Is She the Reason by Nako is a beautifully crafted story about a young woman who lost her family due to a life of crime and her determination and will power to succeed against all odds after she's paid her debt to society. In life there is no second chances, no do overs, just lessons learned.
In this story you meet Yara Moreland, a young woman that held her man down no matter the cost. Until the fateful day came that they had to pay for their crimes, a ten year prison sentence. Her husband and the love of her life, Kadeem Morleand promised her that the sentence would be easy, the time would go by fast, but never in a million years would she have guessed that she would serve her entire sentence and Kadeem would go free after only a year. To make matters worse, Kadeem never reveals this to Yara and makes their kids and his entire family keep his dirty little secret. But his early release isn’t his only secret, Kadeem moves on with his life and gets engaged. To add insult to injury, his fiancé, Kamala, worked on he and Yara’s case before they were sentenced. “We as women are foolish for the man we think is for us, and then it’s not until it’s too late to realize how much time we have wasted”.
“Sometimes, God has to sit us down to get our attention. He must wreck our plans for us to get focused. When we take our eyes off of Him, He will remind us who He is.” Yara is a woman scorned, but there’s no better way to get revenge on someone then by glowing up. Yara gets her half of the last take and rises like star she is destined to be. She goes from assistant, to an A&R turned songwriter and producer and then is the co-owner and Vice President of one of the largest independent labels. All while meeting the love of her life, Quentin Brooks. The way Quentin loves her has her second guessing if Kadeem ever really loved her.
The Morelands go through their fair share of family drama. There isn’t a character in this book that doesn’t have some form of drama going on in their lives. Yara can’t get back the ten years she lost but she tries her hardest to move forward with her three daughters, Amina (Meme), Ayanna and Yanise. Yara sees a lot of herself in her oldest daughter, Amina, and tries to give her the advice that she wishes she would have given herself. “And, baby, if he don’t see that crown on top of your head, it’s not your job to remind him that it’s there.”
This book is a standalone, but the characters in this book also appear in GISELLE: Crème De La Crème. This was my first read by this author, but it definitely won’t be my last. There were so many gems dropped in this story, from teaching young girls to never settle for less to even showing readers that God will never forsake you. The most important lesson was… KARMA.