Customer Reviews

White Coat Fever: A novel

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Author Roland S. Jefferson has written a novel that not only takes us through a little history from the 1960s era, but shows us that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

September was ready to become the young lady that being a debutante and a high school graduate signified that she would be. Along with this new transition in her life, September also wanted to become a woman by taking her relationship with Bennyboy to an intimate level beyond the friendship they shared since September was a child.

Going away to Wisconsin on a full scholarship for nursing, while Bennyboy and his best friend, Perry, headed for Howard University to finish medical, school created a distance that September was not ready for. Taking Bennyboy's lack of attention for a possible new relationship gave her the prompting needed to experience life outside of what September was accustomed to in Los Angeles concerning racial tension, rights and the overall treatment of Negro people, as they were called in the 60's.

While September involved herself in fighting for rights for Blacks in the South, Bennyboy lost himself in a very beautiful woman, Aiyana, who left her college to attend Howard to be close to him with an agenda of her own. Perry warned Bennyboy of Aiyana's initial intentions, but Bennyboy was swept up in her beauty and ignored all the signs of who Aiyana really was.

In spite of the fact that September had become a totally different person, taking risks that surprised her parents and friends, she and Bennyboy had a connection that could not be denied. What, if anything, would become of their friendship? Will Bennyboy continue to see Aiyana despite Perry's warnings? After all, a lot of women wanted to date and ultimately marry a doctor in those days.

There is so much more to White Coat Fever, but it is truly a story that lets us see that there is nothing new under the sun. Same thing, it just happens on a different day. I found myself humming, "she got white coat fever" to the tune of Jungle Fever from Spike Lee's movie. I enjoyed the story because it could have been written in the present and readers could still relate. I recommend this book to those who enjoy a history lesson, romance and a little mystery.


Review by Sharel E. Gordon-Love
APOOO BookClub

August Book of the Month


White Coat Fever is a condition that many college women in the sixties could have been easily diagnosed with. Some would easily undermine their own intellectual abilities in order to land a man bound to be a successful doctor. It didn't matter which kind or even if they were already married. Nuptials were simply a minor snag in the plans for many women who were not beneath sharing a man, if it meant in the long run there was a chance to be the next in line to marry him. Some were even sent off to school with enough money for one semester and orders to return home as a doctors wife. While this book is based in the sixties it has you wondering if White Coat Fever still exist and if it does, are the roles the same or have they been reversed.

I really enjoyed this story. I expected it to be a love story. It was so much more. The character development was amazing! I could see the events as they unfolded before me. It was a period book in the sixties. It follows the lives of three friends from the summer of their graduation from college and high school respectively thru the next four years. The underlying theme is white coat fever and how deathly ill it can make someone.

I really enjoyed how the author vividly describes the time period. I could feel the fear during the civil rights movement. I felt September's love for Bennyboy and her disappointment in her first relationship.

During our meeting I could tell that the author, Dr. Roland Jefferson, was a really nice person. He genuinely wanted our feedback as a book club. He was even gracious enough to tell us about other authors he enjoyed reading. I must say Dr. Jefferson has been my favorite author that has visited with RWA. I didn't want to stop our discussion with him.

Many members of our club agreed that the only thing we didn't like about this book was that there wasn't a sequel, hopefully after our meeting he will reconsider and make this a series.

Reviewed by:
Courtney Owens
[...]

White Coat Fever is not one of those books you start reading, put down and come back to later. Jefferson draws you into the story immediately and refuses to release you until the very last page. The characters are rich and the setting - well if you experienced the 60's you'll feel as if you're part of the story and catch yourself looking for your place in history. The novel rings true on so many levels. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. Perhaps best of all, it will make you think.

September Johnson grew up under an African-American noblige society in 1960s Los Angeles. In her world, September was destined to marry her debutante escort Bennyboy after she completed nursing school in Wisconsin and he completed medical school at Howard in D.C. But when distance and self-discovery change their priorities, will they find themselves back to each other before Aiyana Crawford, a woman sick with white coat fever, changes their lives?

Jefferson writes a compelling cinematic family saga. However, it was challenging in spots, particularly on the part of Aiyana. Although her purpose was obsviously to be the catalyst that draws September and Bennyboy apart, she becomes this gender stereotypical witch/puppet master who makes them do what she wants them to do until some miracle revelation by the hero forces him to change his mind about her. The story would have had more depth if the novel explored September and Bennyboy's own personal challenges and self-discoveries that drew them apart instead of focusing more on the gold-digger than the two main characters we want to root for.

Moreover, the way in which this book was written made it hard to care about Bennyboy and September. What was September's motivation? What was her conflict? What universal appeal about her would make a reader care about her? Although she was physically described very well, where was her heart? I really wanted to care what happened to her, but I couldn't. The story was written as if she was in a glass box, and for a reader we need to experience and feel for September.

Overall, White Coat Fever by Roland S. Jefferson had great potential to be a lovely romance, but as I said before, there was something off with the character's story arc. I believe this story is great for readers who like Norma Jarrett's Sweet Magnolia, Dedra Jackson's Sandrines Letter to Tomorrow and Walter Mosley's The Man in My Basement.

Reviewed by Dee Stewart for Urban Reviews

September Jackson, boldly marked by her midnight dark skin and blazing green eyes, is a young woman on the brink of an emergence into her own definition of love, life, and happiness. Raised within the sheltered walls of affluence and prestige in 1960's Los Angeles, she holds a sense of naivety and innocence that adds to her allure and charm. September's budding romance with lifelong friend, Bennyboy is one that has taken a hold of her life with gripping conviction. But when the aspiring nurse ascends on her educational journey at the University of Wisconsin, Bennyboy's lackadaisical communication efforts leave the door open for her to discover a new purpose for life that has less to do with adolescent love and more to do with civil rights and becoming a voice for "the movement". Although September and Bennyboy sustain an irrefutable connection throughout the years, new love and life is in store for both of them in the near future.

Bennyboy and his best friend, Perry Mott, travel from black upper class L.A. to Howard University for medical school. When his romance with September eventually fades due to distance and a shift in priorities, Bennyboy becomes an attractive target for young women with "White Coat Fever". Despite Perry's relentless warnings about predatory women desperate to marry a young doctor on the rise, Bennyboy finds himself lost in a whirlwind of a relationship with the beautiful Aiyana Crawford. Aiyana, a spoiled-rotten rich girl on the prowl, will do whatever it takes to secure her future as a doctor's wife. Blinded by her beauty, her new boyfriend is oblivious to how far her desperation and determination will take her. Just what will it take for Bennyboy to open his eyes and see the truth for what it is?

Roland Jefferson's WHITE COAT FEVER is a riveting coming of age tale filled with charismatic characters that tell an electrifying story of love, friendship, and emerging identity. With a compelling combination of romance, suspense, drama, and tragedy, this story had me enthralled from the beginning. Once the plot began rolling, it continued to pick up speed until the explosive climax and the cliffhanger ending. The Civil Rights Movement served as an appropriate backdrop to this story as the country's painful but undeniable emergence into racial equality and integration, represented the growth and maturation of the three college students. I applaud Jefferson for creating such an enticing novel and I recommend this enjoyable read to anyone who is looking for a well-written, character-driven story with a suspenseful twist.


Reviewed by Monique D. Mensah
for The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

Here we go again into the diversity within the African American community on "one-up-manship." This is an exploration of some stereotypes regarding status and the definition of the concepts that delineate it.

"White Coat Fever" examines the motive of college students bound with the agenda of becoming the spouse of a doctor as a way to assure economic stability. Social climbing is equated with a death march regardless of the advancing awareness in the change of ideology in the role of the African American in America during the sixties in the wake of the civil rights movement.

The relationship of three childhood friends through maturity is challenged by "shades of Blackness," which determines and predestines outcomes and expectations predicated on conceived prescriptions of good or bad based upon genetic traits in the AA community. This is an expose into some standing prejudices within the race without consideration of the source or authentication of the prejudice or the truth with the power to produce cohesion or alienation among friends.

"White Coat Fever" is an excellent read. The significance of the underlying motives and the conflicts produced played out vividly and well among three friends and indicates how a single issue produced diverse perceptions and behaviors. I enjoyed the time and skill needed to integrate the plot incidents within the historical context. It oscillates between the comic and the tragic. Easily recommendable.


Reviewed by: Gail

Hard to put this book down! Very detailed plot with lively characters who portray the characteristics of real people! This book will make women think twice before marrying doctors because like celebrities, doctors have a loyal groupie club! If you would like a history lesson, this is the book to read, as Dr. Jefferson provides intricate details surrounding American History intermingled with high class Afro-American society, and page-turning, provocative, neurotic scandal! Not only is Dr. Jefferson an author but a doctor! What better novel to read about doctors and the scandals they endure other than a novel written directly from a doctor! You will learn the background of each character and are a fly on the wall observing their lives. I will be buying the sequel and so should you! Also, I met the author himself and had my book signed by him at his signing in Las Vegas! Here is how to calculate the value of this book:
Mandalay Bay Hotel Stay: $2,000
Slot Machines: $500
Dinners/Buffets: $800
Souvenirs: $100
Plane Ticket: $1500
White Coat Fever Book value: $25 + Author's Presence and Signature in the book= PRICELESS!!!!

ENJOY!!!!

White Coat FeverA work of art! Once I started reading the novel, I was drawn and couldn't get enough. All of Jefferson's novels are like that - I couldn't put the book down. The story line in White Coat Fever was great, it reminded me of what we went through back in the 1960's. Perry was slow growing on me - I "thought" he was going to be a "DOG" but in spite of his looks and his interaction with "some women", his principles proved him to be a "loyal friend". Aiyana was something else! The author has a vivid imagination and it is obvious that he does extensive research before creating his novels.

This book was amazingly good. The character development was unbelievable!! It made me understand loving unconditionally, in a new light. I loved the way it was a period piece that took us through the civil rights movement as if we were there. I liked the way we got to see a piece of the doctor's world, and the women that are so desperate to marry them.I did not want to put it down it was so engrossing. Light, yet character development that is unrivaled.

Doctors are rich, powerful, and important, and huge attractors of women. "White Coat Fever" is the story of four individuals in 1960s middle America as they try to find love and more importantly fortune. Following two women in search of their romance or at very least their meal ticket and two doctors, one with lecherous leanings and one with a shaky past. "White Coat Fever" is an intriguing and enthralling read set in the civil rights era, highly recommended.