Lena Spencer's seemingly luxurious world is falling apart. Her husband is emotionally distant, her kids are drawing away, and her riches don't help...
read full description
reviews
Jul 21, 2010
Cheryl
rated it: 
Readers familiar with the writing of Connie Briscoe, Terry McMillan, and Be Be Campbell Moore will welcome Jacqueline Luckett to the world of African-American literature during a time when the most prolific and popular African-American secular authors write about drug dealers, drug addicts, criminals, con artists, and gold diggers. Like her predecessors, Ms.Luckett writes for and about that forgotten segment of the African-American community, the college educated, middle class professional
More...
Jun 06, 2010
OOSA
rated it: 
Stepping from Under the Shadows
Lately Lena is starting to identify with her mother, Lula. She’s a stay-at-home mom responsible for providing everything to everyone with little to no room for self. In her mother’s time that may have been acceptable, but nowadays, Lena is looking for a lot more.
When Randall, her husband, humiliates her in front of dinner guests and the children disrespect her, Lena decides to pack her bags and follow her dreams. Just as her idol, Tina Tur More...
Lately Lena is starting to identify with her mother, Lula. She’s a stay-at-home mom responsible for providing everything to everyone with little to no room for self. In her mother’s time that may have been acceptable, but nowadays, Lena is looking for a lot more.
When Randall, her husband, humiliates her in front of dinner guests and the children disrespect her, Lena decides to pack her bags and follow her dreams. Just as her idol, Tina Tur More...
May 04, 2010
Susan
rated it:
I wasn’t going to include Searching for Tina Turner, the debut novel from Jacqueline E. Luckett, in my list of rock and roll fiction. It’s not about a rocker. Not really. But it belongs on my list, all right.
In this tale of a woman searching to find herself once her kids are grown and she’s become disenchanted with always sublimating herself for her husband, it’s all about Tina, baby, and the lessons our main character, Lena, learns from the rock icon. These pages vibrate with Tina’s More...
In this tale of a woman searching to find herself once her kids are grown and she’s become disenchanted with always sublimating herself for her husband, it’s all about Tina, baby, and the lessons our main character, Lena, learns from the rock icon. These pages vibrate with Tina’s More...
Mar 03, 2010
Denise
rated it:
Searching for Tina Turner tells the story of a woman dealing with the all too common problem of having lost herself in her marriage and children. Before she married Randall, Lena had big dreams of being a professional photographer. As a wife and mother she finds her dreams always being sacrificed for the good of the family of her husband's ambitious career. When she fights for her dreams her marriage begins to fall apart and her children become resentful. Struggling to find a balance Lena turns
More...
Feb 06, 2010
Even though it moves quickly, Searching for Tina Turner isn't a book that you read in one sitting. It's worth following the characters and savoring the changes and realizations that Lena goes through.
The book opens with Lena watching Tina Turner dancing on TV. She's brought back to the memory of her courtship with Randall and since she misses him badly, she calls to tell him how she's thinking of him. He's in Hong Kong and it's 4 am and he's in the middle of a deal. At that moment, I More...
The book opens with Lena watching Tina Turner dancing on TV. She's brought back to the memory of her courtship with Randall and since she misses him badly, she calls to tell him how she's thinking of him. He's in Hong Kong and it's 4 am and he's in the middle of a deal. At that moment, I More...
Feb 05, 2012
Hattie
rated it: 
jacquelineluckett
Lena Spencer and her husband, Randall, have two children, Kendrick and Camille. Neither of whom are in diapers. In other words they are nearly ready to make their own way in the world. However, whether they live at home or are away at college children know when their parents are going through ups and downs. All of a sudden after many years Randall decides he wants out of the marriage. His desire to let the marriage die tears Lena apart emotionally. After all, she's always g More...
Lena Spencer and her husband, Randall, have two children, Kendrick and Camille. Neither of whom are in diapers. In other words they are nearly ready to make their own way in the world. However, whether they live at home or are away at college children know when their parents are going through ups and downs. All of a sudden after many years Randall decides he wants out of the marriage. His desire to let the marriage die tears Lena apart emotionally. After all, she's always g More...
Jan 19, 2010
Jody
rated it:
The novel Searching for Tina Turner is essentially a book about Lena Harrison Spencer, a woman who goes through a messy divorce after many years of marriage to avery successful man. The book chronicles Lena's end days of the relationship, her divorce and the months after her marriage.
I found that the protagonist Lena Harrison Spencer was intruiging, I believe that she is a character that most people can identify with in some way or another, whether that be through their own journeys More...
I found that the protagonist Lena Harrison Spencer was intruiging, I believe that she is a character that most people can identify with in some way or another, whether that be through their own journeys More...
Jul 10, 2010
Julee3702004
rated it:
I read about this book in the San Francisco Review of Books weekly flier. The book is about a woman at mid-life, who is searching for the meaning of her own life as her children go to college and her husband rises up the corporate ladder. The kids don't understand her. Her husband feels that she should just be grateful that she has all of things that make people happy (nice house, car, doesn't need to work, etc.) She really wants to study photography and build a new meaning for her life. It tak
More...
Mar 01, 2010
Stephanie
rated it:
Jacqueline E. Luckett's first novel, "Searching For Tina Turner", is a beautiful surprise. Aside from the wealth, this is a story that every family can identify with. We all have problems and triumphs.
I was not impressed at first. The characters made me frustrated and impatient. I wanted to grab Lena by the shoulders and shake her depression away. I wanted to slap Randall's tunnel-vision off his face. And those kids...their insolence, ignorance and disrespect had me g More...
Feb 11, 2010
Lori
rated it:
I have sat and thought about how to describe Searching for Tina Turner. The subject matter isn’t the cheeriest - - the breakdown and dissolution of a marriage against the backdrop of legendary singer Tina Turner’s struggles. And yet, Searching for Tina Turner left me pleased and satisfied.
What stands out most to me about this first time effort from author Jacqueline E. Luckett is that this book is a veritable smorgasboard of affection for France. Reading the portions taking place in More...
What stands out most to me about this first time effort from author Jacqueline E. Luckett is that this book is a veritable smorgasboard of affection for France. Reading the portions taking place in More...
Feb 04, 2010
Crystal
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book. I think one of my favorite things was when lyrics to Tina Turner songs were mentioned, I found myself singing along.
I don't read much women's fiction (reviewing has me branching out), so this book feels fresh and new to me. At first I wasn't sure what I thought of the book. Was Lena giving up on her marriage to easy? I mean I have some similar thoughts - I do lose myself at times and Lena's mom's advice does ring true to someone in a good relationship More...
I don't read much women's fiction (reviewing has me branching out), so this book feels fresh and new to me. At first I wasn't sure what I thought of the book. Was Lena giving up on her marriage to easy? I mean I have some similar thoughts - I do lose myself at times and Lena's mom's advice does ring true to someone in a good relationship More...
Feb 02, 2010
Kathy (Bermudaonion)
rated it:
As the highest ranking black employee of TIDA, it seemed that Randall had it all. Even though he enjoyed the power and the money the position brought, for him it wasn’t enough, and he didn’t intend to stop until he became the CEO. The fact that his wife, Lena, had made sacrifices and given up her dreams for years, didn’t seem to matter to him.
While Randall is on a long business trip, Lena falls into a funk. No one can understand why she’s not happy since she has everything money c More...
While Randall is on a long business trip, Lena falls into a funk. No one can understand why she’s not happy since she has everything money c More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 11, 2010
Sarah
rated it: 
Searching for Tina Turner is the story of Lena Spencer, a woman who is going through a divorce after 23 years of marriage. The first third to half of the book actually chronicles the very end of their marriage, while the remainder of the book is about Lena's life after the divorce and a trip to France to "search for Tina Turner" (who apparently currently lives near Nice, France). The book was a fairly quick read and at the end I did find myself hoping that Lena would make the "rig
More...
Feb 02, 2010
Mary (BookHounds)
rated it:
LOVED IT
At first I thought this was just another chick lit book, but it gives a whole new spin on the genre. Lena's marriage is in trouble and like so many other women around the age of fifty, she discovers that she has given up more than she bargained for when she supports her husband's rise in the corporate world. She has given up her own identity and becomes the perfect wife. The theme of Tina Turner's life story plays in the background and gives Lena hope that she too ca More...
At first I thought this was just another chick lit book, but it gives a whole new spin on the genre. Lena's marriage is in trouble and like so many other women around the age of fifty, she discovers that she has given up more than she bargained for when she supports her husband's rise in the corporate world. She has given up her own identity and becomes the perfect wife. The theme of Tina Turner's life story plays in the background and gives Lena hope that she too ca More...
Feb 06, 2010
Suelibevg
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 12, 2010
Toni
rated it:
As a not very seasoned traveler, held back only by my pocketbook, I love to read fiction and non-fiction featuring African-Americans in world settings. This book is going on my favorites list.
Lena Spencer is a woman in her fifties living in a classic situation: a beautiful home, a late model foreign sports car, a career-driven husband and teenage children who no longer really need her. For years she has put off her dream of a career in photography at the behest of her husband, Rand More...
Lena Spencer is a woman in her fifties living in a classic situation: a beautiful home, a late model foreign sports car, a career-driven husband and teenage children who no longer really need her. For years she has put off her dream of a career in photography at the behest of her husband, Rand More...
Jan 21, 2010
Heather
rated it:
I received this book from a Goodreads First Reads contest and enjoyed it more than I had anticipated I would.
Lena discovers herself throughout the course of the story and realizes that what she has had most of her adult life, is not what she really wants. She draws inspiration from her idol, Tina Turner, and sets out to find Tina, but ends up finding herself along the way.
I love strong, female characters, and though Lena was not always a strong, independent woman, she le More...
Lena discovers herself throughout the course of the story and realizes that what she has had most of her adult life, is not what she really wants. She draws inspiration from her idol, Tina Turner, and sets out to find Tina, but ends up finding herself along the way.
I love strong, female characters, and though Lena was not always a strong, independent woman, she le More...
Jan 22, 2010
Jennie
rated it:
This is my most recent free Goodreads win and I love free books! Yet, as much as I love free books, this was only a so-so read for me. The usual plot of a woman who seems to have it all: money, status, a gorgeous husband and two gorgeous children. Just when she thinks life couldn't be better, she realizes that she has lost herself and so starts a life-searching mission. She sheds her husband and posh lifestyle in the style of Tina Turner and so begins a European trip to meet her. Along the way s
More...
Feb 03, 2010
Haley
rated it:
I found Searching for Tina Turner to be very difficult to read. I was frustrated by the writing. It was unclear and confusing. I could not tell who was saying what, or where the characters were. The writing switched from past tense to present tense and confused me. I didn’t get very far before I had to put it down.
I didn’t particularly like Tina, nor her husband Randall, I don’t agree with divorce, I was frustrated by how Lena was searching for her answers, and I could not get past a More...
I didn’t particularly like Tina, nor her husband Randall, I don’t agree with divorce, I was frustrated by how Lena was searching for her answers, and I could not get past a More...
Jan 24, 2010
Paulette
rated it:
Won this on Goodreads giveaway! Lena Spencer lived in the world of the priviledged. She seemed to have it all- wealthy husband, two children, fancy house, car, clothes, jewelry but she no longer felt loved by her husband. With her marriae falling apart, she draws strength from Tina Turner's book "I, Tina". Lena goes on a journey to France to actually see Tina in concert and meet her. Lena wanted to tell Tina how she had been an inspiration. I enjoyed reading and ended with a smile o
More...
Feb 03, 2010
Jennifer
rated it:
Searching for Tina Turner turned out to be a very insightful and deep book about a woman coming into her own after years of being know only as a wife and mother. I was pleasantly surprised by this novel, as I expected it to be a fluffy chick-flick novel, and it was not. I highly recommend this book.
Jan 06, 2010
Sylvie
rated it:
I received this book as part of the Goodread selections for review and I am glad that I did.
I probably would not have picked it up the shelf myself and I was pleasantly surprised. It was light yet it provided insights that are applicable to everyone.
Good work Jacqueline with a great cast of characters!
I probably would not have picked it up the shelf myself and I was pleasantly surprised. It was light yet it provided insights that are applicable to everyone.
Good work Jacqueline with a great cast of characters!
Jul 03, 2010
Beth
rated it:
Maybe a bit trite at times but it left me happy and feeling as anything is possible. Her journey to be something other than Randall's wife was a journey I was happy to go on with her. I would recommend!
Mar 14, 2010
Maryann
rated it:
I am really enjoying this novel of a woman who is searching for so much more than just the singer she admires. She is a well-developed character and has a supporting cast that is interesting, but I did have trouble with the soon to be ex-husband. There was no redeeming quality to him at all, and that made him a little more one-dimensional.
Jun 15, 2010
Thorn
rated it:
Sometimes found Lena frustrating but other times really liked her. It's not hard to believe this is a first book as it's fairly clunky, but I still enjoyed it enough.
May 06, 2010
I didn't care for it...neither did my book club. Slow to develop, seemed as if there was a quote from Tina Turner's biography on each page, I lost patience with the main character as I didn't connect with her. Real disappointment as I admire Tina Turner.
Oct 28, 2010
Valerie
rated it: 
This was an easy read, but why bother? The main character is not particularly interesting, sympathetic and certainly not like Tina Turner.
Jan 31, 2010
Nicole
rated it:
Story is interesting, but I just can't be sympathetic to a selfish protagonist who doesn't like cats.
Mar 01, 2010
Christy
rated it:
Not an original premise or execution to say the least; a women finds herself after realizing money isn't everything. I had a low expectation of it going into reading it, so I think that's why I found it a pretty good read. If I was even hoping for something progressive or thought provoking, I wouldn't have been able to stand it.
The lead is empathetic and makes her situation bearable to read about. There is an aspect of generational/gender relations that the writer went into (altho More...
The lead is empathetic and makes her situation bearable to read about. There is an aspect of generational/gender relations that the writer went into (altho More...
Jul 12, 2010
Kristin
rated it:
My answer to Marla's Nora Roberts lapse. I'm getting started on the beach reading early.
