Book Review
Lyah Beth LeFlore’s latest book, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, bumps with the flavor of music. Old school or new school, the story of how music shaped the life of Destiny Day is a love story wrapped in an enigma, shrouded in the history of music, which all music lovers will enjoy reading.
LeFlore follows up the success of Cosmopolitan Girls, a novel she co-authored with Charlotte Burley about New York A-listers, with this book about the same group of high-profile people but with a different theme. To her credit, she does the lead character justice by giving Destiny depth and showing her grow as the novel progresses.
Destiny Day faces the destiny of death through the love of living the high life as her vixen mother, Juanita, did for many years before and after her daughter was born. Destiny inherits the same carefree spirit and dangerous disregard for responsibility as her mother and father both showed.
Educated and cared for by her aunt and uncle after her parents’ death, she grows up in a safe enclave in Markum, Ill. and shuns that life after she drops out of New York University and becomes a club promoter. She refuses to return to the safety of home and doesn’t even answer calls from her surrogate mother as she lives the high-life with her close circle of friends Izzy, a has-been dancer with a penchant for the danger of the has-been life, and Rico, a gay man who can beat a face (make it up) but can’t beat down procrastination as too many lovers come and go. Side plots aside, Destiny stands as a beacon of strength for everyone in her life but herself.
Otherwise known as Legendary in the entertainment circuit for her legendary parties, Destiny enjoys the success of club promoting, including money, men at her beck and call, and a flock of girls working for her who would die to have her position. With all great fame comes great trouble, as Destiny discovers when her relationships start to fall apart in increments.
She is wise in all things except the relationships she is involved in. She wears her pride like a chip on her shoulder and refuses to show sympathy-at the cost of suffering great losses which make her face herself and start to reevaluate her life.
Salvation comes to her in the form of a sound man who helps her explore herself as he becomes her friend. A predictable love story plot becomes unpredictable when it is introduced as part of the last section of the book and unveils the true nature of Destiny’s parents’ death. As she finally breaks down the wall that she has built around her heart, and faces the fear that she will suffer loss on the level of her parents, the subplots of the book fall into place, and she is finally able to rectify her relationships with others by growing personally.
The book oozes love of music. Chapters are headed with music disks, titles for chapters are names of songs that lead you into the context of that chapter, and chapters laugh and live and love to the music that changed the face of the 20th century-from jazz to hip hop.
If you enjoy reading and music, this is a book that best combines the two and one you will not be able to put down. By the end of your adventure you’ll still be feeling the beat of Last Night a DJ Saved Your Life to help guide you through your own journey in life.
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