From Publishers Weekly
The husband and wife authors of Love Don't Live Here Anymore team up for another look at contemporary African-American relationships. Busy, uncompromising Zaria Chance has raised her son, James, and her daughter, Jasmine, without help from their no-account jailbird father. Now that she's comfortably settled in suburban Teaneck, N.J., with a job in a college bursar's office, the last thing she's looking for is another man to mess up her life. When Kenneth Roman, a social studies teacher concerned about James's bad behavior in the classroom, comes butting in, Zaria tells him precisely what he can do with his advice-while secretly checking out his basketball coach physique. Romantic sparks fly, but Kenneth somehow neglects to tell Zaria about his four-year-old daughter, Lane. As his feelings for Zaria grow, it only gets harder to explain. The too-thin plot hinges unconvincingly on this flimsy complication, which could easily be cleared up. The novel could also stand to lose 50 pages-Zaria's feisty monologues become repetitive. Yet for the most part, these sharp-tongued, intelligent protagonists crackle with life. Millner and Chiles round out the cast with spicy secondary characters like Zaria's drama queen sister, Mikki (heroine of Love Don't Live Here Anymore), and a host of kibbitzing colleagues and friends, creating a textured portrait of the suburban community. The discussions of African-American social issues can be heavy-handed, but Millner and Chiles's entertaining-and instantly recognizable-portrait of two stubborn singles should keep readers satisfied.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Millner and Chiles expose love and its hardships in a sequel to their successful debut,
Love Don't Live Here Anymore [BKL Ja 1 & 15 02], which was about a couple, Mekhi Chance and Randy Murphy. In this new novel, Mekhi's sister, Zaria Chance, is a single mom raising two children. Her life is comfortable until she encounters the well-liked teacher-coach Kenneth Roman. She enters his classroom to discuss her son, and the meeting ends disastrously. They agree to meet again. This time good sparks fly. The test of their relationship comes when Kenneth is caught in a lie of omission. He sets out to win her forgiveness and is challenged by the lengths he has to go through. Events are told in the successful characteristic style of Millner and Chiles of presenting alternating views from the male and female characters, and the novel is another humorous and emotional tale about relationships.
Lillian LewisCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved