Afterburn: A Novel.

Afterburn: A Novel by Zane Atria Books, January 2005 $24.95, ISBN 0-743-47097-4

"We laid there for what seemed like an eternity ... there were no words spoken between us; we spoke only with our eyes. Tears started streaking down Yardley's left cheek and he shuddered. There it was, in those mesmerizing eyes, love."

--From Afterburn

Afterburn is the latest book about passion and love from the pseudonymous Zane, author of Addicted (Pocket Books, October 2001) and eight other books exploring the passion of black love. She is back with another tale of things that go right and terribly wrong in the quest for true love.

In Afterburn, Zane dwells in the emotional space that feels the excitement, playfulness and pain that comes with searching for love. Washington, D.C., chiropractor Yardley Brown walks through life in search of his soul mate, only to have his heart broken by one woman after another.

He then meets Rayne Waters, a woman of integrity, beauty and intelligence. But because Rayne is also a woman grappling with her own history of violation and broken heartedness--a reality that has been drilled into her consciousness by her mother, Arjay--the journey to finding love remains bumpy.

Complicating matters is a cast of characters that seem determined to keep Yardley and Rayne from finding each other. And the plot thickens when a twist in the end leaves the reader wondering whether finding one's soul mate is really possible.

While the voices of the female characters are stronger at times than those of their male counterparts, the story remains gripping and poignant.

Monique W. Morris is the director of the Discrimination Research Center in Berkeley, California. She is working with Kemba Smith on her autobiography.