Date Read: January 28th 2015
Published: 2012
Publisher: Emily Bestler Books/ Washington Square Press (Simon & Schuster, Inc)
Pages: 432
The Blurb
At last, mega-bestselling author Sister Souljah delivers the stunning sequel to The Coldest Winter Ever that fans have been eagerly waiting for. Frighteningly fierce, raw, and filled with completely unpredictability, this coming-of-age adventure is woven with emotional intensity.
A Deeper Love Inside is written in the words of Porsche Santiaga, Winter’s sharp-tongued, quick-witted younger sister. Porsche worships Winter. A natural born hustler, Porsche is also cut from the same cloth as her father, the infamous Ricky Santiaga.
Passionate and loyal to the extreme, Porsche refuses to accept her new life in group homes, foster care and juvenile detention after her wealthy family is torn apart. Porsche- unique, young and beautiful – cries as much as she fights and uses whatever she has to reclaim her status.
Unselfishly, she pushes to get back everything that ever belonged to her loving family. In A Deeper Love Inside, readers will encounter their favorite characters from The Coldest Winter Ever, including Winter and Midnight. Sister Souljah’s soulful writing will again move your heart and open your eyes to a shocking reality.
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Review – ★★★★ (4 stars)
This was a fun read! It was a bit slow in the beginning or first 150 pages, but it got better. I read The Coldest Winter Ever about 10 years ago and all I remember is that it was ahhh-mazing! With that said, A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story is not a sequel – this book has very little to do with Winter, Porsche’s older sister.
This book is a coming-of-age and cautionary tale that focuses on how ghetto-born, 10 year old Porsche Santiaga, coped with being sent to juvy (juvenile detention) after her family was separated by the arrest of her father- Ricky Santiaga who was a notorious drug lord from Brooklyn, New York. After spending about 2 years in juvy and forming some key friendships (The Diamond Needles) that positively influenced her life, she successfully escapes juvy with some members of the Diamond Needles and soon learns many, many, many lessons about love and life through her painful adventures.
Love is the reason behind all of Porsche’s actions- whether good or bad. She was striving to bring her separated family back together, only to realize that life outside of juvy had really changed and maybe the familial love disappeared…
Sister Souljah is the only urban fiction author I’ve read and I respect her writing sooo much. Unfortunately, books in the Urban Literature or Urban Fiction genre are not given the same respect as other literary genres. But these are stories that need to be read to possibly help end the sad cycles of drug abuse, senseless killings, alcoholism, teenage pregnancies, the spread of HIV/AIDS, etc in the Black community. There is so much to say about this book and I don’t want to give away any spoilers…but I’m glad it ends on a positive, uplifting note. I love the fact that Porsche heals and found real love in Elisha, who loved and appreciated her deeply- a love she had been craving and working hard for, to no avail from her sister and mother.
I gave this 4 stars because the beginning was quite slow and almost made me want to give up. Also, The Coldest Winter Ever and Souljah’s memoir, No Disrespect were more exciting reads compared to this book. But I highly recommend this! It’s a relevant narrative.
Other well-known Urban Fiction writers:
Sapphire (author of PUSH which was adopted into the film, ‘Precious’), Teri Woods, Zane (her books are a blend of urban fiction & erotica), Nina Foxx, Kimberla Roby, K’wan, Omar Tyree (author of the popular book, Flyy Girl), Eric Jerome Dickey, Donald Goines.
*Check out this great Youtube video by Tiffany (TiffReads) for an extensive discussion on Urban Fiction, for other recommendations and to learn more about the genre if you are interested – HERE. (This video was part of the February #ReadSoulLit Photo/Booktube Challenge on social media, organized by Didi of Brown Girl Reading)*
★★★★ (4 stars) – Great book. Highly recommend!
Purchase A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story on Amazon
African Book Addict! 
Nicely done! Aside from educating readers about the dilemmas and harsh realities of urban life, what are some other reasons/qualities you would recommend urban fiction/urban literature? I read Sapphire’s PUSH when it first came out and found it both devastating and well-written.
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Thanks Leslie! Urban fiction is considered a sub-section of Black literature that is associated with ‘the streets’. It’s often criticized as being hyper-sexualized, violent and written in ‘non-standard’ English, but Urban fiction can open up dialogue for various readers to discuss their interpretations of the texts. It can also even engage a lot of disengaged readers – since traditional literary forms of texts are failing to promote reading (esp in Urban communities). Also, I think these books can be very ‘relatable’ and enjoyable for many readers (urban and non-urban communities alike). Readers could find solidarity through these texts as this genre provides a shared experience of living under the white law/surveillance.
I don’t know…these are my thought on urban fiction. What do you think?
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All I can do is agree with your eloquent definition—thanks for the “break-down” 🙂
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I absolutely loved this book and would probably read this one again before I re-read The Coldest Winter Ever just because I appreciate the maturity with which she wrote this one. It was somber and melancholic and powerful and I don’t know, I just really connected with Porsche in a way that I couldn’t connect with Winter (even though her story was WILD and amazing, I remember reading it in 2 days because I couldn’t put it down lol). Haven’t read her memoir yet but it’s definitely on my list to read soon.
https://sunshinemena.wordpress.com/
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I agree! The book wasn’t as wild as The Coldest Winter Ever. Porsche was definitely more mature and more level-headed than Winter. It was a good book! Souljah’s memoir is AH-MAZING – it starts and ends with a bang! I’m sure you would love it, Filomena! And I hear she’s coming out with a new book in November or so, but its part of the Midnight saga. I want something else though. Like, a completely new novel from Souljah. I’m over the Winter, Midnight, Santiaga tales…
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A new book sounds exciting!! I get what you mean. I think the main issue was that she took so long to release part 2 (Porsche’s story) of the series and kind of lost memento. I’ll definitely read it but I too want something new. Fingers crossed. Maybe she’ll see this post and comments and get our message hehehe.
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Hahaa, hopefully she’ll see this or get some sort of epiphany. 🙂
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