Life After Death

January 18, 2021
Souljah’s mystical, uneven sequel to The Coldest Winter Ever picks up with Winter Santiaga leaving prison after 15 years, having taken the fall for a hustler boyfriend’s drug dealing. Her release is captured on a reality TV show developed for her, as is her murder; she is shot by friend-turned-nemesis Simone, after Simone finds out how much Winter would profit from the show compared to her and other women from the neighborhood. Winter ends up in the underworld, otherwise named the Last Stop Before the Drop, where she lives a twisted version of the life she’d led before ending up in prison. In a series of strange and winding events, Winter becomes romantically involved with a number of biblically and Quran-inspired men—who, just like she’d experienced in her past life, end up mistreating her. She begins to think back on her past with her father, whom she adores, and is able to observe the life of her first love, who is now married with a family. When she meets the souls of unborn children, they tell her she must reflect on her life if she wants to leave the underworld. While Winter’s digressive interior monologue can be hard to follow, Souljah’s saga is conceptually imaginative. The author’s diehard fans will appreciate this.

February 1, 2021
After two decades, author, activist, hip-hop artist, and film producer Sister Souljah presents an inventive sequel to her best-selling, much-loved The Coldest Winter Ever (2004), continuing the story of Winter Santiaga. The fiercest and most fly female in Brooklyn, Winter has just completed a 15-year sentence for the crime of being a gangster's girl. Intoxicated by power, Winter has always gone after the fast money; now her ticket back to the big time (after doing time) is a reality-TV show all about her. But before she can revel in her return, she finds herself in a hellish realm known as the Last Stop before the Drop. There Winter must face all the sins she's committed and bow down and worship not her beautiful self, money, or power but the one and only Allah; only then can she ascend to the City of Mercy. Souljah's fans will recognize familiar themes from her earlier realistic coming-of-age novel, while this raw and otherworldly tale conveys the terrible consequences of Winter's poor choices, which will haunt her until she begs for redemption.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Be ready for requests for urban lit star Sister Souljah's much publicized sequel to her two-million-plus seller, The Coldest Winter Ever.

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February 5, 2021

The long-awaited sequel to Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever begins with Winter Santiaga approaching the end of the 15-year prison sentence she was dealt at the end of the first book. Her brother-in-law, Elisha, proposes that she star in her own reality show starting as soon as she walks out of prison. Winter sees the show as an opportunity to reenter society at the top of her game. But fate has other plans: Winter is shot dead as soon as she walks out. The rest of the book takes place in a purgatory-like place called the Last Stop Before the Drop. Winter is "rescued" by a man with whom she becomes sexually involved; he has everything she wants, and despite having other women in his bed, he treats her like she is special. Winter also meets Bomber Girl, who bears a resemblance to a young version of herself. Bomber Girl, along with her army of UBS (Unborn Souls), attempts to save Winter and other women stuck in the Last Stop before they are turned over to the Eternal Fire by informing them of Allah's teachings and urging them to leave behind their sinful ways to pass on to a Heaven-like place. VERDICT Souljah takes a bold but ultimately disappointing step with this next installment in Winter's story, which is definitely not what readers may expect. Some may say it goes too far in places, such as descriptions of bestiality, while Winter is in purgatory. Only purchase where avid fans await this sequel.--Brooke Bolton, Boonville-Warrick Cty. P.L., IN

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