Zora & Nicky by Claudia Mair Burney

Zora’s preacher daddy has been blessed with wealth thanks to his faithful congregation response to his prosperity teaching. A far cry from his childhood roots in a poor black community he wants Zora to know he provides her every need. Yet there is an emptiness in Zora’s heart that only one man can fill and despite attending church since birth, Zora can’t seem to find him.

Nicky Parker’s dad preaches the love of God and the supremacy of the white race all in one breath, while Nicky pursues a life of reckless relationships, satisfying his every desire without thought to the consequences. When he turns his life around, Nicky finds support and accountability with an eclectic group of Jesus followers whose love, compassion and empathy show him more of God’s love than he has seen in a lifetime of being the son of a preacher.

Zora’s appearance at Nicky’s Bible study wreaks havoc on Nicky’s newly acquired self control and Zora’s commitment to remain pure until her marriage to Miles Zekora, the brotha handpicked by her daddy. A cauldron of bubbling internal emotions erupt as Zora and Nicky weigh the cost of a relationship that may have a price to high for them to pay.

Zora &Nicky is a tale of electrifying attraction between two lost souls desperately seeking God’s mercy and grace while surrounded by bigotry, misunderstanding and the selfish agendas of their fathers. Claudia Mair Burney writes with such brutal honesty and authenticity that you will feel uncomfortable in places, weep in others and be thankful for the truly Godly, yet imperfect, people in your life. Alternating between the first person voices of Nicky and Zora, and expressing both with exceptional accuracy and clarity, Claudia took me on a journey filled with heartache and hope, pain and humour, magnetic attraction and abrasive interactions. While confronting this is a beautiful story of love, forgiveness and the complexities of human relationships regardless of, and yet because of, faith, colour and environment.