Real Wifeys: On the Grind by Meesha Mink / 257 pages. Read in 30 days

Kaeyla Dennis was born into poverty. All her life she dealt with being broke, wearing raggedy clothes and being the laughing stock at her school. When her mother left her with her grandmother, Mama Bit, life was far better than it was before but she still found herself to be poor, hungry, wearing old/torn clothes and shoes. There were times when she would have to avoid going to school by playing sick because of being teased or running into girls that talked about her at the bust stop in fear of her life. So the day she met Damion “Dyme” Gunners, 23 years her senior, her life changed and her name too. She became Goldie to him and many others for her gold highlights and eyes. Dyme became her world and for six years he laced her with everything she never believed she would have, including a car, clothes, jewels and a rent-free apartment in the same projects as Mama Bit’s. Mama Bit has been pissed when she first learned of the idea but now that she has passed on, Kaeyla somehow still feels that she disappointed her grandmother by sleeping with a married man and dropping out of school. Although Goldie dropped out of school, she still feels that she is doing way better than most 22 year olds. Through the six years she has been with Dyme, he has always promised Goldie that he would leave his wife and marry her and she believed this story for as long as she could until Dyme’s wife rolled up to her crib to prove otherwise. Dyme had just got finished proposing to Goldie and while they were in the middle of their love making session in her apartment, his wife Freida was honking the horn & screaming her husband’s name downstairs putting on a show in the middle of the winter in front of everyone in Goldie’s projects. With the snow on the ground, it did not stop Goldie from going out there with no shoes on to show her new engagement ring off. She thought finally this is the time to show Freida that Dyme is now her fiancé! Goldie figured just as Dyme was serious about saying he was leaving his wife for good this time, Goldie was serious too about making sure it happened with showing proof of her engagement ring. However, things took a turn when Dyme played the victim and decided to take his wife’s side and deny everything they had been through in the past few minutes to six years, the engagement, two abortions, etc… Goldie was pissed and decided to charged Dyme from the back, he immediately threw her off his back and she fell into the snow for everyone to see and laugh at while Dyme walked away with his wife.

After a few weeks of depression, Goldie decided to hustle at whatever she could. She became the “go-to” girl for movies, clothes, purses, CD’s, everything you can name. That lasted until a bad deal caused her partner to get arrested. Back at square one with all her money in the recent deal gone, she had to find yet another solution because she was determined not to go back to Dyme. She managed to do a few odd jobs but nothing lasted. Goldie eventually became successful again with starting a stripping business but things got even better for her when she was given the opportunity to take a few of her high end strippers on tour with her to do open acts for the rapper, Make$. But this too was over before it really got started and Goldie was violated but like all abused women, she still came out on top living in a high rise apartment in a new city. This book is one story you will always remember!