Jungle Beauty Goddesses - Dirty Ball - Book 3

Dirty Ball

Fiction - Mythology
153 Pages
Reviewed on 12/04/2019
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Cassandra George Sturges is the author of “A Woman’s Soul on Paper,” “Success & Beauty is an Attitude,” “The Illusion of Beauty: Why Women Hate Themselves & Envy Other Women,” and “Why Racism is a Mental Illness.” For many years, she was an advice columnist for Today’s Black Woman Magazine and is currently a full-time psychology and sociology professor at a college in the mid-west. She is a high school dropout who graduated with her General Education Diploma and eventually earned five college degrees including two masters and a doctorate degree. In her late forties, she began making life-size fabric sculpture, cloth dolls that turned out to be the main characters in her Jungle Beauty Goddesses coming of age, modern creation Nubian Mythology fantasy fiction, sensuous, romantic series. She is the mother of two adult children, a grandmother, and for over 20-years has shared her life with her twin flame.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

Jungle Beauty Goddesses – Book 3 – Dirty Ball is a continuation of the saga of the seven sisters, daughters of the creator of the Universe, who are tasked with creating and nurturing a blue planet in the far-flung reaches of the Universe – Earth. Author Cassandra George Sturges has created a cast of characters that seek to put a different slant on the creation of the Universe, the galaxies, the planets, and the sentient beings on them. In Dirty Ball we follow the machinations of the sister Afar who, after creating the first higher order being on earth – Mada, falls hopelessly in love with her creation, in direct contravention of the Sisters' oaths and their father’s rules. When Mada’s future mate comes into being, a woman called Sumeria, Afar’s jealousy knows no bounds. Humanity’s future is hanging by a thread and controlled by a Goddess whose sanity and good judgment must be severely questioned. What ensues is a complex tale that seeks, in some way, to explain both the human condition and the current state of our planet.

Despite not having read the first book in this series, I had read the second. Although excited by the premise and carried away by some of the author’s clever imagery, I was left with the feeling that still more could be achieved in this concept. In Jungle Beauty Goddesses – Book 3 – Dirty Ball, author Cassandra George Sturges does exactly that – moves the story to a new, exciting level. One of the true joys of being a professional reviewer is watching an author grow and mature over time and, in this tale, I was duly rewarded. I felt the mixture of myths, fantasies, and original thoughts achieved a new imagination high and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. The tale is not finished though and I look forward to more excitement in the future. What stood out for me the most in this book was the uncanny corollaries the author was able to draw between her fantastical story and the current human and planetary condition. I loved the spiritual side of the story and the deep thought that clearly went into some of the passages. The passionate sex scenes, although few, were beautifully handled and never crossed over that line of decency into crudity. All in all, this was an excellent read and one I can highly recommend. I now await book four with bated breath.

K.C. Finn

Jungle Beauty Goddesses: Dirty Ball is the third and final installment of the Jungle Beauty Goddesses Series by author C. G. Sturges. In this final and more extensive work on the creationist story rooted in fantasy and mythology, prior themes of destruction and concern for Mother Earth are picked up once again. As the sisters responsible for the creation of planet Earth continue their celestial business and their relationships with other deities, the human race handles its own affairs somewhat poorly. What results is a spiritual but also practical observation of the world today and what ought to really matter from a truly humanistic perspective.

Author C. G. Sturges has created a wide-reaching novel series with many different themes, ideas and implications going on within it, and I’d love to see it more expanded to fully reach them all. But for such an ambitious project, this final novel really encapsulates all of the romantic, spiritual and philosophical goals which the author wishes to achieve, whilst also bringing about some of the most artistic triumphs and expressions of wordplay amongst its pages. Sturges is as lyrical and ethereal as ever, but the concept of the Dirty Ball gives her the sharpest focus yet, and this really thrives in the narrative structure and plot focus of the final part of this trilogy. What results is a series that builds to this very excellent conclusion, and overall I would definitely recommend Jungle Beauty Goddesses: Dirty Ball to readers who want to get into the ethereal headspace of this new and exciting mythology tale.

Asher Syed

Jungle Beauty Goddesses: Dirty Ball by Cassandra George Sturges invites readers to a new fictional vision of how the earth was populated and by whom. Afar is the Jungle Beauty Goddess who has authority over planet Earth. She is fairer than her sisters, the other Jungle Beauty Goddesses, and embodies the figure a reader would closely align with Eve (her Adam being Mada) as well as Mother Earth, or God Almighty, in feminine form. In love with Mada and he with her, she resists procreating with him and redirects him to another woman, Sumeria, with whom he falls in love. From the two, the African continent is populated and Afar exacts her revenge...using Mada against his will to create the “pink babies”, who are bent on destroying all Afar has been entrusted with...including herself.

It is always a privilege and an honor to witness the evolution of a series, particularly when that includes seeing the writing within the books strengthen with the story. Dirty Ball is one of these instances and I believe Cassandra George Sturges is an author worth following. Afar and Mada's arc is excellent and the way Sturges takes creation stories from different religions and positions Afar as the creator is really a cool perspective. Additionally, it is not easy to get a reader to like a character like Afar but Sturges is able to manage this and, when a shocking twist occurs, the entire story is elevated to another level. The book does end with a cliffhanger so readers should be prepared for one, but the loose ends as far as Afar and Mada's story are tightened nicely and set book four up with a solid direction for the Jungle Beauty Goddesses to take.

Jamie Michele

Dirty Ball by Cassandra George Sturges is the third book in the fantasy fiction mythological series Jungle Beauty Goddesses, preceded by book one, Pretty Blue Ball, and book two, Aquatic Ball. In this installment, the Jungle Beauty Goddess Afar is the star as her journey goes from youth through her evolution as an independent and dynamic deity—Goddess of Earth—and how she wields such an extraordinary responsibility and uninhibited power. As she sculpts and molds and creates, she finds that the one thing she cannot control is the free will of her creations...not their emotions, not their hearts. She also steps back and lets her children (the people of Earth) rule themselves, watching as they rise and fall by color and continent alongside her reluctant partner, Mada.

Dirty Ball is an interesting alternate story on the creation of Earth and all of us who inhabit it. Cassandra George Sturges weaves together the fabric of a history born of fantasy and a mythological tale that is unlike any other. While this is the third book in a series, it does actually read very well as a standalone, and Sturges is able to deliver enough sizzle to give the narrative an erotic overtone. Mada is written as an emotionally complex character and there were moments where I could sincerely feel his anger and pain, while still understanding Afar's as well (even if her actions made me gasp). The writing is clean and the book is short enough to provide some fun respite. I enjoyed this and the unique touches that the author provides a reader.