Rating: 
Summary: PLEASE DON'T PITY ME!
Review: How can I even relate to this woman? She's gorgeous and rich, and a big complainer! Sure, rich divorced women have their problems, but "finding yourself" come on! She divorces her husband for really no good reason, and then she complains and makes fun of "white whales" on the beach. No thanks, I only got about a quarter way through the book, and the run-on sentences gave me a headache. I just cannot see an educated woman speaking this way. Glad I bought this book used...that way I didn't waste too much money. But of course, for this author, my money and time didn't seem to be important to her when writing this garbage.
Rating: 
Summary: Groove on Stella
Review: I think that initial reviews of this book were based on prior books by Terri McMillan. Although I found the story thoroughly engaging, the writing was a bit sloppy and the book did not seem to be proof-read as well as the previous novels. (As happens very commonly with writers once they progress past the sophmore project.)
Rating: 
Summary: You were on a run Terry, what happened?
Review: Main Entree: "How Terry lost her groove, oops ur, How Stella got her Groove back" Ingredients:
1 cup washed up writer
1-1/2 tablespoons of boredom
pinch of mindless fluff
3 quarts long run-on sentences/paragraphs
1 3oz. package of single, wealthy career mom Instructions:
1 Go on vacation
2 meet a young man
3 come back and write about your experience
(Word for painstaking word)
4 Have no regard for punctuation Makes (about): Thousands of angry fans
*no experience or talent necessary* expected time: 3 weeks to write, 3 painstaking weeks to get through, if you don't poke your eyes out first
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Rating:
Summary: How Stella Got her groove back
Review: For a writing style that is similar to the style I am writing this review in you will find a lovely story of a 42 year old woman who falls in lust with a 21 year old man whose best characteristic is that he kisses real nice and she has a son who tells her age is just a number so she goes ahead and continues the relationship if you like long run-on sentences without a comma or a period and can relate only to kids fresh out of highschool then this book is for you because thats the basic contents of the story really really I mean you will read long paragraphs and feel like you have to hold your breath just to read it and I got tired of the constant highschoolish jitters she got as she would wait by the phone for Winston to call and she'd have to be reassured each time that yes indeed he does care for her and there is nobody else I recommend this book highly if you want an easy read that you can read in a half an hour because it is easy to skip the long rambling parts.
Rating:
Summary: Dumb Fun
Review: I'll admit it right up front -- I thought this was by far Terry McMillan's worst book to date -- well below the already uneven standard of her other work, which at least showed evidence of thought, feeling, and some attempt to create believable characters. The writing in this book is atrocious -- the page-long, unpunctuated, run-on sentences mentioned in many other reviews really do get irritating in no time at all. The book lags in too many spots and doesn't really go much of anywhere or do much of anything. Characterization and plotting are nonexistent, dialogue is clunky and wooden -- and how many times have we all read/seen the annoying stale cliche of the career woman who is secretly miserable because she has no personal life, or because men are turned off by successful women, or some such trite nonsense? Being a career woman is the least of Stella's problems -- she's insufferable -- shallow, self-obsessed, materialistic, dull, a braggart, manages to be both smug and whiny at the same time. I couldn't bring myself to like or care about her. I particularly found her rant about the olfactory vileness of women's bodies distressingly misogynistic and more than a little bit out of left field. Overall, the book reads as though Ms. McMillan looked at the calendar, suddenly realized that she had a manuscript due in a week, sat down at the word processor, and banged out "How Stella..." in one sitting. That said, it wasn't all bad. I wouldn't describe it as great literature, or even great fiction -- but it was an entertaining, fun, escapist read. The writing style was a bit goofy -- adolescent and breathless -- but that actually went well with the story (such as it was); it read the way a person in a whirlwind relationship would think/feel. Winston was adorable, and the sex scenes a nice blend of romantic and hot. And confidentially, ladies: in a world full of men (Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, et. al.), being paired on- and offscreen with women decades, or even generations, younger than themselves, who among us gals doesn't like the idea of dipping a toe into the "babyhunk" pool, just a *little* bit? In sum, if you don't expect too much, you might enjoy this book at least somewhat. It was light, fluffy, dumb fun -- sort of the reading equivalent of soft-serve ice cream, and just as well suited to mindless relaxing on a lazy summer day -- a dandy beach book in both senses of the word.
Rating: 
Summary: It's the little things...
Review: I keep comng back to this book, either when i'm lying on the beach, or in the middle of the winter, wishing I was. I've realized that it's not the main story...the frustration of a single successful woman afraid to let go of her hangups for love, but the little things that roped me in. The descriptions of a tropical island, the thrill of a shopping spree..this book offers vicarious sybaratic pleasure!
Rating: 
Summary: A break from high-falutin literature
Review: Using a very down-to-earth writing style that's easy to read, McMillan tells the story of a 42 year-old buppie (black urban professional) who develops a new look on life after falling for a handsome 21-year old Jamaican "boy". I enjoyed the introspective love story, but there were a few details that, if omitted, would have made the novel more enjoyable. For example, I'm not interested in Stella's douche schedule or her unsavory feminine odors. Also, the constant reaffirmation of how much money she has, the BMW, the name brands mentioned over and over is kind of cheesy. What kept me reading this, however, is the love story that grew out of an island fling and Stella's ability to let go of her inhibitions. A fun, quick, and easy read. I'm looking forward to renting the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Not enough dialogue
Review: Terry forces us to spend most of our time reading what's going on in Stella's head. Where's the romance? Where's the dialogue? Also, where's Winston??????? I can count on one hand the amount of times we got to read about actual interaction that was going on between them. Most of the book, he's AWOL and we're only reading about what Stella's thinking and feeling. Not quite my idea of a love story.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best "BLACK" Writers Ever
Review: Terry McMillan is one of the best African American novel writers in the world. She writes so lovely and she is so down to earth with her words and language. I Love her books.
Rating:
Summary: Definetely not McMillan's best, but ok.
Review: I picked up this book blindly, simply because it said Terry McMillan on it. I had read her previous books and enjoyed them all. And this book had also been made into a movie with Angela Basset. This book was a page turner, I did want to keep on reading to find out what was going to happen. However half way into the book I realized the plot was weak but kept on reading anyway. Also, I usually don't care about age difference in a relationship, but somehow in this book I didn't like it, maybe because she has a teenage son, it disturbed me that her boyfriend's age group was closer to her son's than hers. And I didn`t like that she introduced her son to her "fling" so early in the relationship. I will keep reading Terry McMillan's books, but I won't be so quick to pick it from the shelf.
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