Terry McMillan may be one of my favorite authors but this novel falls very short of what I expected from her. After having recently re-read Waiting to Exhale, the bar was set high as I anxiously turned the pages waiting to read a passage or something to happen in the story line that would make me laugh out loud or grin sheepishly at her creativity in bringing the lives and friendship of Black women to life. It never happened.

The book wasn't horrible. It just never resonated with me. The funny conversations as a group, or even the self evaluations dripping with truth, humor and pain that touched me in WTE, didn't so much as prick me in Getting to Happy.

I was also saddened at many of the love stories presented in the book. The demise of Marvin, and Bernadine's second husband, just didnt add up. Nor did Robin's eventual jump into love.

One of my book club members surmised that I didnt enjoy the book because I couldn't identify with 50 year old menopausal women, but not identifying with characters has never prevented me from falling in love with a novel. I fell in love with Waiting to Exhale at 12 years old, and again at 19 years old, at a time when I shared no common ground with Bernadine, Robin, Gloria, or Savannah.

A few things never connected to me: Bernadine's addiction to pills, when in WTE she had an extremely strong disdain for them; Robin becoming docile and celibate, allowing her teenaged daughter to essentially run her love life, when in WTE nothing could calm her attitude or her escapades in the bedroom, not even her fathers battle and subsequent death from alzheimers; Tarik's particular career being overshadowed by his original obsession and life long dream in WTE: music...the list goes on. Savannah and Gloria did seem to stay true to their original characterizations, though, which made me happy.

Also the book seemed to be weighed down by the current events of 2005, beating us over the head with the fact that the book did not take place in 2010. I understood that before I even started the book. The last thing I needed were tidbits about Hurricane Katrina, interest in Obama prior to his bid for president, and other such facts that didnt quite fit in with the storyline.

One book member commented that it is quite obvious that McMillan wrote this sequel with only the subsequent movie in mind. I am inclined to agree. It may not have moved me in literary form, but this story has the potential to do well on the big screen.

I still love her, though. Just not this particular book...autographed copy and all.