Review by Booklist Review
Stella Payne is a successful 42-year-old investment analyst and divorced mother of an 11-year-old son, Quincy. But Stella has begun to feel that her life needs some "groove." On the spur of the moment, she plans a trip to Jamaica to relax and escape from her routine. She meets a man, half her age, whose honesty and physical charm challenge her perceptions of what is acceptable and force her to rethink and re-prioritize her image of herself and her life. Once she returns from her vacation, she recognizes that her life has only been satisfying because it is what was expected from a woman her age. Stella accomplishes her mission of doing something totally out of character by taking her solo vacation and she succeeds at putting more than just a "groove" back into her life. The stream-of-consciousness narration that is utilized for most of this story is a bit awkward at times. McMillan's style here differs markedly from that of Waiting to Exhale, which brought her much "girlfriend" popularity; yet she just may connect with an untapped readership. (Reviewed April 15, 1996)0670869902Lillian Lewis
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Stella finds love in Jamaica and McMillan racks up another blockbuster; this 21-week PW bestseller is soon to be a motion picture from 20th Century Fox. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Stella is a 42-year-old single mother and successful securities analyst who has all the trappings of the yuppie lifestyle. To find her "groove," she goes to Jamaica-but the Jamaica she visits is at best uninteresting. Nothing here convinces the reader that the island is an exotic vacation spot; McMillan's valiant attempts at describing the countryside are weak, and even Stella's choice of meals consists exclusively of pasta. The author could have done wonders with her character but instead fails woefully. Stella's wide-eyed innocence and naïveté do not match the rest of her persona. She is fraught with contradictions, and her dialog is childish. Even the romance that develops between Stella and Jamaican native Winston is boring and lacking in energy. Readers will find it difficult to become engrossed in the story; this reviewer came away feeling that McMillan rushed and failed to write a worthy follow-up to her popular Waiting To Exhale (LJ 5/1/92). Purchase where there is a demand. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/96.]-Corinne O. Nelson, "Library Journal" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
McMillan (Waiting to Exhale, 1992, etc.) takes it easy with this tossed-together tale of a 42-year-old black, female professional who falls for a young Jamaican cook. The love story provides a suitable frame for the author's trademark charm and credible sense of black middle-class values, but sloppy prose and a single, rather solitary protagonist fail to give readers the synergistic magic of the earlier book. Stella Payne has it all--a charming 11-year-old son, a beautiful house north of San Francisco, and a high-paying job as a financial systems analyst. So why isn't she happy? For three years- -since her divorce from the man who talked her into abandoning her art-furniture business in favor of a more lucrative career--Stella has had no serious love interest in her life. When her son, Quincy, flies off to visit his father, workaholic Stella spontaneously signs up for nine days alone at a resort in Jamaica. The last thing she expects to find is an unquenchable passion for a 20-year-old chef's assistant; on her return home, she discovers that she can't quite relegate her happy thoughts of Winston Shakespeare to the vacation-fling portion of her memory bank. So Stella arranges for Winston to visit her in San Francisco--where the easygoing boy charms her son, her sisters, and her friends, and even talks Stella into dumping the stock exchange and returning to her artist's life. Despite Stella's repeated protests that Winston must be out of his mind, there are few serious barriers to this MayOctober love affair. Long, run-on, train-of-consciousness sentences give the impression less of the characters' mental states than of a hastily written novel. One hopes McMillan will follow her heroine's example and slow down a little on her next book. (First printing of 750,000; serial rights to People and Essence; Book-of-the-Month Club main selection; author tour)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
