703 books
—
506 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Color of Love” as Want to Read:
The Color of Love
by
THE HEART HAS THE ANSWERS WHEN LOVE IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP
Leah Downey was a brilliant young commercial artist moving up fast on the Manhattan career track.
Jason Horn was a street-smart cop getting over a nasty divorce and an even more agonizing personal tragedy.
All the odds said they would never meet. But they did. Everyone they knew said they should break it off before th ...more
Leah Downey was a brilliant young commercial artist moving up fast on the Manhattan career track.
Jason Horn was a street-smart cop getting over a nasty divorce and an even more agonizing personal tragedy.
All the odds said they would never meet. But they did. Everyone they knew said they should break it off before th ...more
Get A Copy
Mass Market Paperback, 398 pages
Published
March 1995
by Penguin Books
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Color of Love,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about The Color of Love
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Color of Love

I REALLY didn't like this book.
I tried to keep an open mind. I really wanted to read a well developed love story. I'd hoped that the interracial dynamic would be thought provoking as well as enlightening. If you, as a reader, are anticipating the same, this is surely not the book for you.
The characters were meagerly developed. They were often one dimensional only one minor character offered any semblance to likeability.
Leah Downey is an attractive Graphic Designer who is plagued with thoughts ...more
I tried to keep an open mind. I really wanted to read a well developed love story. I'd hoped that the interracial dynamic would be thought provoking as well as enlightening. If you, as a reader, are anticipating the same, this is surely not the book for you.
The characters were meagerly developed. They were often one dimensional only one minor character offered any semblance to likeability.
Leah Downey is an attractive Graphic Designer who is plagued with thoughts ...more

I have to say, that I am really glad that I kept my copy of this book all these years. I really enjoyed reading it as a teenager and I thank Kitt for exposing me to interracial romances as a teenager as well. I didn't even know that was a genre til I got older.
In "The Color of Love", Kitt explores an interracial relationship between an African American woman named Leah who is a graphic designer and a white man named Jason, who is a New York City police officer.
Kitt tells the story focusing on n ...more
In "The Color of Love", Kitt explores an interracial relationship between an African American woman named Leah who is a graphic designer and a white man named Jason, who is a New York City police officer.
Kitt tells the story focusing on n ...more

8/9/18: This is a revisit of an IR classic, originally read over 20 years ago.
A lost soul on her doorstep catches Leah Downey's attention, and prompts a show of kindness on her part. Jason Horn's life was rocked by tragedy, and but is thankful that a stranger reached out in his most vulnerable moment. She the softhearted Black artist, him the hard-bitten White cop, on paper they have very little in common. Something is sparking between them, but the reality of the worlds they both inhabit, test ...more
A lost soul on her doorstep catches Leah Downey's attention, and prompts a show of kindness on her part. Jason Horn's life was rocked by tragedy, and but is thankful that a stranger reached out in his most vulnerable moment. She the softhearted Black artist, him the hard-bitten White cop, on paper they have very little in common. Something is sparking between them, but the reality of the worlds they both inhabit, test ...more

My first IR book. I read it many years ago, a checkout from the library. I ended up buying it and I have reread it several times since then. And I rarely EVER reread books. Very sweet story.

I enjoyed reading this book concerning Leah Downey, who is a black graphic artist and white cop, Jason Horn. This book is controversial, not because this is an interracial romance, but that it exposed the love between a white cop and a black professional woman in New York City during the late eighties.
The distrust and polarization between white policemen and non-whites is extremely evident in Leah’s sister and housemate, guile Gail, who is a strong character in this book.
Gail’s verbal attack a ...more
The distrust and polarization between white policemen and non-whites is extremely evident in Leah’s sister and housemate, guile Gail, who is a strong character in this book.
Gail’s verbal attack a ...more

I liked the book but It was more cerebral than romantic . I felt like is was a study in a relationship between a black woman and a white man. This couple were attracted to each other but in this book they were not passionate about each other they just wanted to be together. I felt this was more a story of how society view I/R relationships. To me the book was a good story that explained the hardships the went through because of other people but to me they lacked the passion to make this a great
...more

It was a good story. This was a reality based book of how a real love story could truly be. No hidden billionaires or witches, or electrical first meetings. It's a book of two people who didn't have an explosive beginning, but their love grew over time. Leah was a woman with a secret that stunts her emotionally. She is very passive and introspective. She wasn't overly beautiful, but her personality made her more attractive. Jason, had a very sad event happen in his life that gave him a chance to
...more

It was difficult to be drawn into this acclaimed 1995 interracial romance, in part because the "telling rather than showing" style is so different from most romances being written today, and in part because the heroine is so utterly lacking in self-esteem (and the narrative doesn't present this as a problem to be overcome). Only in part 2, when the protagonists finally start dating, and clumsily try to deal with the prejudice they encounter (and their own biases) did the story begin to interest
...more

Color of Love was the first interracial romance for me where the Black characters were simply complicated human beings with brown skin who had not internalized racism. It's a romance that's simply a good novel about two people and the many obstacles they work to overcome to begin their HEA. I don't usually reread fiction, but I've reread this book more than once (along with Linda Howard's Kill and Tell).
...more

One the first and most emtionally complex contemporary interracial lovestories published. I hope it's reissued soon. I reread periodically. It has unique and engaging characters with more in common than the issue of race
...more

Sep 21, 2010
Sonya
added it
Awesome book. I re-read this book all the time!

I finished this long ass read in two days. Take that as you will. It definitely was drama filled and interesting. I don't like when a character has no backbone. I understand and fully believe that you must forgive and move forward. That being said, I don't know of any woman who would just go along with the regularly scheduled program after finding out she was betrayed in the worst way by someone so close to her. That entire situation was totally unrealistic to me. I darn near put the book down i
...more

This bar none, is the best love story I've ever read, be it interracial or otherwise. All of Sandra Kitt's books are amazing, but this one - the first - is in my opinion the best. I so wanted this book to be made into a movie back in the day. I pictured Anika Noni Rose and Tom Berenger as to two stars to play them. He's too old for the part now but I think Brad Pitt would do nicely.
I find myself re-reading this book every few years when I long for a realistic romance involving a professional bla ...more
I find myself re-reading this book every few years when I long for a realistic romance involving a professional bla ...more

Since this was written more than 20 years ago the social pressures against Leah and Jason’s relationship were a bit dated but the insights into their feelings made it seem like a contemporary romance. There was a foreboding sense of suspense throughout the story that led up to a dramatically emotional ending. I just wish it had included some sort of epilogue with a glimpse into their future.

This book was a decent book. The love sorry was interesting but I didn’t like the authors negative view of black men. She was necessarily down right hateful but every black man mentioned in the book had some negative spin.
The black man she was dating was selfish in bed and left every time afterwards. He ended up cheating on her with her sister....
The white mans partner apparently cheated on his wife.
The black youth was either violent, misogynistic, verbally abusive or criminal minded.
It wasn’t ...more
The black man she was dating was selfish in bed and left every time afterwards. He ended up cheating on her with her sister....
The white mans partner apparently cheated on his wife.
The black youth was either violent, misogynistic, verbally abusive or criminal minded.
It wasn’t ...more

Didn't look at the published date of this book when I started it so I didn't realize it wasn't a newer release. Jason is a white vietnam vet and cop who meets african american graphic designer Leah on the night of a tragedy. Months later he comes back to introduce himself to the woman who was kind to him. Leah is well aware of how her family and society will react to a black woman dating a white cop but Jason is forced to confront a life/occupation of white priviledge when they start getting ser
...more

I read Ms. Kitt's novel when it was released in print. THE COLOR OF LOVE is so compelling that I still remember every detail all of these years later. That novel caused me to do a marathon read of all of Ms. Kitt's novels. Occasionally, I will re-read THE COLOR OF LOVE and I still have the same reaction. I miss Ms. Kitt's voice in this literary wasteland so much that I started writing novels for my own pleasure. Yet, I still want to hear her voice.
Ann Jeffries, Author ...more
Ann Jeffries, Author ...more

Thought this was going to be a love story. It's not...
...more

Great read. Didn't want to put down. I thought I knew the ending, but there was a twist. Thanks Sandra I look forward to reading more of your books.
...more

I read this book a very long time ago. A time when i was actually dating a white cop. Very sweet read though my story didn't end with a HEA. Haha
...more

Leah Downy has been through a lot in her life. Hiding from life in a relationship based more in convenience than love; existing in the shadow of her vibrant and opinionated sister Gail, and still suffering the effects of a mugging.
When she meets Jason Horn, she has no idea what to make of the attractive white man with the sad, haggard eyes.
What she does know is, that the more that she tries to ignore him...the harder ignoring him becomes.
The story, characters, and plot are all run-of-the-mill go ...more
When she meets Jason Horn, she has no idea what to make of the attractive white man with the sad, haggard eyes.
What she does know is, that the more that she tries to ignore him...the harder ignoring him becomes.
The story, characters, and plot are all run-of-the-mill go ...more

I've read a lot of interracial romance books in my time. Normally, I really like them. This one, not so much. I just don't think you have to make the Black guy in the book a bad person. By having him be an arse to Jason, that's exactly what Ms. Kitt did...not to mention the affair with Leah's sister.
Why is it that Leah wasn't angrier at her sister and the arse? I mean, yeah...blood is thicker than water, but Gail did everything in her power to steal Leah's man and then gets pissy for Leah datin ...more
Why is it that Leah wasn't angrier at her sister and the arse? I mean, yeah...blood is thicker than water, but Gail did everything in her power to steal Leah's man and then gets pissy for Leah datin ...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Sandra Kitt is the author of more than twenty novels, including The Color of Love, Significant Others, and Close Encounters, as well as numerous short stories.
Her work has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award and has appeared on theEssence and Blackboard bestseller lists. She is the recipient of the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award.
A native N ...more
Her work has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award and has appeared on theEssence and Blackboard bestseller lists. She is the recipient of the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award.
A native N ...more
Related Articles
Sally Thorne, author of The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine, explores what it means to take risks for love, and for yourself, in her newest...
101 likes · 11 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“He”
—
0 likes
“He didn’t want his children to be angry and black, but black and well prepared.”
—
0 likes
More quotes…