Dwayne S. Joseph

I find that most contemporary African American authors tend to write on the level of YA novels (except with more explicit sex, language and violence). I prefer writing that SHOWS me the story and doesn't TELL me the story.

I didn't care too much for the first two short tales of this book. I became bored very quickly with both. The ending of the first was cheesy and unrealistic. The second was a little better but not by much. The dialogue and situation were a bit more believable (most of the time at least). The third story held my interest. Even though I still didn't care too much for the writing, the fiction itself wasn't too bad.

Perhaps if I were in my late teens I may have found it to be a more interesting read.… (mehr)

While I felt the book started off slowly, it did get interesting very quickly. The story revolves around the lives of 3 married couples where all the husbands have been best friends forever. 1) Mike and Mya: Mike is a cop who sleeps with anything remotely female while Mya naively looks the other way, 2) Ahmad and Shay: Ahmad is the faithful husband who loves his wife and infant daughter while Shay is suffering from a low self-esteem after childbirth - she withholds sex from Ahmad because she is ashamed of the damage childbirth has done to her body but she can't communicate her feelings to Ahmad so he has no idea why Shay is so withdrawn, 3) Max and Trina: Max is a music producer who is sleeping with Trina's mother - he does this even when he knows of the hateful relationship between Shay and her mother.

Naturally, things get exciting when Mya and Ahmad confide in each other and start to develop feelings for each other and Trina's mother reveals her affair with Max. The reactions of the characters were very realistic and the author does an excellent job of helping the reader really feel the pain of the victimizers and the victims. However, the "put it in a box with a pretty bow" ending ruined the story for me. If you like happy, Hollywood endings then you will probably enjoy this book. If you prefer more realistic stories with realistic endings, then you will be disappointed with this book.… (mehr)