Review by Booklist Review
Dickey's third novel of African American romance and friendship is engrossing and entertaining; this story is definitely more developed than his two previous novels. Tennessee-born Jordan Greene, a successful, single professional living in Manhattan, is the main character. He and his best friend Solomon, who is closer to him than either of his two brothers, confide and support one another. Kimberly Chavers is the aspiring artist he meets in a taxicab, and they soon develop a relationship of substance and meaning. The surprising twists at the end of the novel bring a good novel to a very satisfying conclusion. Dickey has been touted as the "male Terry McMillan," an appellation that is well deserved. --Lillian Lewis
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When a black man meets a white woman and they fall in love, sometimes there are more pressing matters that concern them than the predictable fuss over an interracial relationship. The latest novel from the popular Dickey (Friends and Lovers) is as much about relationships as it is about race. Both Jordan Greene, a 30ish engineer, and Kimberly Chavers, a 28-year-old artist, have thorny connections with friends, former lovers and relatives that they must unravel before they can even begin to think about a life together. For Jordan, there is his on-again, off-again relationship with fiery J'nette, who says she is carrying his baby. There is his friendship with his confidant Solomon, who is engaged to J'nette's best friend but may be less trustworthy than he seems. Then there is Jordan's family. When he flies from New York to his native small town of Brownsville, Tenn., to attend the funeral of his ex-stepfather, Jordan is caught in the thick of family woes. His half-brother, Reggie, has finally checked into a drug rehabilitation program but only after casting their older brother, Darrell, into bankruptcy. In the rural South, where racial tensions are more frightening and immediate than Jordan remembers, he must not only suffer his older brother's harangues against dating white women but also do so while loaning him money. Kimberly, meanwhile, is trying to rid herself of an obnoxious, white ex-boyfriend and come to grips with a secret past that she fears will make Jordan doubt her love for him. By the time she shows Jordan her skeletons, makes up with a troubled family of her own and faces down violence on the streets of New York, Dickey has demonstrated once again his easy mastery of dialogue and voice (both romantic leads share narrator's honors with an omniscient third-person) and his cheerful, wittily acerbic eye for the troubles that plague lovers in the 1990s. (Sept.) FYI: Signet will issue Friends and Lovers in paperback in September. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The author of the best-selling Milk in My Coffee visits the L.A. singles scene. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Dickeywho will inevitably be called the male Terry McMillanshows a willingness to take on deep-rooted stereotypes, while occasionally lapsing into some of his own. His third novel (Friends and Lovers, 1997, etc.) offers two narrators who take turns telling their stories: the red-haired, white-skinned painter Kimberly Chavers, and the classic buppie Jordan Greene. Jordans not even interested in dating a white woman, but finds himself drawn to Kimberlys fiery personality and independent spirit. Events test the couple royally: Jordan loses his job; his best friend Solomon and Solomons fiancée, Zoe, break up for the worst possible reason; and Kimberly's ex appears unexpectedly. Her mysterious past is revealed, including the fact that her ex-husband is black and her own father, from whom shes estranged, is half black. Peripheral characters are drawn carelessly: Solomon is a textbook bad-guy, and Kimberlys best friend, of Jamaican descent, always speaks in exaggerated Bob Marley fashion. The most chilling aspect of this romantic relationship? Virtually without exception, Jordans friends, relatives, and acquaintances are unwilling to accept Kimberlyand their hostility is convincing. Still, even with the storys overly dramatic end, the appealing dynamic between Jordan and Kimberly wins out against the odds. (Literary Guild selection)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
