projects, rejected by other girls because of her Caucasian appearance. Her best friend, Socrates "Scooter" Morrison, was an outcast himself because of "his falsetto voice and his wiggling hips." Riding the bus one day, the two have a life-changing encounter with a pair of young Puerto Rican men, best friends Conan and Jorge. Conan is grieving the death of his twin brother while trying to keep volatile Jorge-the victim of abusive parents-under control. Conan and Juanita swoon over each other, but Juanita's insecurities and Jorge's jealousy threaten their romance. Meanwhile, Scooter is carrying on a steamy after-hours affair with his boss, a middle-aged Jewish family man. Scooter also becomes smitten with Jorge, who seems to reciprocate but is much more calculating than Scooter imagines. The book is overly long, as Price-Thompson belabors the emotional legacies of her characters' troubled pasts. Her gaudy prose has its charms as well as its limitations ("Flames of unfulfilled passion leaped up and licked at his loins. Moral weakness coursed through his veins"). Soap opera plotting and candid sex scenes make this an easy, breezy read, but the sophomore effort lacks some of the freshness and zip of Price-Thompson's debut.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Born out of wedlock to a privileged white teenager and the family's Haitian gardener, Juanita Lucas is given to the housekeeper to raise. Price-Thompson (Black Coffee) crafts a tale about love across the color line.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Juanita Lucas was born in Islip, New York, in 1979, and her aunt and uncle raised her while living in a Brooklyn housing project. Juanita's near-white appearance made it difficult for her to make friends with other black girls in the neighborhood. Her best friend, Scooter Morrison, always behaved femininely, which also caused him to be left out by the other children. So, Juanita and Scooter, doomed to a youth of self-doubt and insecurity, became allies in a world that did not understand or accept them. Their lives were relatively uneventful until they met two young Puerto Rican men on the bus, Conan and Jorge. They had been raised together as brothers but were exact opposites. Conan was responsible and compassionate; Jorge was impulsive and brash. Yet somehow through unusual circumstances, Jorge and Scooter become unlikely allies. The cultural conflicts that arise between Juanita, Conan, Scooter, and Jorge make the love interests extremely challenging and explosive while they each learn valuable lessons that unite and destroy their relationships. Price-Thompson tells a good story about love, lies, and revenge. Lillian Lewis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Enjoy the aroma!
Tracy Price-Thompson is back and proving that she's more than a one-hit wonder. I couldn't get enough of Chocolate Sangria. I read at home, at the red light, waiting in line...I just couldn't put this book down. The characters were so vividly written, you felt their pain, their joy, their sorrow. I especially enjoyed all the various elements (racism, cultural awareness, homosexuality, etc.) Good job Tracy and I can't wait to get "A Taste of Hunnie!"

Sugar+Coffee+Chocolate = ANOTHER SWEET ONE!
Tracy Price-Thompson has done it again! I loved this book because it covers it all --multicultural & racial issues, sexuality, age, family, manipulation, kindheartedness, identity struggles, success, friendship and much more! But not to worry, it all flows so that her readers will identify with one or more characters. A very easy and must read. Tracy, thank you for writing such an enjoyable novel. I can't wait to read Proverbs for the People. Keep up the great work!

Way More than 5 Stars!!!
Tracy Price-Thompson has definitely without a doubt done it again. The story, what can I say so real, told in a way that kept you wanting more. The characters, Juanita ( a young woman finding out who she is), Conan ( a guy trying to go somewhere but can't rid himself of the past), Scooter (a very naive individual but a true friend), Aunt Hattie & Uncle Herbie( two loving people who did what they had to do in order to survive), Jorge (an underhanded sneaky conartist, when friends like him who needs enemies). This is a page turner! The book is about love, friendship, trust, deceitfulness, color and most importantly learning lessons. There is one sentence from this book that I will carry with me, "Learnin' to leave the past in the past, and instead look at people for who and what they might be today."