This book was recommended by a good friend who was happy to have found something written by an African American woman that was actually focused ON African American women. There may be plenty of others out there, but I’m not aware of them. It was certainly refreshing to read about women, and a slice of American culture, that are most definitely not represented well in the lesfic genre.

The opening of the book is pretty funny, with our lead characters meeting in a high school restroom. One is taking a massive dump while the other is getting jumped by a jealous woman and her crew. The non-jumpee, Tina, who is also the most popular girl in school, emerges from the stall to break up the fight. The jumpee, Kendall, who is more quiet and reserved, and Tina become fast friends. They are inseparable throughout the rest of high school and maintain their best friend status through most of college. It’s there that things change between them.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. Well, let me qualify that. I enjoyed the story until Tina finishes her post graduate work. After that, nearly the entire plot had my bullshit meter working overtime. I may have to replace it. Did I still care about the women? You bet. Did nearly everything outside of their immediate relationship make me roll my eyes and shake my head? Absolutely. I don’t want to give much away because there’s also a murder/rape mystery going but if you focus on the relationship aspects of the book, you’ll enjoy it. The rest of the storylines were tough for me to swallow. But as my wife reminded me last night as we were talking about my troubles with the book, “it’s pretend, honey. It’s pretend.” And my dear friend liked it enough to recommend it so that should say something. I’m a known hardass so take my criticisms with a grain of salt.