Synopses & Reviews
"Being a lifetime wife and mother has afforded me the luxury of having multiple and even simultaneous careers: I’ve been a chauffeur. A chef. An interior decorator. A landscape architect, as well as a gardener. I’ve been a painter. A furniture restorer. A personal shopper. A veterinarian’s assistant and sometimes the veterinarian.... An accountant, a banker, and on occasion, a broker. I’ve been a beautician. A map. A psychic. Santa Claus. The Tooth Fairy. The T.V. Guide. A movie reviewer. An angel. God....For a long time I have felt like I inadvertently got my master’s in How to Take Care of Everybody Except Yourself and then a Ph.D. in How to Pretend Like You Don’t Mind. But I do mind." Since Terry McMillan’s breakout novel Waiting to Exhale surged onto the bestseller lists, critics and readers alike have been captivated by her irreverent, hilarious, pitch-perfect tales of women’s lives and contemporary issues. With The Interruption of Everything, her sixth novel, McMillan takes on the fault lines of midlife and family life, reminds us once again of the redeeming power of friendship, and turns her eye toward the dilemma of how a woman starts to put her own needs higher on the to-do list while not shortchanging everyone else.
Marilyn Grimes, wife and mother of three, has made a career of deferring her dreams to build a suburban California home and lifestyle with her husband, Leon. She troubleshoots for her grown kids, cares for her live-in mother-in-law, Arthurine (and elderly poodle, Snuffy); keeps tabs on her girlfriends Paulette and Bunny and her own aging mother and foster sister—all the while holding down a part-time job. But at forty-four, Marilyn’s got too much on her plate and nothing to feed her passion. She feels like she’s about ready to jump. She’s just not sure where.
Highly entertaining, deeply human, a page-turner full of heart and soul, The Interruption of Everything is vintage Terry McMillan—and a triumphant testament to the fact that the detour is the path, and living life "by the numbers" never quite adds up.
Review
"If Ntozake Shange, Jane Austen, and Danielle Steel collaborated on a novel of manners, [
Disappearing Acts] might be the result."
New Yorker "Contains someting increasingly rare in books or films today: a full-blown, sophisticated love affair between two African-American adults." Denver Post
"A funny, earthy novel...ribaldly realistic. [Speaks] across class and color lines." New York Newsday
"A down-to-earth portrayal of love, yearning, and self-preservation...brimming with energy and the hard facts of life." Kansas City Star
"Gripping and moving...intensely realistic." Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
“TERRY MCMILLAN KEEPS IT REAL.…easily her most accomplished tale...by turns laugh-out-loud funny and gut-punch painful. McMillan has painted a convincing portrait of the kind of woman who can say yes to everyone but herself.”—
Boston Herald
“VINTAGE MCMILLAN...a very human story with large doses of friendship, humor, family, and imperfect relationships.”—The Dallas Morning News
“FUNNY, SAD, AND…FEISTY. [A] frank, no-holds-barred, humorous look at African-American midlife.”—The Seattle Times
“[MCMILLAN] HAS…A CUTTING WIT, a knack for capturing the way real people think and speak, a fearless willingness to engage complex, painful issues, and an unerring instinct for fashioning characters that enchant readers’ imaginations.”—The Washington Post
“WITH HUMOR AND HEART AND HUMANITY, MCMILLAN SPEAKS TO WOMEN ON THE VERGE.” —The Hartford Courant
Review
“Eric Jerome Dickey brings to life the heartache of betrayal with the skill of a mastercrafter… Dickey's imagery, the word choices, the rhythm of the sentences, his ability to create a vibrant, tormented sea in which Nia and her support cast bob along make this book one for the keeper shelf.” - USA Today, Happy Ever After
Review
Praise for An Accidental Affair “Once again, Eric Jerome Dickey has written a genre bending…story that is chalk full of danger, intrigue, mysterious characters with shady motives, murder, intrigue…and obsession. Oh, and there's sex. Lots of graphic, erotic, steamy, sweaty, climactic earth-quaking sex…the reader is forewarned: you are in for a hardboiled, fast ride.”—Seattle-Post Intelligencer
“The pace is fast, to be sure…A mix of erotica and noir…an ardent thriller.”—Kirkus Reviews.
“A melodrama of infidelity among Hollywood’s glittering stars…quirky and vivid.”—Publishers Weekly
Further praise for Eric Jerome Dickey and his novels:
“Once you start…you’ll have a tough time letting it go.”—The Washington Informer
“Scenes that take your breath away…and a speed-of-light plot.”—Booklist
“The high-octane narrative will have readers burning through page after page.”—Publishers Weekly
“An action-packed classic noir thriller that draws you in from the first page.”—Ebony
“Dickey taps the intimate emotions of a woman.”—Entertainment Weekly
“[A] sizzling, sexy, downright gritty love story.”—Library Journal
“No one does it like Eric Jerome Dickey.”—Black Expressions
“Steamy romance, betrayal, and redemption. Dickey at his best.”—USA Today
“Wonderfully written . . . smooth, unique, and genuine.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Crackles with wit and all the rhythm of an intoxicatingly funky rap.”—The Cincinnati Enquirer
Review
Praise for Who Asked You?
“Rich in narrative tension, nuanced humor, and moral heft.…Theres a disarming, Dickensian pleasure not only in this rich, multifarious portraiture but also in the constant glints of humor, delight, and plain weirdness that emerge in even the most terrible moments of Betty Jeans story.” —Los Angeles Times
“Captures the universal human desire to offer advice—however unwanted—to friends and loved ones. You didnt ask, but Ill tell you anyway: This book is worth reading.”—USA Today
“A memorable and realistic…cast of characters.”—The Associated Press
“Gritty, engagingly chatty.…McMillan excels at depicting small, tender moments of family dynamics.”—The Seattle Times
“Right away, from page one, you know that Who Asked You? is going to be a lot of fun to read...I loved it.”—Savannah Morning News
“A well-crafted story of acceptance, forgiveness, and hope…McMillans story belongs to the middle-aged steel magnolias who value loyalty above all.”—Publishers Weekly
“McMillan writes jauntily and with customary good humor…Her story affirms the value of love and family, to say nothing of the strength of resolute women in the absence of much strength on the part of those few men who happen to be in the vicinity…a solid, well-told story.”—Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Remember Getting to Happy, Waiting to Exhale, and How Stella Got Her Groove Back? Well, you won t likely forget Terry McMillan s Who Asked You? either. The Raleigh News & Observer
When Who Asked You? begins, Trinetta leaves her two young sons with her mother, Betty Jean, and promptly disappears. BJ already has her hands full dealing with her other adult children, two opinionated sisters, an ill husband, and her own postponed dreams all the while holding down a job delivering room service at a hotel. Her son Dexter is about to be paroled from prison; Quentin, the family success, can t be bothered to lend a hand; and taking care of two lively grandsons is the last thing BJ thinks she needs. But who asked her?"
Synopsis
Much-heralded and long awaited, Terry McMillan's tour-de-force novel introduces the Price family-matriarch Viola, her sometimes-husband Cecil, and their four adult kids, each of whom sees life-and one another-through thick and thin, and entirely on their own terms. With her hallmark exuberance and cast of characters so sassy, resilient, and full of life that they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page.
Synopsis
He was tall, dark as bittersweet chocolate, and impossibly gorgeous, with a woman-melting smile. She was pretty and independent, petite and not too skinny, just his type. Franklin Swift was a sometimes-employed construction worker, and a not-quite-divorced daddy of two. Zora Banks was a teacher, singer, songwriter. They met in a Brooklyn brownstone, and there could be no walking away...
In this funny, gritty urban love story, Franklin and Zora join the ranks of fiction's most compelling couples, as they move from Scrabble to sex, from layoffs to the limits of faith and trust. Disappearing Acts is about the mystery of desire and the burdens of the past. It's about respect, what it can and can't survive. And it's about the safe and secret places that only love can find.
Synopsis
Stella Payne is forty-two, divorced, a high-powered investment analyst, mother of eleven-year-old Quincy- and she does it all. In fact, if she doesn't do it, it doesn't get done, from Little League carpool duty to analyzing portfolios to folding the laundry and bringing home the bacon. She does it all well, too, if her chic house, personal trainer, BMW, and her loving son are any indication. So what if there's been no one to share her bed with lately, let alone rock her world? Stella doesn't mind it too much; she probably wouldn't have the energy for love - and all of love's nasty fallout - anyway.
But when Stella takes a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Jamaica, her world gets rocked to the core - not just by the relaxing effects of the sun and sea and an island full of attractive men, but by one man in particular. He's tall, lean, soft-spoken, Jamaican, smells of citrus and the ocean - and is half her age. The tropics have cast their spell and Stella soon realizes she has come to a cataclysmic juncture: not only must she confront her hopes and fears about love, she must question all of her expectations, passions, and ideas about life and the way she has lived it.
Told in Stella's own exuberant, dead-on, dead honest voice, How Stella Got Her Groove Back is full of Terry McMillan's signature humor, heart, and insight. More than a love story, it is ultimately a novel about how a woman saves her own life - and what she must risk to do it.
Synopsis
Marilyn Grimes is a wife, a mother, a sister, and a daughter. Today, she’s decided to make changes in her life, to do something different. Today, Marilyn Grimes has finally decided to be herself. First, she has to find out who that is.
Synopsis
The explosive novel that introduced #1 New York Times bestselling author Terry McMillan-now in a new trade edition.
Synopsis
An exuberant return to the four unforgettable heroines of Waiting to Exhale—the novel that changed African American fiction forever.
Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale was more than just a bestselling novel—its publication was a watershed moment in literary history. McMillan's sassy and vibrant story about four African American women struggling to find love and their place in the world touched a cultural nerve, inspired a blockbuster film, and generated a devoted audience.
Now, McMillan revisits Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine, and Robin fifteen years later. Each is at her own midlife crossroads: Savannah has awakened to the fact that she's made too many concessions in her marriage, and decides to face life single again—at fifty-one. Bernadine has watched her megadivorce settlement dwindle, been swindled by her husband number two, and conned herself into thinking that a few pills will help distract her from her pain. Robin has an all-American case of shopaholism, while the big dream of her life—to wear a wedding dress— has gone unrealized. And for years, Gloria has taken happiness and security for granted. But being at the wrong place at the wrong time can change everything. All four are learning to heal past hurts and to reclaim their joy and their dreams; but they return to us full of spirit, sass, and faith in one another. They've exhaled: now they are learning to breathe.
Synopsis
The classic novel of triumph, revenge, and friendship-now in a premium edition From the critically-acclaimed author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back comes this wise, down-to-earth story of a friendship between four African American women who lean on each other while "waiting to exhale"-waiting for that man who will take their breath away.
Synopsis
New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey returns to the life of Nia Simone Bijou (of Pleasure fame) as she embarks on a quest to enhance her artistic gifts through heightened sensory experience, Hollywood-style. Four years have passed since the events of Pleasure, and Nia’s success as a writer has grown, bringing her from Atlanta to Los Angeles. But she remains on a quest to quiet her inner storm, to draw on her well of emotions and explore them fully before leaving this season of her life and moving on to what could be the next stage: marriage and motherhood.
Drawn to an exclusive pleasure palace, where patrons try on roles as they actively shun their respective realities, Nia’s ability to balance truth and fantasy becomes increasingly blurred. What has happened to the compartments she has so carefully created for the different aspects of her life? Will her relationship with the mysterious, often unavailable Prada survive the countless temptations? Will her successful literary career be given over to impulse indulgence? Does decadence know any bounds?
When Nia’s past comes back to mingle with her present, and when her staid public persona clashes with her fantasy life of decadence, readers will be stunned by the outcome. Eric Jerome Dickey’s newest tale of excess—and its sky-high costs—is a thrilling portrait of a glittering world.
Synopsis
New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey once again “pushes romance and deceit to the next level” (
USA Weekend) in this tantalizing tale of a high-profile marriage rocked by scandal, obsession, and murder.
Screenwriter James Thicke is a man whose mysterious past runs as deep as his violent streak. Now he and his volatile movie star wife, Regina Baptiste, have channeled their passions into an electrifying new project: a film rumored to cross the boundaries of on-screen sexuality. But it’s James’s limits that are about to be tested—by a surreptitiously filmed video of his wife with her co-star Johnny Bergs, in the most comprising of situations. Within hours, it goes viral.
Regina claims she is innocent. But the humiliation and rage leave James with only one recourse—an act of violence that sends him on the run and into hiding. Seething with bitter betrayal, and a still-consuming love for his troubled wife, he nurses a slow-boiling desire for something more permanent: revenge. His need for vengeance takes James and Regina on a headlong odyssey of obsession, sexual impulse, blackmail, and murder. And getting back will be hell.
Synopsis
From the # I New York Times bestselling author
Remember Getting to Happy, Waiting to Exhale, and How Stella Got Her Groove Back? Well, you wont likely forget Terry McMillans Who Asked You? either” (Raleigh News and Observer).
When Who Asked You? begins, Trinetta leaves her two young sons with her mother, Betty Jean, and promptly disappears. BJ already has her hands full dealing with her other adult children, two opinionated sisters, an ill husband, and her own postponed dreamsall the while holding down a job delivering room service at a hotel.
Her son Dexter is about to be paroled from prison; Quentin, the family success, cant be bothered to lend a hand; and taking care of two lively grandsons is the last thing BJ thinks she needs. But who asked her?
About the Author
Terry McMillan is the #1 New York Times bestselling, critically acclaimed, award-winning author of the novels Mama, Disappearing Acts, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, and Getting to Happy, and the editor of Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction. She lives in Los Angeles.