Certified
by Kamah Alicia Scott

Reviewed by: QB Wells
January 2009

In her latest novel, Certified author Kamah Scott swings and misses at a tale of urban seduction and betrayal. Set in Philadelphia, Sophie is the daughter of a certified bottom bitch, Sheedy. Sheedy is sexy, street scorned, and down right scandalous. She hustles hard in a variety of ways for the neighborhood kingpin, but gets little gratification outside money and clothes. As a result on the outside she is strong and exuberates confidence though is vulnerable on the inside. Sophie hates Sheedy because she was rarely home. Sheedy beats Sophie several times out of frustration and concentrated more on her hustle than her parenting.

Therefore, Sophie loves the lifestyle of her mother and the neighborhood hustlers. Sophie's history and admiration of the drug lifestyle leads to her infatuation with the second in charge Nickel, a man much older in age. The author peaked in the depiction of Nickel, a pedophiliac hustler that preyed on teenagers and older woman alike.

Sophie's need to please Nickel propels her to do many of the same types of acts as her mother to become the "certified bottom bitch". The difference is that Sophie is tender and not mentally prepared to get as deep in the game. She is manipulated and her jealous emotions and bad habits cause her to slip up many more times than her mother.

Fast paced and with a few insane moments, Certified misses the bar due to issues with time transition in the plot, typesetting and editing that jolt the overall readability of the story.

What did you like about the book?
Certified is an ambitious book. I enjoyed the dialogue in the novel. It sounded authentic and quickened the pace of the story. In addition, the characters were interesting and worth reading about.

What did you dislike about the book?
I disliked that editing and conflict hindered the readability of a decent story. Outside the murder and theft in the present time, there was little reason to read on. The tale then is seventy five percent flashback before the last chapter that reverts back to present time.

What can the author do to improve the story?
To improve the book, the author should tighten the story and the editing to address the time lapse and transition from present to the past, grammatical errors, and typesetting issues.

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