Customer Reviews

Hitts & Mrs.

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's much richer and pleasantly different than most of the love stories out now. The author does a great job of painting a complete picture of the characters--Melanie Hitts wants to be more than just a Mrs., but doesn't think she can be the kind of wife her mother trained her to be. I love her fiance, Will. Finally an author who doesn't bash the brother! Will is gentle and patient (there is a dinner scene in here to die for). He really loves Melanie even when she breaks his heart. And you can feel how much Melanie loves him, even though she runs away. John Carlson is an older, white man who is bored with his job and his life. When he and Melanie get together to work on a hotel you can feel the attraction coming off the page. I've never read a book where the writer managed to capture the chemistry between characters so well. And I've never read a book about a love triangle, where I wanted the woman to be with both men. And when Sharon, John's wife finds out that her man is with a sister,watch out! And Candace, she's the girlfriend we all have. The one we just shake our heads at and love anyway! There are lots of twists and turns in this great story. I give Ms. Bryant-Woolridge 4 stars for her outstanding writing ability and one extra for taking the same old story and giving it a little somthin somthin extra! Highly recommended reading.

HITTS & MRS by Lori Bryant-Woolridge

HITTS & MRS. by Lori Bryant-Woolridge is the story of a young successful African American woman who is torn between her ex-fiancé and her boss. The story sounds simple but it is more complicated than that. Melanie Hitts has just gotten out of her engagement to highly eligible bachelor Will Freedman, feeling that she's being rushed into marriage to a man she has known for only a few months. Her sense of independence has been taken from her, and when she finds out that he has bought them a house as a surprise clinches it for her. The fact that he didn't even consult her on this purchase was enough for her to call the engagement off. And she does this in front of the entire room full of friends and family at their fancy engagement party.

While Will tries to figure out how to win Melanie over again, Melanie moves back to New York City to continue with her highly successful career in interior design. And it's through this job that she meets her soul mate, John Carlson, the head of the internationally known architecture company Carlson and Tuck. Everything would be wonderful if only John was younger, John was not married, and John was black. Melanie doesn't know which is worse, that he's married or that he's the wrong color.

Melanie and John grow together in their platonic relationship, but at the same time Melanie still loves Will. She's never stopped loving him, but she could not marry him under the conditions of their current relationship. Something needs to change. John was everything that Will wasn't, yet both had qualities that satisfied Melanie's needs. With this in mind Melanie wonders if she can have it all, a loving friendship with John and a marriage with Will? As far as she's concerned, there is nothing wrong with that. She's not doing anything wrong, although she and John do love each other, but they have sworn not to push their relationship into the physical.

Although I didn't find this book the perfect book, I am rating HITTS & MRS. 4 stars. I enjoyed the story line and found the book such a fast read that I finished it in two days. Some of the characters didn't' quite ring true for me, including John Carlson's wife Sharon, who I started out liking a lot but had my doubts about some of her actions at the end of the book. The issue of racism obviously comes into play in this book, but it is so subdued and doesn't' really become an issue until the second half of the book that I think it should have either been written in as a main plot line, or not used at all. I would definitely read other books by Lori Bryant-Woolridge and I recommend HITTS & MRS. to those who are fans of romances, African American Lit, or both.

Hitts & Mrs. explores the feasibility of being married and genuinely loving your spouse and another person at the same time. Melanie Hitts is a beautiful, intelligent and ambitious career woman. She loves her job and her beau, Will Freedman. But when their relationship hits a bump, and she finds herself attracted to John, her married white business partner, Melanie is taught important lessons that will have you turning the pages to see what happens next. The fact that Melanie likes John and vice versa is something that is interesting to witness. Their attraction to each other is compelling and the supporting cast helps to richen the plot.

Lori does a fine job using fire-hot, on point relationship analysis, and lively language to explore this unique and refreshing storyline. Hitts & Mrs. is well written, funny, sensual and thought-provoking. For those who want a change of pace and have a strong desire to become emotionally involved in another facet of male-female relationships, this is a highly recommended read.

I started reading Hitts and Mrs and simply could not put it down.
It was a realistic, thought provoking, romantic storyline. It was easy to relate to one or more of the characters and compare their actions to your own possible actions. The book explored various levels of friendship and love and really made me ponder -Where does friendship end and infidelity begin? The interpetations and responses to that seeming simple question can be easy or complex. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I have already recommended it to many of my friends.

I wish this book came in hardcover because I know it is one I will read and reread many,many times. Lori Bryant-Woolridge has written a great love story here. I totally fell in love with Will and was cheering him on as he pursued his woman. At the same time I could understand Melanie's delimma. The author did a wonderful job with painting her into an emotional corner with John. I agree with some of the others, what's so great about it is that it is not the same old stuff we get in books these days. This has alot of substance as well as just being a nice, quick read. Also the author has a really nice writing style. It's smooth and you feel like you're the one experiencing everything. Definitely treat yourself.

Appropriately labeled as "chick lit," Lori Bryant-Woolridge's Hitts & Mrs. is a suspenseful romance of sorts spread out over nearly 400 pages of a grainy plot and inconsistencies. This is a topsy turvy story of Melanie Hitts coming to realize that love doesn't have to suffocate her budding career. Of course, the story wouldn't be complete without Melanie juggling two love interests; the man she is in love with and thinks is her soul-mate, Will Freedman, and the unconventional older man of a different hue whom teaches her how to love, John Carlson. John is married to Sharon Carlson, which makes for a tense situation in the book. Will Melanie and John get caught in their non-physical, but intimate affair? This question alone is what may keep readers struggling to the end of the book.

The true suspense and drama of the plot lies in Candace Bennett, Melanie's best friend and wild child/vixen of the novel. Woolridge's scenes depicting Candace's 'love scenes' with various men are Zane worthy when it comes to how graphic they are. Candace's rags to riches transformation to a hot shot lawyer are also intriguing when it ties into her views on relationships.

The main thing that kept me frustrated with this book was how Woolridge left things hanging when it came to Candace. The story of Melanie ultimately "coming to her senses" concerning her love of Will appeared to be stretched out with meaningless filler of the daily grind of Melanie's career as though Woolridge were trying to make a page quota. I'm not a lover of romance novels which may play a role in my feelings toward this story, but if you're a reader who loves tales of "enchanted love" with a little character development thrown in, you just might find yourself enjoying this book more than I did.

Anna
R.E.A.L. Reviewers

Meet Melanie Hitts, an individual who has been known to turn more than a few heads, not only with her looks but with her talent too. Melanie is in a tangled web and can't decide whether or not to become a Mrs. or remain Ms. Hitts. She managed to get Will Freedman's attention and a marriage proposal. They have a whirlwind relationship that escalates a little too fast for her, as a result she calls off the marriage at the most inopportune time - during the engagement party. Suddenly there is an overwhelming feeling that getting married would impede on her dream to become a top interior designer. Feeling the need to get away from the mess she's made, she moves to New York to follow her dream and attempts to make a name for her in the interior design business.

While in New York, Melanie gets another man's attention. A presentation to one of the top architectural firms tests Melanie's ability to be spontaneous, yet it also gives her an opportunity to strut her stuff and show them what she's working with. While giving the presentation, she meets the head honcho - John Carlson, an older, married white man who manages to ruffle her feathers a little and vice versa. The end result is more than either ever imagined.

There's a (not so obvious) message regarding insecurities people have a tendency to deal with. Sometimes we don't know they exist until someone else brings them to our attention. The people you associate with can either make you or break you. Melanie's relationships proved to bring both fulfillment and disappointment. As a result, she's forced to decide which is most important.

Hitts & Mrs. incorporates a few subplots: Candace (Melanie's best friend) and her inability to keep a "good" man, Sharon (John's wife) and her struggles with voicing her opinions and Amanda (a troubled teen) who has issues with her mother. Bryant-Woolridge almost lost me with some of the subplots but somewhere in the middle managed to save herself and skillfully tie them into the story. In the end, it all worked out and hence the story won my approval.

Reviewed by Esther "Ess" Mays of Loose Leaves Book Review

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down and finished it in 24 hours. Lori Bryant-Woolridge has an easiness to her writing. Her characters were well-developed and more importantly believable. She didn't put them in fantastic and down right senseless situations, she didn't have them agonizing and she didn't have them spew insipid remarks.

Despite the human frailties that she allowed her main characters to have, as a reader you still felt a sense of compassion for them. It was so refreshing to see intelligence and strength in the black female character, Melanie Hitts involved in an interracial relationship with a white man, John Carlson who shared those same characteristics. And although, the conventional attitudes that we are all accustomed to screamed out that the relationship was wrong because he was married, I also felt that little twinge of guilt because I wanted them to get together.

The author skillfully made John and Melanie's relationship so much more than just about sexual attraction. She also gave them a common ground in that they both had souls fuled on creativity. It was also refreshing that the author did not put the old cliches in John Carlson's mouth, of his wife not understanding him etc. which propelled him to look for attention outside of his marriage. There was honesty and dishonesty present at all times in all the characters.

Mrs. Bryant-Woolridge shows how when it comes to love, feelings are not always crystal clear. They are often times quite hazy and very complicated. How can you be in love with two people at the same time but, still the author was able to reveal to the reader that there was never any sense as you read the story that despite the love, mutual respect, adoration, acceptance and sexual attraction John and Melanie had for each other, that John was leaving his wife, Sharon after 24 years of marriage for Melanie. He still loved his wife, he knew what he wanted and where he needed to be.

You also felt that in spite of the love Melanie felt for John, that she would never make him choose. Melanie knew she belonged with Will Freedman. There were twists and turns but in the end everyone ends up in their proper places. The journey with these characters was well worth it. Read this book!

The book raised some thought-provoking points about many issues that are important--especially to African-American women. Topics such as: the importance of career vs. relationships, finding one's identity independent of a man, the definition of a true friend, gaining respect in the workplace, the possibility of a platonic relationship with the opposite sex and of course, interracial dating are all covered in the book. The fact that John and Melanie had a deep, loving, non-sexual relationship helped the highlight the importance of finding the right qualities in the man of your dreams--many which may go beyond race or socio-economic status.

While all of this may sound "heavy" the book moves along smoothly and is a page turner. Great to take on a long weekend away or on a long plane ride! Once you finish, you'll find yourself thinking a lot about what you read.

Melanie Hitts is a woman that has the world by the tail, or does she? In Lori Bryant-Woolridge's, Hits and Mrs., Melanie is engaged to Will, a successful, handsome, caring and considerate man who worships the ground she walks on. At the beginning of the book Melody finds herself at their engagement party making an announcement that she has decided to forego marriage much to Will's embarrassment. Immediately, she leaves Washington, D.C. and rushes off to New York City to pursue a career as an interior designer. When a prominent, Caucasian, and very married architect named John Carlson takes Melanie under his wing, they find themselves sharing more than career interests. As their friendship grows, Melanie must do some soul searching and decide if she will give into the ever persistent Will or into her forbidden desires for John.

Hitts and Mrs. is a well-crafted romantic novel. The characters were believable and the book held my interest from beginning to end. In additin, there were several sub-plots which were well-developed; each exploring relationships on several different levels. Overall, I found Hitts and Mrs. to be witty, exciting and wonderfully entertaining. Bryant-Woolridge does not disappoint.

If you are looking for an enjoyable romantic read, I say do not miss picking-up a copy of Lori Bryant-Woolridge's, Hitts and Mrs.

T. RHYTHM KNIGHT
APOOO BookClub