Product Description

Bestselling author E. Lynn Harris is back with another sexy, shocking, and immensely satisfying novel that explores some of today’s toughest and most timely issues.

Chauncey Greer is the owner of Cute Boy Card Company, a thriving company in Atlanta. As a teenager, he was a member of a popular boy band, but left in disgrace when word got out that he and his bandmate D were more than good friends. Chauncey is a free spirit, on the brink of forty with a body admired by both men and women. Not into being categorized, Chauncey’s been known to hook up with men and women, but now in the age of the “down low,” he’s found that women ask too many questions, so he’s just focusing on the fellas.

After one too many bad dates, Chauncey finds himself in church, where the minister’s message inspires him to follow his dream of a singing career once again. Although he’s lost touch with D, as he starts writing songs his thoughts inevitably turn to his former lover. Chauncey’s powerful performance at the church earns him a standing ovation and an invitation to participate in an upcoming revival. But Chauncey soon discovers that an ambitious fundamentalist preacher plans to use the revival to speak out against gays and gay marriage. Feeling angry and betrayed, Chauncey and other gay members of the church decide to take a stand against the church’s homophobia by staging a “Day of Absence” when all of the gay members and their friends and family stay home. Everything is going as planned... until D appears on the scene and Chauncey has to confront his past and make some hard decisions about his future.

I Say A Little Prayer is filled with the delicious plot twists, humor, compassion, and up-to-the-minute controversy fans expect from their beloved “E. Lynn.” Harris has returned with another gem of a novel that will rocket to the top of bestseller lists nationwide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #518499 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Released on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780385512725
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Harris takes a sympathetic look at the difficulty of reconciling homosexuality and faith in the black church in his lively ninth novel. Thirty-eight-year old Chauncey Greer classifies his heft sexual appetite as "basically bi with a gay leaning;" but also needs a personal relationship with God. Once a member of a boy band called Reunion (his deeply felt love affair with fellow bandmate Sweet D precipitated its breakup), Chauncey now owns a successful Atlanta-based greeting card company. Chauncey is a regular at the progressive Abundant Joy Baptist Church, where Pastor Kenneth's inspired preaching reignites his dreams of a singing career. After Chauncey sings a soul-stirring solo at church, the pastor invites him to perform at an upcoming revival led by the fundamentalist Bishop Upchurch and his vindictive wife Grayson. But Chauncey's friends plan to boycott the revival because of the Upchurches' gay-bashing, and Chauncey must decide between his passion for singing and his personal identity-a decision complicated by the reappearance of a figure from his past. Though supporting characters remain flat, Harris (A Love of My Own) illuminates a divide in the black church while exploring the universal theme of broken love.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Chauncey Greer operates a successful card company in Atlanta, Cute Boy Cards, with a specialty line for bisexuals and homosexuals. His relationships are casual because he can't get over his first true love and the betrayal that broke them apart. Chauncey decides to renew a dormant singing career, and his pastor asks him to debut at the church. Abundant Joy is a modest church that members fear may be on the brink of turning mega. Chauncey, like so many other members, fled Atlanta's mega-churches with their emphasis on prosperity at the expense of spirituality and decidedly anti-gay messages. When the pastor asks Chauncey to perform at an upcoming revival, Chauncey finds himself caught between the guest speaker, Bishop Upchurch, a fiery minister who is running for the U.S. Senate on an anti-gay marriage platform, and members of his church, who oppose Upchurch's message. Chauncey learns through friends the myriad paths traveled and entanglements faced by other members of Atlanta's black homosexual community; and he learns that Bishop Upchurch is a figure with his own troubled past. As Chauncey struggles with these issues, he eventually makes peace with his past. Harris, who revealed the down-low practice of ostensible heterosexuals living secret lives as gay men, now offers insight into the struggle within the black church concerning gay rights. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Praise for E. Lynn Harris

Breezy, big-hearted entertainment.
Entertainment Weekly

Delicious reading.
Seattle Times

Packed with more drama than a hurricane at a Fourth of July picnic.
USA Today

E. Lynn Harris has apparently sipped the magical bestseller potion again.
Washington Post

An entertaining confection. . . . True to form, Harris keeps the sex, scandal and drama churning. People

What s got audiences hooked? Harris s unique spin on the ever-fascinating topics of identity, class, intimacy, sexuality, and friendship.
Vibe

Customer Reviews

E. Lynn Harris Is Back!!!!
Chauncey Greer is the successful owner of Cute Boy Card Company in Atlanta. He was a member of a popular teen boy band Reunion but was kicked out after the manager found out the real reason for he and his bandmate D's late night hotel room visits. It is now twenty years later and Chauncey has put the past behind him and is still searching for true love. He turns his focus to his church where through his minister's message he finds a renewed interest in a musical career. After a soul stirring solo at church, Chauncey is invited to be the guest soloist at the church revival. He hits a sour note when he finds out anti-gay fundamentalist preacher Bishop Upchurch is planning to use the church revival as his conservative platform. The gay members of Chauncey's church are planning to boycott the revival and now he is at a crossroads. He has to decide weather to sing at the revival or stand up for what he thinks is right. To make matters worse, D shows up causing Chauncey to face his very painful past.


I Say A Little Prayer is an ambitious novel by E.Lynn Harris. Harris focused on a very explosive topic that no one in the black church wants to talk about: gays and lesbians in the church. I thought this topic was presented delicately and honestly in this story. I felt the emotion and conviction of Chauncey as he was trying to live his life and trying to do what God wants him to do. Readers will be moved by this story. Fans of this author's previous novels will be pleasantly surprised when two other characters Basil and Yancey make a brief appearance in this novel. But make no mistake, this is not another chapter into the lives of Basil and Raymond. This story is about Chauncey Greer. After reading this novel, I felt like E. Lynn Harris may be taking his writing into a delightful new direction. I Say A Little Prayer is a satisfying, heart wrenching story that doesn't disappoint.

E. Lynn Harris does it again!
Here was yet another grand reading written by E. Lynn Harris. When I began to read it, I was immediately hooked to the point that I seriously did not put it down until I had completed the entire book in one sitting. Of course I took small respites to eat, etc. but I did not, and could not, fall asleep until I had finished reading it to the end. I cannot wait for the next release.

BORING
Interesting subject... But the story had way too much going on, with half-developed characters. Really who cared who Chauncey slept with? I was more interested in the Skylar scenes, he was very funny and engaging, and more importantly he knew who he was. Seeing how E Lynn Harris, had such a big break, this was a not worth the wait. He alluded that some of the past characters (Basil and Yancey B) were still alive and thriving, why not focus a little more on them???

One thing in the book really pissed me off- The main character was puzzled that his co-worker, a highly educated woman was unable to tell the difference in a straight man and a [...] man. NEWSFLASH- men make it very difficult to find out this little tidbit, it is called being on the down low, and if you notice the majority of Chauncey's and Skylar's partners had women on the side, meaning that they were on the down low, yet women are supposed to be able to spot a down low man.. OH PLEASE

Why E Lynn Harris is an excellent writer, this was not one of his best works.