Pulled No Punches!!
This book, this author and her wickedly creative mind pulled no punches and aimed straight for the jugular. There was no out, no relief, just straight up conflict of interest that was straight up foul and bogus at times but darn her (Nia Forrester) for totally making me "get" and understand this unsavory and unsettling come up for love. I can attest to Nia's giftedness because for one, I have long struggled with interracial relationships and in particular the black man/white woman combo. Black women are often the least desired, the last selected, objectified and criticized more harshly than our contemporaries. It hurts when the very men that we have loved, nurtured, supported, and sacrificed for is not more intentional about covering us. Secondly, as a married women, I abhor infidelity because the collateral damage is so great that it's quite difficult to recover.
Here's where Nia's skills shine. I felt for Mel. This beautiful white woman had been a great mate to Bryan but he's not feeling the deep love for her anymore (insert: eye roll and sigh). She went to great lengths to not only understand his world views but support them. I, the pro black love advocate felt that Melanie deserved better than what she received from Bryan. He was foul and she just may have let him off the hook too easily. The other sign of Ms. Forrester's master craftsmanship, although wrong from every angle that you look at it, I totally got and understood Bryan and Blu's great love, affection, and passion for each other. Yes, they could have denied it and themselves but that would have been ever more tragic.
I appreciate this book because sometimes affairs are not as cookie cutter as we may think. Sometimes it really is unrequited love or discovering a love that nurtures and supports you in a way that previous versions did not. Sometimes the answers are not obvious and makes no sense but it's impossible to let go of once you encounter. This book messed with my every sensibility and left me thinking and mulling over these themes p long after the last page. Now that's some good writing!