Don't Ever Wonder.

Don't Ever Wonder by Darren Coleman Amistad/HarperCollins, July 2005 $14.95, ISBN 0-060-59486-1

In his second book, Don't Ever Wonder, Darren Coleman pieces together a tale of love, heartache, sex, maturity, success and failure. He explores the relationships of male friends. Con/Dandridge, the narrator of the tale, is a successful businessman from New York, who almost drives a lasting division between two sisters. He has a child with one but is still in love with the other.

Nathan Montgomery is a womanizer-gone good who finds a woman he wants to share his life with, but not before he succumbs to temptations from other women and his lifestyle as a well-known boxer.

In this follow-up to Before I Let Go, Coleman does a fine job of making the story flow easily. His scenes are creatively filled with detailed sex acts and authentic dialogue. The plot of the novel, however, could have been stronger. The biggest annoyance about the book is that the story line is not new.

--Reviewed by Ira Porter

Ira Porter is a staff writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.