{"id":1079,"date":"2011-04-07T16:22:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T21:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.verastic.com\/?p=1079"},"modified":"2011-04-07T16:22:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T21:22:00","slug":"book-review-can-i-be-real-by-ekene-onu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/reviews\/book-review-can-i-be-real-by-ekene-onu.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Can I Be Real? By Ekene Onu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" title=\"Can I Be Real? By Ekene Onu\" src=\"http:\/\/ekeneonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Book-final-cover-218x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"218\" height=\"300\" \/>I&#8217;ve never really read a book like this. But when Ekene Onu gave me her book &#8211; even before it hit the market &#8211; I was honored [and giddy!]. After answering the question that the title of the book asks, <em>&#8220;Can I Be Real?&#8221;<\/em> I attacked the words, head on. Or eyes on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A book with 82 pages. It&#8217;s not huge. You can read it all in one sitting, but the lessons, if you let them, will last forever. Ekene writes honestly and passionately in a way that makes her vulnerable, so that you can see right through her. She really shows a different side of her &#8211; a woman of great faith and wisdom. \u00a0She plays the role of aunty, big sister, friend, confidant,\u00a0counselor, teacher, and even mommy. It all depends on what you need her for. I liked her as my sister.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Can I Be Real?<\/em> written in basic easy-to-understand language, I could hear Ekene&#8217;s voice speaking the words to me. I could hear the passion in her voice as she tried to get the words across to me, determined to not let me make another wrong move. That&#8217;s how it felt reading <em>Can I Be Real?<\/em> She talks about biblical stories as if she was there. In the <em>It Is Alright<\/em> chapter, she talks about Elisha and the woman who gave him a room in her house. According to Ekene, when the woman lost her son, she could have cried, <em>&#8220;The arrow they fired has met its target!&#8221;<\/em> Even when she does not mean to, Ekene&#8217;s sense of humor cannot help but shine through.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ekene&#8217;s analogies are so colorful. Like the story about Sina (her daughter) wailing because she did not believe Ekene was really taking her to Wal-Mart. We are just like that with God, refusing to simply have faith. Also like the story of Esau trading his birthright to Jacob over a bowl of porridge. \u00a0And like the girl who wanted a Range Rover and was willing to give sex for it. <strong>Sidenote:<\/strong> I am slightly disappointed that no one has ever offered me a Range Rover for sex. Am I not desirable enough? I should at least be given the chance or benefit of saying, <em>&#8220;No! I will not have sex for a Range Rover. I am a woman of class and dignity! &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; But if you make it two Range Rovers and a five-bedroom, four baths house in Lekki &#8230;&#8221; <strong>*INSERT SHY IGBO FACE*<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Can I Be Real? will encourage you. It will enlighten you. It will entertain you. What else do you want &#8212; apart from information about where to buy?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ekene Onu is an author, a speaker, and a coach. Visit Ekene Onu&#8217;s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ekeneonline.com\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a><\/strong> | Visit (and friend) Ekene Onu on <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=702703219\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/strong> | Follow Ekene Onu on <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/ekeneonline\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/strong> | Buy a copy of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/ekeneonline.com\/store\/\" target=\"_blank\">Can I Be Real<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>~ To have your book, product, or service reviewed, e-mail reviews@verastic.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve never really read a book like this. But when Ekene Onu gave me her book &#8211; even before it hit the market &#8211; I was honored [and giddy!]. After answering the question that the title of the book asks, &#8220;Can I Be Real?&#8221; I attacked the words, head on. Or eyes on. A book<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/reviews\/book-review-can-i-be-real-by-ekene-onu.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[262],"tags":[36,345,1223],"class_list":["post-1079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-reviews","tag-book-review","tag-ekene-onu","tag-reviews","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Book Review: Can I Be Real? 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