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Overview
Fresh from his small hometown in Tennessee where the color line is still a barrier folks don't cross, Jordan Greene was in culture shock when he first arrived in Manhattan. Now he's gotten used to the Big Apple's rough edges. He has a great friend named Solomon and a good job at a computer company way down on Wall Street, a pretty long ride from his apartment in Queens. Even longer is the growing distance between Jordan and his girlfriend J'nette. Then Kimberly walks into his life. She's a funny, spunky artist, gorgeous with her long red hair and Irish cream skin. That's the problem, especially for a man with Malcolm X's picture on his office wall: Kimberly Chavers is white. Falling hard and fast for a black man is only part of Kimberly's problem. She has secrets she doesn't intend to share; and a past she hasn't put to rest. But soon neither she nor Jordan are listening to their heads - only their hearts. That means facing the fallout from friends and families who don't understand, along with a truth that will shake Jordan's faith to the core... and test the true power of love.Synopsis
Fresh from his small hometown in Tennessee where the color line is still a barrier folks don't cross, Jordan Greene was in culture shock when he first arrived in Manhattan. Now he's gotten used to the Big Apple's rough edges. He has a great friend named Solomon and a good job at a computer company way down on Wall Street, a pretty long ride from his apartment in Queens. Even longer is the growing distance between Jordan and his girlfriend J'nette. Then Kimberly walks into his life. She's a funny, spunky artist, gorgeous with her long red hair and Irish cream skin. That's the problem, especially for a man with Malcolm X's picture on his office wall: Kimberly Chavers is white. Falling hard and fast for a black man is only part of Kimberly's problem. She has secrets she doesn't intend to share; and a past she hasn't put to rest. But soon neither she nor Jordan are listening to their heads - only their hearts. That means facing the fallout from friends and families who don't understand, along with a truth that will shake Jordan's faith to the core... and test the true power of love.
USA Today
Entertaining.
Editorials
USA Today
Entertaining.Library Journal
The author of the best-selling Milk in My Coffee visits the L.A. singles scene.USA Today
Entertaining.Kirkus Reviews
Dickey—who will inevitably be called 'the male Terry McMillan'—shows a willingness to take on deep-rooted stereotypes, while occasionally lapsing into some of his own. His third novel (Friends and Lovers, 1997) offers two narrators who take turns telling their stories: the red-haired, white-skinned painter Kimberly Chavers, and the classic buppie Jordan Greene. Jordan's not even interested in dating a white woman, but finds himself drawn to Kimberly's fiery personality and independent spirit. Events test the couple royally: Jordan loses his job; his best friend Solomon and Solomon's fiancee, 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 she's estranged, is half black. Peripheral characters are drawn carelessly: Solomon is a textbook bad-guy, and Kimberly's best friend, of Jamaican descent, always speaks in exaggerated Bob Marley fashion.The most chilling aspect of this romantic relationship? Virtually without exception, Jordan's friends, relatives, and acquaintances are unwilling to accept Kimberly, and their hostility is convincing.