Customer Reviews

My Daughter's Boyfriend: A Novel

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I can not understand how reviewers gave this book four and five stars. I do understand that this author has many friends in the African-American literary world so that may be a reason for so many good reviews. Just read her acknowledgments pages, I can't believe out of all the wonderful authors she named, no one had the guts to tell her to go back to the lab with this one. The subject of this novel accomplished what it set out to do, and that's make the audience curious. How would Tracey try to justify sleeping with her teenage daughter's boyfriend? That's where it ends, with that question. Once you start reading this book you'll have no definitive answers because the characters have no depth, you will not be sympathetic to their plight.

Tracey made me sick, she didn't have a lick of sense. She ran behind one man to the point of stalking and then took her daughter's man with absolutely no regard for her daughter's feelings whatsoever. How are we as readers supposed to empathize at all with this woman? The plot was long and drawn out with unbelievable situations. As dumb as Tracey and Aaron were with their so called "sneaking" around, someone would have found out about them much sooner.

The best character was Regis Collier and she's the reason I gave the book two stars instead of one. Unfortunately, you only got to read a little bit about her. I was able to stomach the "Lauren" chapters but whenever I saw "Tracey" or "Aaron" as the chapter headings I knew I would read really fast. I don't know how I finished this book but I did.

I can not in good conscience say buy this book, it's better off borrowed.

I was ready to really get into some serious character development with this one, but I was sadly mistaken. Yes the sex scene between the 30 something woman and 20 something man lived up to what you would expect. But nobody's character was well-defined enough to make me understand the whys behind the relationship. I didn't LIKE any particular character in this book. And at one point I was actually just wishing that the daughter would hurry up and find out so we could move on from the "made-up" drama. I thought this was a great idea for a book, but the dialogue, lack of character development and lack of a male/female relationship that you could actually root for just made me quickly read this book and put it in my "never to be touched again" category.

I thought this was a great storyline! The story of a mother sleeping with her daughter's boyfriend can be a juicy and sensational tale in the hands of the right writer. Unfortunately, for me at least, this author does not show that capability.

The problems to me began with the poor character development. It's difficult to believe and understand a mother actually doing this, but this is fiction. To make it believable in fiction, the mother's motivation or her thinking as to why should be shown. This was not the case. It wasn't shown why this mother would choose to do something uncharacteristic of a loving mother. Also, the mother's behavior seemed so juvenile. The boyfriend's character was very inconsistent. One moment he's wise beyond his years, the next moment he's calling the distraught daughter the B word and locking her outside in the rain. Just very inconsistent.

Some of the scenes were dragged out way to long, past the point of anything happening. And I got so tired of going through the daughter packing and going to the airport so many times. Made it seem like page fillers. And the author TELLS you everything that happens instead of allowing the readers to experience and discover. In a lot of places, settings are actually described in book report fashion as if there is no capability for bringing setting out through description or dialogue. This is usally typical of self-published writers.

In telling the story, the author tries too hard to be clever and a lot of the analogies and metaphores used just come off as corny and dumb. The story was choppy and did not have a smooth flow because it seemed like she was trying to write like someone else or for others rather than her own style. It just didn't flow. The dialogue was sometimes silly and very amateurish. For instance, the characters used each others names quite often when speaking and real conversation doesn't go that way. Personally, I find that annoying.

I'm slightly disappointed because the author is a reviewer and I enjoy her reviews and her site. But apparently, writing and crafting a good story isn't as easy as it seems. I would still support any book she puts out though because she's a great supporer of african american books. When writing reviews though, I have to be honest about what I really though regardless of who the author is.

I have to agree with the other reviewers who found this book to be dull trash. The mother's actions went beyond selfish lust- in some ways she was downright cruel and abusive. For instance, she plotted with Aaron to have her daughter dumped around Christmas. Further, when the daughter found out about the affair, Tracey (the mother) told her that given the fact that Aaron dumped her- she must not have been keeping him happy.

I knew that the plot was going to be risque- hence why I bought the book- however, I didn't realize how gross it would be! It would have been one thing if Tracey was sleeping with Aaron AFTER he broke up with her daughter, but Tracey began sleeping with Aaron while he was still dating (and presumably making out) with her daughter. Something about that is not right.

The writing was horrible! It seemed at times as though the author was trying to imitate Zane novels- which are horrible as well.

All in all, if the writing of Zane appeals to you- then by all means buy the book. If not, check out R.M. Johnson's books.

Tracey is a single black woman who has raised her daughter by herself. She became pregnant as a teenager. Her daughter Lauren is now 17 years old and has a boyfriend named Aaron. Tracey has encouraged her daughter to wait before having sex. Tracey keeps telling her daughter what happen to her Tracey when she was a teenager. Within a couple pages of the book the tables are turn and Tracey finds herself being attracted to her daughter's boyfriend and he also too is attracted to her.From then on the book shows Tracey contemplating if to follow up on her attraction or to stay away from him. She eventually makes the decision to be with Aaron after her relationship with her boyfriend Steve fell through. She feeling hurt and wounded felt that if Aaron was willing to show her love she would let him. The book is narrated by the three main characters Aaron, Tracey and Lauren. To me this book started out interesting and thought provoking but i felt the writer dragged it on and on for many pages when she could have come to a conclusion long before she did okay read.

This book is about a mother, daughter, and a boyfriend. Tracy has a seventeen year old daughter that she has been preaching to forever and a day about not becoming a statistic and trashing her future by becoming a teen mom. Tracey is preaching but she sure ain't practicing it. She gets dumped and her self-esteem is so low that she slithers down and steals her daughter's boyfriend. Just plain unforgiveably trifling. I was very disappointed with the book, but I'm really not too surprised especially with the title and the subject. Can you say "My mom's a Ho?"

I thought I was about to read something good. Instead, I read something long, boring and redundant. Don't bother with this one. Instead, read THE HOTTEST SUMMER EVER KNOWN. It's a hot new urban tale that'll have you on the edge of your seat.

The only thing good about this book was the premise of a good story line. I was thoroughly disappointed by the lack of character development, poor dialogue, and just poor writing in general. It seemed like the writing was supposed to be an imitation of good books that are out there, however, without basic storytelling skills. I wanted to throw the book. Not because of the actions of the characters because usually that's a good thing. That means the characters seemed real and were well developed. But I wanted to throw it because the book wasted a perfectly good storyline through lack of development. This story should still be under construction to be fully developed later. I'm highly upset and disappointed. I bought the hardcover.

This book was absolutely terrible. The plot was ok and kept my glued to the book but the situations were too unbelievable. Why would a mother do this to her daughter and then after the daughter finds out she keeps doing it? She's more concerned with her own lust for this boy then about her daughter? The sex scenes were explicit but I couldn't wrap my imagination around them. There were too many characters and too much unneccesary dialouge. The author was trying too hard at times. At one point in the book I thought the mother was pregnant but the book didn't hold my attention enough for me to actually find out. The ending was terrible right along with the rest of the book. I'm a avid reader and gives respect when respect is due but this was a terrible novel, a waste of money and time. I won't be buying another novel from this author.

If I were required to use only one word to describe this book, it would be `disturbing'.
MY DAUGHTER'S BOYFRIEND by Cydney Rax is written in the voices of the three main characters caught up in an unsettling love triangle. Tracey Davenport, single mother to Lauren gets involved with Aaron -- Lauren's 20-something boyfriend.

At 17, Lauren is a good kid and follows all rules, despite her mother's `do as I say, not as I do' attitude. She is contemplating taking the next step with Aaron, by giving herself completely to him. Even though they only have been going out for a little more than a few months, she truly loves him, and he is the first real boyfriend she's had. Her mother feels as though she should wait, as she doesn't want her only daughter to get pregnant at such a young age the way she did.

Tracey's relationship rap sheet isn't a good one. Every guy she's been involved with has dropped her like a hot potato. But with Steven, she felt that this time, she'd struck gold. No man has ever made her feel so loved before, and she thinks that he is definitely "the one". Unfortunately, that relationship suffers the same fate as the ones before, leaving Tracey feeling dejected, unwanted and unloved.
In Aaron she finds something different. Though he is young in age, his actions speak volumes, and his attentiveness soothes her broken heart. She finds this young man to be more understanding, sensitive and extremely mature. Before we know it, Aaron and Tracey are caught in a whirlwind of emotions, secretly meeting and being together behind Lauren's back.

I could not stand Tracey. She was selfish, needy and above all CRAZY!!!! What kind of mother would do the things she did to her child? She disgusted me, and even though she started to find herself in the end, I couldn't get past the resentment I had towards her as the reader.

Although I found this book to be very real and poetically written, there were parts of the story that were left to hang in the balance. Like what ever happened to Tracey's best friend Indira? Why wasn't the fall of Tracey's relationship with her own mother ever discussed further? Why didn't we get Tracey's view on how her relationship with Lauren was progressing after the Mother-Daughter retreat they attended? Also, I was hoping that Derrick (Lauren's biological father) would sweep Tracey off her feet and they would end up getting together. He was so sweet, and I was rooting for him the whole time.

Overall I give it 3 ½ stars. Not bad for a debut novel that verbalizes an unfortunately realistic subject.