Synopsis
Bebe's paid her dues. Now it's time to light a little fire . . . .
Bebe's got a brand-new tight-fitting money-green dress. Isaac has three dollars in his wallet and fifty out on loan. Bebe's wearing her best lipstick. Isaac's got a shirt that could have been on Soul Train, a car that won't start, and a pair of free tickets to a "happening" nightclub he'll wish he never used. All in all, it's a first date made somewhere far from heaven. And it's the start of something really hot.
Following her acclaimed first novel, He Say, She Say, Yolanda Joe brings back her high-spirited heroine, Bebe, as she takes a shot at love with a sweet, good-natured Chicago fireman named Isaac Sizemore. So what's the problem? Here's a hint: she's twelve years old, raps, and knows an enemy when she sees one. . . .
Publishers Weekly
Joe follows the commercial success of He Say, She Say with an exuberant if unambitious tale of love discovered in the nick of time by two lonely, 40-something African Americans living in Chicago. While attending graduation ceremonies at a local college, fireman Isaac Sizemore spies mature Bebe triumphantly accepting her diploma, taps her on the shoulder and makes a date. Isaac is single in one sensehis wife left him several years ago. But there is a jealous woman in his lifeIsaac's 13-year-old daughter, Dashay, an aspiring rap artist who isn't looking for a new mom. As Isaac and Bebe try to make their love work, they suffer through several comically horrific dates, as well as Dashay's attempts to thwart their developing romance, all of which Joe relates in the alternating voices of the three principals and Bebe's best friend, Sandy (who faces love and career troubles of her own). These voices are crisp and full of fun, even if most of the characters share Isaac's confessed inability to tell the difference between "meaningful conversation and talking shit." Underneath all the jive (e.g., "I'm divorced by force, think love is from above, like my books long and my brewskis in a short glass"), there's a sweet core of sentimentality that will no doubt strike a chord with many readers who have hoped for a second chance at love. (June)