The love scene.

Fourplay: The Dance of Sensuality by Brenda L. Thomas Pocket Books, March 2004 $12.00, ISBN 0-743-47727-8

Brenda L. Thomas brings readers up-to-date with Sasha Borianni who narrated Thomas's earlier novel Threesome: Where Seduction Power and Basketball Collide (Writers and Poets.com, October 2001). Sasha runs Platinum Images, a public relations firm in Philadelphia and is a single grandmother who defies gray-haired stereotypes. In Threesome, she was, naturally, involved in a triangle. In this one, four men vie for Sasha's sexual favors and, sometimes even her professional skills.

Thomas's second novel will be a little hard to follow for readers who have not picked up Threesome. References are made throughout to Sasha's previous life and liaisons, but the author leaves holes that make her motivation and actions in Fourplay at times seem bizarre. The story is interesting but poorly executed. Perhaps what occurs between the hot scenes in erotic fiction is not supposed to matter.

The Sasha Borianni character is a good idea in need of a better story and options. Sasha is presented as a sharp businesswoman, but she is unbelievably foolish in her affairs. Perhaps in her next outing Thomas will give readers a sassy, sexy, middle-aged woman who has her fun without checking her brain at the bedroom door.

--Reviewed by Bernadette Adams Davis

Bernadette Adams Davis is a playwright and freelance writer in Florida.

Hitts & Mrs. by Lori Bryant-Woolridge Avon Trade, January 2004 $13.95, ISBN 0-060-54059-1

You may not be able to control whom you love, but you can control how you love--this is the apparent theme of Woolridge's latest novel. Melanie Hitts, a professional interior designer, falls in love with two men who inspire her but are very different in their approach. She vacillates between pursuing marriage to Will, her persistent suitor, in Washington, D.C., or leaving him for her older, married white mentor in New York.

The author tackles many difficult subjects such as interracial dating, infidelity and racism. Hitts & Mrs. is sincere, sexy and bold yet uniquely troubling.

--Reviewed by Monique W. Morris

Monique W. Morris is working with Kemba Smith on Smith's autobiography.

Mississippi Blues by Cassandra Darden Bell BET Books, January 2004 $14.00, ISBN 1-583-14481-1

In this novel, Beverly Lamark is a successful mystery writer with a quick temper and acerbic wit. Estranged from her husband and siblings and bored, Beverly drinks too much and avoids her editor and children. She is jolted out of her drudgery when she receives a letter from her sister Mabel bidding her to Mississippi to attend to some family business. Beverly does not want to go, and the trip is filled with mishaps.

Once home, resentments within the family spill over. Throughout Mississippi Blues, the heroine's unsentimental observations about herself and the people around her are astute and frequently hilarious. Some of the characters are stereotypical, and the conclusion is unsatisfying. In spite of these flaws, however, Mississippi Blues is entertaining. Bell's writing style is salty and quick-witted, and in Beverly Lamark, she has created an interesting, memorable character.

--Reviewed by Donia Elizabeth Allen 

The Perfect Blend by C. Kelly Robinson New American Library Trade, January 2004 $13.95 ISBN 0-451-21036-0

The Perfect Blend is a delightful but, at times, a slightly contrived tale of what happens to a young, married and in-love couple when wrongs done in the dark past suddenly come to light. Mitchell and Nikki Stone are newlyweds living in Chicago. Add in Gina, Mitchell's ex and his child, Clay, a host of other eclectic characters and a bunch of nonsense and no-nonsense drama and you do indeed have the perfect blend for a big mess.

This is a follow up to Robinson's No More Mr. Nice Guy (Villard, October 2002). Both books essentially explore the trials and tribulations of being a middle-class man living in America. This time it adds being a middle-class black man in America with a whole lot of excess baggage and too much testosterone. While Robinson has not yet achieved the commercial success of some of his contemporaries, his latest effort brings him a step closer.

--Reviewed by Glenn Townes

Glenn Townes is a writer and journalist in New Jersey.

Tastes Like Chicken by Lolita Files Simon & Schuster, May 2004 $22.00 ISBN 0-743-24525-3

The author of Getting to the Good Part and Scenes From a Sistah returns with a sassy new novel that serves up friendship, heartache, sexy rendezvous and true love. Reesy Snowden and Misty Fine are back, and this time they plan on "having it." Files's keeping-it-real language and storytelling manner are as sharp as ever.