Hitts & Mrs.

Rating:
Summary: One big miss . . .
Review: Appropriately labeled as "chick lit," Lori Bryant-Woolridge's Hitts & Mrs. is a suspenseful romance of sorts spread out over nearly 400 pages of a grainy plot and inconsistencies. This is a topsy turvy story of Melanie Hitts coming to realize that love doesn't have to suffocate her budding career. Of course, the story wouldn't be complete without Melanie juggling two love interests; the man she is in love with and thinks is her soul-mate, Will Freedman, and the unconventional older man of a different hue whom teaches her how to love, John Carlson. John is married to Sharon Carlson, which makes for a tense situation in the book. Will Melanie and John get caught in their non-physical, but intimate affair? This question alone is what may keep readers struggling to the end of the book.

The true suspense and drama of the plot lies in Candace Bennett, Melanie's best friend and wild child/vixen of the novel. Woolridge's scenes depicting Candace's 'love scenes' with various men are Zane worthy when it comes to how graphic they are. Candace's rags to riches transformation to a hot shot lawyer are also intriguing when it ties into her views on relationships.

The main thing that kept me frustrated with this book was how Woolridge left things hanging when it came to Candace. The story of Melanie ultimately "coming to her senses" concerning her love of Will appeared to be stretched out with meaningless filler of the daily grind of Melanie's career as though Woolridge were trying to make a page quota. I'm not a lover of romance novels which may play a role in my feelings toward this story, but if you're a reader who loves tales of "enchanted love" with a little character development thrown in, you just might find yourself enjoying this book more than I did.

Anna
R.E.A.L. Reviewers


Rating:
Summary: Three's a crowd...
Review: HITTS & MRS by Lori Bryant-Woolridge

HITTS & MRS. by Lori Bryant-Woolridge is the story of a young successful African American woman who is torn between her ex-fiancé and her boss. The story sounds simple but it is more complicated than that. Melanie Hitts has just gotten out of her engagement to highly eligible bachelor Will Freedman, feeling that she's being rushed into marriage to a man she has known for only a few months. Her sense of independence has been taken from her, and when she finds out that he has bought them a house as a surprise clinches it for her. The fact that he didn't even consult her on this purchase was enough for her to call the engagement off. And she does this in front of the entire room full of friends and family at their fancy engagement party.

While Will tries to figure out how to win Melanie over again, Melanie moves back to New York City to continue with her highly successful career in interior design. And it's through this job that she meets her soul mate, John Carlson, the head of the internationally known architecture company Carlson and Tuck. Everything would be wonderful if only John was younger, John was not married, and John was black. Melanie doesn't know which is worse, that he's married or that he's the wrong color.

Melanie and John grow together in their platonic relationship, but at the same time Melanie still loves Will. She's never stopped loving him, but she could not marry him under the conditions of their current relationship. Something needs to change. John was everything that Will wasn't, yet both had qualities that satisfied Melanie's needs. With this in mind Melanie wonders if she can have it all, a loving friendship with John and a marriage with Will? As far as she's concerned, there is nothing wrong with that. She's not doing anything wrong, although she and John do love each other, but they have sworn not to push their relationship into the physical.

Although I didn't find this book the perfect book, I am rating HITTS & MRS. 4 stars. I enjoyed the story line and found the book such a fast read that I finished it in two days. Some of the characters didn't' quite ring true for me, including John Carlson's wife Sharon, who I started out liking a lot but had my doubts about some of her actions at the end of the book. The issue of racism obviously comes into play in this book, but it is so subdued and doesn't' really become an issue until the second half of the book that I think it should have either been written in as a main plot line, or not used at all. I would definitely read other books by Lori Bryant-Woolridge and I recommend HITTS & MRS. to those who are fans of romances, African American Lit, or both.

Rating:
Summary: Juicy, action-packed novel
Review: Hitts & Mrs. explores the feasibility of being married and genuinely loving your spouse and another person at the same time. Melanie Hitts is a beautiful, intelligent and ambitious career woman. She loves her job and her beau, Will Freedman. But when their relationship hits a bump, and she finds herself attracted to John, her married white business partner, Melanie is taught important lessons that will have you turning the pages to see what happens next. The fact that Melanie likes John and vice versa is something that is interesting to witness. Their attraction to each other is compelling and the supporting cast helps to richen the plot.

Lori does a fine job using fire-hot, on point relationship analysis, and lively language to explore this unique and refreshing storyline. Hitts & Mrs. is well written, funny, sensual and thought-provoking. For those who want a change of pace and have a strong desire to become emotionally involved in another facet of male-female relationships, this is a highly recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Too Neat
Review: I enjoyed this book because it is so well written. But I had a problem with it towards the end. I don't buy the character Mel's denial that she had an affair with John. (...) . John and Mel had an emotional affair. I do believe you can love two people at once. I also don't think Mel would have liked it if Will, her on and off again fiancé found someone he connected to in ways he couldn't with her. I couldn't understand how she thought everyone should just chill and see things the way she sees them. I just didn't like the hypocrisy of the her character, that at times came off as self-righteous. She had no empathy for John's wife and what she must be going through in discovering that her husband also loves another woman. And please, I'm so tired of the line: I'm not in love with him, I just love him. That's such a cop out in not taking responsiblity.

I also think the author took the easy way out by making the character Candy lose everything. Because she's sleeps around with married men and is materialistic it's okay that she gets hers. She's expendable. I think the novel would have been much stronger if Mel paid the price for her relationship with John. Her story ended so cliché with a fairy tale happily ever after. I just didn't buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional and Captivating!
Review: I have dark circles under my eyes this afternoon for pulling an all-nighter to read this book!!! I am left with a series of descriptions:
- Poetic
- Unpredictable
- Visually inticing
- Realistic
- Surreal
- Inspiring
- Breath-taking
- Balanced
- Sensual
Here's the word I was searching for: PERFECT!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional and Captivating!
Review: I have dark circles under my eyes this afternoon for pulling an all-nighter to read this book!!! I am left with a series of descriptions:
- Poetic
- Unpredictable
- Visually inticing
- Realistic
- Surreal
- Inspiring
- Breath-taking
- Balanced
- Sensual
Here's the word I was searching for: PERFECT!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I heard Ms. Woolridge on the radio talking about her book and was so intriqued by the subject matter that I went out and bought the book that afternoon. I read half of it that night and got up and finished it the next day! I couldn't put it down! This book is so good. It really is a pageturner. The way she writes it just flows and you get so caught up in the characters and their lives that you forget about your own! And just like the author said on the radio, it makes you realize that it is possible to love more than one person at a time and you can have intimacy without sex. Go get this book. You'll be so glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: WoW
Review: I love it buy it and read it over and over again. That's all I can say!

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I love the book but I think that Candace was wrong for getting mad at her friend for her own stupidity. I would have like to know if Griffin ever thought about giving Candace another chance. Will was a strong and good man to wait on Melanie like he did. Now that's LOVE I hope it's a sequel to this book so we can find out if Candace and Griffin work thier relationship out and if Candace and Melanie work out thier problems.

Rating:
Summary: Hitts & Mrs.
Review: I loved the book,this is my first time coming across Lori Bryant-Woolridge's work and it was a good read. The main emphasis of loving two different individuals in various ways allowed me to think outside the box. The shock of Melanie having doubts about her own engagement that allowed her to call of her wedding to her finding love with another man besides her ex-fiance was intriguing. I enjoyed how Lori allowed the reader to look deep within to see how we can love another on a more deep, emotional and intimate way without the physicalities that can be involved in a relationship. The notion of having just one soul mate comes into question while reading and questions our own thoughts on the subject. Worth checking out with an open mind and let yourself be taking away by other thoughts and opinions that aren't your own.