Between Friends [Paperback]

Sandra Kitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Two women, one African-American, one white, have been the best of friends since childhood, having grown up together in the same neighborhood. When they attend the funeral of a mutual friend, they both fall in love with the deceased's brother, testing the boundaries of their friendship as well as their mutual love for one man.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In a stunning opening scene that is so terrifyingly real that it will send shudders through most readers, Kitt sets the toneAand the theme-for her latest mainstream romance. Typical of her recent books (e.g., Significant Others, Onyx, 1996), it explores the issues of interracial friendships and romantic relationships, prejudice, and cultural and personal identity while spinning a good love story in the process. Intense, thoughtful, and sensual, this story of a biracial heroine, an illegitimate hero, and their respective best friends and families raises questions that are important, compelling, and occasionally uncomfortable and offers realistic resolutions that will leave readers both hopeful and satisfied. Kitt is one of the best-known African American romance writers and lives in the New York City area.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Signet; 1St Edition edition (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451191846
• ISBN-13: 978-0451191847
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,815,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starts in the Beginning; Ends with a Beginning...., May 12, 2005

By 

Jacelya Jones "Quantum Being" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Between Friends (Paperback)

This book is one about being lost and subsequently found: there is lost identity and found acceptance; there is lost life and found family; there is lost respect and found dignity; there is lost history and found truth. In BETWEEN FRIENDS, people who have lost their way manage to find their way back and teach the reader about the differences between looking and seeing or hearing and listening.

Another record was set with BETWEEN FRIENDS. I read it in 11 hours. To summarize: print journalist, Dallas Oliver is a person who has had a hard time and been made better because of her trials. Because of being perceived as a Black person, she has been vilified and victimized. Because of being perceived as `not Black enough,' she has been ostracized and criticized. Ex Navy SEAL, Alex Marco can understand Dallas' feelings of isolation, shame and confusion as a poor kid from Brooklyn and illegitimate son. And when Alex intervenes to protect a young Dallas, a foundation is laid for a connection that no amount of time apart can erode.

If you are expecting a traditional romance, then I think you might not be pleased with BETWEEN FRIENDS. It is, in the final analysis, a story that explores a bond between two people-and amorphous feeling of connectedness and intimacy between them. While there are very steamy love scenes, many of them may not feature the characters that you might hope or expect. For me, this did create a sense of...dissatisfaction as I reflected upon the book.

It doesn't quite make sense to me (although there is an attempt to clear this up toward the end of the book) that Alex becomes...`distracted' by another woman during much of BETWEEN FRIENDS. "What he wanted and what he got seemed to keep missing each other []" Sandra Kitt writes. Alex, by his own admission was getting "...only some of what he wanted []" with the other woman. And yet, he doesn't make a direct beeline for Dallas. This troubles me.

He had been fascinated with Dallas, had felt some strong emotion for her in the aftermath of fulfilling her teenage proposition, and felt protective and intensely close to her upon meeting her again as an adult. It is clear that he found her attractive, easy to talk to and was ostensibly unaffected by her perceived Blackness.... Why then, would he start something with another woman? With her friend.

On the other hand, Dallas has her own unfinished business to sort through when her childhood protector comes back on the scene. This is maybe what helps keep the reader `distracted' from what could fester into true disappointment with the book. And though the soulmates in this book spend too much time apart for my tastes, I was satisfied that the book ends up with the lovers on the precipice of a completely new relationship.

Also, Dallas is a wonderful example of feminism-a woman trying to be what she wants to be and do what she wants to do without being punished for making choices or being barred from making those choices. Maybe feminism isn't the word: she lives to find a way to be who she is-both Black and White, a woman, a professional-without being boxed in by others' expectations of her.

And I think that Kitt is trying to press the envelope regarding prejudice coming from any group of people...against any person. Any person who says that "all Black women" or "all" anything should act and think and look and talk in certain kinds of ways is trying to lay a top-down model of their options on them.

Maybe because of what Dallas refers to as an expectation to pull `double duty,' she is probably one of the only characters to accept that the violence she has endured, the losses she has racked up, who she should love and whether she is a good writer has nothing to do with her skin color or hair texture. She seems to be well aware that good and bad actions and beliefs come from people of all colors.

Liked it A lot, But I Could See Why Others Might Not.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is about two friends testing their relationship., November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Between Friends (Paperback)

I feel this book was very good because it really has a person wondering about friendships and relationships between friends & lovers, and is it worth the testing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Friends and Lovers, June 18, 2004

By 

Desiree (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Between Friends (Paperback)

Sandra Kitt did it again with another great book. Alex and Dallas are such great characters and they're so good together. I thought it only natural that they end up together. He's been with her through some of her toughest times and he's truly the bestest friend she's ever had. Dallas helped Alex to realize his worth while Vin continued to deny him the love he always wished to receive. Valerie really pissed me off. I thought she was fake,rude,insecure, and Dallas deserved a better friend than her. All in all, from start to finish, you'll want to read more of this book.