IT CHICKS
MEDIA:“Williams, who has an ear for the way teens speak, has created a hip series filled with heart and a lot of sass.”
--Essence “If you enjoyed the movie Fame, you’re sure the dig IT CHICKS!”
--American Cheerleader “The writing and dialogue is lively, and there’s plenty of turmoil to get caught up in…over-the-top and fun!”
--Publisher’s Weekly “IT CHICKS weaves the plotlines of all seven protagonists so skillfully, you’ll want to know them whether you’re a teen or not.”
--Ambermag.com “IT CHICKS has the characters of GOSSIP GIRL and the setting of the movie Step Up…another summer must-read.”
--TeensReadToo.com “Wow, IT CHICKS is engrossing! And I liked the change from the blonde Barbies and slackers that seem to dominate this kind of ‘rich kids in private school’ story. I’m praying for a sequel.”
--KaijsaReads.com “Williams has created a web of entertainment…there’s a realness to her storytelling that makes the reader anxiously turn the page, no matter her age.”
--ShoeFlyer.com “IT CHICKS has a cast of over-the-top New York City teenagers who are stylish, driven, and destined to be stars…it’ll make you giggle!”
--BackTalkBlog.com “IT CHICKS packs plenty of plot: There are closeted gay characters, a diva who is secretly super-insecure—and even a mystery surrounding Tangie’s mom’s disappearance. [It’s like] a soap opera saga!”
--CommonSenseMedia.org FROM THE FANS:
IT CHICKS was one of the BEST books I’ve ever read and I’m a huge bookworm. I loved it!
--Jasmine “IT CHICKS is even more delicious than GOSSIP GIRL, and totally deserves to be made into a TV show. I’m dying to see what happens with Tangie and CJ. I’m hooked!”
--Kitty “I’m in love with your wonderful book…I couldn’t put it down! Hope the sequel comes fast.”
--Semhar “OMG, the best book ever! I’m brown and I go to an arts school just like the one in IT CHICKS, so it really touched me like mad.”
--Nandi “I’ve never loved a book this much! Tangie and CJ are the most romantic people ever. I’m so anxious to find out what happens next!”
--Nessa “I read the book in one day because it was amazing. The ending just made me want MORE! Keep the IT CHICKS series coming!”
--Brittany The Accidental Diva “[A] randy new read.”
--Cosmopolitan
“Very
sexy… perfect for the beach. Tia Williams [is] impossibly talented!”
--Lucky
“Former
Elle beauty editor Tia Williams scores big with this comic debut novel.”
--Marie Claire
“Sexy.”
--Essence
Cosmopolitan names THE ACCIDENTAL DIVA one of 2004’s 12 Red Hot Reads
Nominee,
2004 African-American Literary Show’s Breakout Author of
the Year http://www.literaryawardshow.com/sections/nominations_process.htm
QBR
The Black Book Review Top Ten Bestseller
Marie
Claire names THE ACCIDENTAL DIVA one of June 2004’s
10 Best To Do
Shape lists THE ACCIDENTAL DIVA as one of May’s 10 New Titles Worth Toting to the Beach
“Signals
the arrival of a sharp new talent.”
--Publishers Weekly
“This
is an author who knows a lot about New York—and finds fresh new
ways to look at the overly studied city.”
--Kirkus Reviews
“Tia
Williams brings her readers a tightly-woven story about love, work and
friendship in her debut novel.”
--Today’s Black Woman
“Delicious
and delightful.”
--The St. Louis American
Hey everybody,
Last Memorial Day, The New York Times ran a brilliant front-page article by Culture Editor Lola Ogunnaike profiling the group of hot young writers jumpstarting the new crossover literary sensation--mainstream black chick lit. The novels feature heroines with aspirational, glamour girl jobs, who effortlessly mingle with black and white characters, and whose biggest struggle is love, not privilege.
These heroines are real because the writers live their lives---and in an industry overflowing with images of pimps, thugs, and baby’s mama drama, wouldn’t you say it’s time for a change?
xoxo,
Tia
Excerpted
from The New York Times
“Black Writers Seize Glamorous Ground Around ‘Chick Lit’”
by Lola Ogunnaike:
“Tia Williams, author of ''The Accidental Diva'' (Putnam), said: ''Recent black fiction has been full of suffering-from-hair-politics, my-man-done-me-wrong women. Sounds pat, but many people still think you need to be downtrodden to be truly black.'' (Full disclosure: this reporter and Ms. Williams have been having versions of this conversation since they attended college together.)
Ms. Williams, 28, who is a beauty director at the magazine Teen People, said of her protagonist, Billie Burke: ''She's not struggling with the perils of being black. She's struggling with staying interested in her glamorous magazine career in the face of unbelievable sex.''
Like Lyah Beth LeFlore [author of “Cosmopolitan Girls”], Ms. Williams often watched ''Sex and the City'' and wondered: ''Where are the women that look like me and my friends? There may only be a handful of us there, but we're at those parties, and we're definitely invited to fashion shows and restaurant openings.''
Sitting in her Midtown office, surrounded by designer fragrances and scented lip balms, Ms. Williams said that in writing her book she was not trying ''to prove that black girls can keep up with the Joneses.'' She added, ''The black girls I know are the Joneses.”
My
Darling Muchachitas,
Check out my new Q&A and ACCIDENTAL DIVA excerpt on www.bet.com! If you think
I sound like an ornery schizophrenic totally lacking in irony (“...that
movie, ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman’ really pissed me off!”),
imagine the sound bytes you’d deliver if expected to be eloquent about
the media’s portrayal of black women....the morning after a recurring nightmare
in which your second novel’s protagonist shoots you with flaming arrows.
But enjoy! And thanks Tonya!
Click here for the article