About Piano In The Dark...

How do I get a man? In Piano in the Dark, the third novel by author Darlene Johnson and the first of an intended series, the answer for Aisha Lowe has always been sex.  

Twenty-two year old Aisha Lowe is a young woman who was raised in the church and who, at a very impressionable age, was taught to stay away from those boys. 'Boys will be boys,' so it was up to girls to keep themselves and thoughts pure, by remaining chaste and dressing modestly. The Christian practice of no sex before marriage was supposed to steer young girls like Aisha toward a life devoted to the church’s teachings on moral sexual behavior. However, for Aisha, the conditioning had an adverse effect. Now that she wanted a relationship, Aisha reasoned that if sex is what men wanted, then the way to have a man in her life was to offer him what he wanted, her body. That thought tosses her toward promiscuous and sometimes naive and reckless pursuits in hopes of gaining love. After many failed attempts at relationships and too many moments when she had to use her body to get out of life or death situations, she is forced to learn and believes that there's much more to getting and keeping the man she desires the most.

The setting of Piano in the Dark captures the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Set in Salt Lake City, Utah, Aisha’s journey will take you from the night club and send you trekking across Rocky Mountain canyons, snowboarding down eleven thousand feet terrains, plunging through river rapids, and even sitting in one of the renowned hot springs in the middle of the Canadian Rockies.

 Not the typical backdrop for most African-American books; Piano in the Dark will show you urban life of a different sort while tackling some of the same issues of spirituality, sex, love, friendship and family as this young woman enters into womanhood.

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Excerpt from Piano In The Dark...

The river was calm mostly, with only a few short rapids. Aisha paddled and looked around at the red rock formations and canyons and melted amidst the fantastic scenery and serenity of floating downstream. It was a perfect day for kayaking with the sun being kind to them and not releasing much of its fury in the dry desert. Temperatures were known to reach three digits this time of year, but luck was on their side and it stayed in the mid-eighties. Without shade covering while floating down the river the only salvation from the blistering rays was a wide-brimmed hat and an occasional dip in the muddy brown water. Aisha had gotten the hang of the paddling, going with the current and learning to paddle with Ranz's rhythm. Ranz commended her continuously and after each praise she smiled and exhaled as the water rose and dipped the kayak. After two hours of straight paddling, they stopped for a snack and water break. When the half hour break was over, they climbed back into the kayak for the next portion of the trip. They had four hours to go before they reached the point where they were going to set up camp for the day and do some hiking. This time they were met with raging rapids and when Aisha saw them she let out an ear-popping squeal.

“Don’t panic,” Ranz yelled as water rushed up and splashed and rocked the kayak. “Just keep paddling.”

“I’m scared, I’m scared,” she cried, but she couldn’t very well change her mind and turn back.

“Just keep paddling,” he said again and she followed his instructions and prayed a prayer she was sure she’d heard somewhere before. It was one of the few times she was quite comfortable saying the name, God.

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