Customer Reviews

The Company We Keep

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Five star reviews? Are we reading the same book??? Ms. Monroe seems to be falling off the wagon. Her last two books, She had it coming and Deliver us from evil were slow but they were at least completable. I just could not get through this one. A party scene stretched for 10 chapters, a bunch of irrelevant characters and no real plot. I hope she isn't turning into an Eric Jerome Dickey. I was once a huge fan of his but I haven't read any of his work since he's been on that gangster/hit man romance kick. Get this book from the library.

Teri Stewart is a beautiful, intelligent, and tough as nail record company executive. Teri works long and exhausting hours giving her job 110%; leaving no time for a personal life.

Harrison Starr is a handsome, charming, and very popular D.J. who wants Teri, but doesn't want to play second fiddle to her career. Since he cant seem to have her he instead fills his time with every beautiful woman he runs into, but none of them can fill his need for the real thing.

Teri and Harrison continue to run into each other at various parties in their celebrity circle and at each occassion they fight their obvious attraction. In addition to fighting their attraction, Teri is fighting a past flings advances and Harrison is fighting his jealousy of seeing Teri in another man's company.

At some point, Teri and Harrison decide to throw caution to the wind and give it another try but outside forces are working hard at pulling them apart.

The Company We Keep is just a great read. I love that Teri is a strong woman that won't compromise her beliefs. The Company We Keep is one book that I'll definitely read again.

Reviewed by: Robyn Morris, Black Butterfly Review

Being a fan for years awaiting book after book from her, I was very disappointed and couldn't even finish the book. This very boring for what Mary Monroe usually does...

Mary Monroe is one of my favorite authors. This book is good, but not the
page turner I've been accustomed to.

I have come to love and repespect Ms. Monroe for her writings. When I am reading them, I find myself transported into her thoughts, I can visualize the characters and what they are doing as I read along, a gift most writers are simply lacking "now a days". But this novel, makes me question her motives for this publication: A. Did she need a check in a hurry; and B. Was she pressured to produce just anything? This is something I would expect from a novice on their first time out; not someone whose talents has transcended boundries. First off, I purchase Ms. Monroe's books because I enjoy reading and re-reading at my own leisure, several I have read again and again. And two have "grown feet" I might add, causing me to replace them. I hope with this novel she has coming out Aug 25, she brings back (oh, I don't want to sound like a Disney commerical) the magic and the joy (oops, too late) that I and many readers like myself have come to enjoy over the years. "The Company We Keep" is a decent enough read, not enough to encourage me to pass this along to others. Its storyline, plot, and summary are too predictable, and its sounds as if its trying to hard, something a talent like hers never have to strive for. I hope she finds her "muse" soon and return to what she does best.

I've read other stories by Mary Monroe that were great. This was definitely not her best work...sorry!

I am not even half way through and I felt like the relationship between Teri and Nicole reminded me of two high school girls. Their conversations are somewhat adolescent. I have read and enjoyed several books by Mary Monroe and was deeply disappointed in this one. In the chapters that I've read I truly don't understand where Teri is coming from and Nicole is being written so juvenile that it wouldn't make sense for this relationship to endure for over 20 years without her maturing. Maybe someone else can explain what I'm missing. I was raised to be proud of my accomplishments and so are my parents and family members; I'm not understanding the grandparents believing you are miserable if you're not married; doesn't ring true and what's so sad is Teri is buying into it, if she wants a man or a fling have one but stop complaining! Nicole should be written wiser because of the hardships she's had to endure in her personal life. The "white boss" is a stereotype since he's scared of a confident black woman. And I don't know what to say about Harrison except sometimes there is a reason why a person should remain your ex-lover; sometimes you should just reminisce and move on. And maybe it's just me but I could do without oogling over stuff, ie, Jaguar, DNKY or other material things. I like nice stuff as much as the next but it's not that impressive since there are store that sell designer clothing like Ross, TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory. And anybody can lease any kind of car they like; we've all seen the commercials. I'd be happier if the story was better.

I really enjoyed this book and hope that Mary Monroe will do a follow-up. This was a little different from her other books but I still enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and the plot was unique. Her descriptions were so vivid I felt like I was there.

When I see an African American author is a New York Times bestseller, I get excited thinking I'm in for a good read. Unfortunatly this was not the case with this book. This is the only book written by Mary Monroe that I've ever read and it may be the last. It was boring and as someone mentioned before, there was a party scene that lasted for several chapters. The psychic psychiatrist/friend who gave readings at her anniversary party was absurd. There were so many insignificant characters that I became confused. There was very little conflict, didn't really care what ended up happening to the characters at the end of the book. Another thing that really urked me about this book was the way Nicole and Teri spoke. They are supposed to be 28/29 years old, but spoke like (and in many scenes dressed like) women in their 50s. I had to force myself to finish this book.

I have read plenty of Mary Monroe books, but this one I just don't know. When I read the back of the book for the Summary It said Harrison had a secret, hence the title. What was Harrison's secret???