Rating: 
Summary: GOOD BOOK
Review: A little unrealistic but that's good every once in a while. A little different than the movie but that's always the case.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fun Summer Story To Sit and Relax To!
Review: I didn't read the book but I just listened to an audiobook recording of Terry McMillan's, How Stella Got Her Groove Back which was read by the author and I liked it and found it very entertaining and relaxing and I found myself wishing I was in Jamaica sitting by the pool or on a beach drinking a Pina Colada and I recommend How Stella Got Her Groove Back which I think is a great summer read or in my case a great summer listen and I recommend either the book or the audio recording and I think it would be great to read or listen to How Stella Got Her Groove Back while sitting on a beach or by a pool. The audiobook is abridged and I wish that there was an unabridged recording and I might even buy the paperback book and I also plan on renting the movie which I haven't seen yet, well anyway this audiobook is a keeper for sure! In this book Stella Payne is a 42 year old divorced hardworking sucessful career woman and loving dedicated mother to 11 year old Quincy and when Quincy goes to spend time with his father and Stella has time by herself she realizes that she is not as happy with her job as she thought and she is in a rut she decides she needs to get her groove back and goes off to Jamaica where she meets a handsome younger man named Winston (He is about 21 years old) and they immediately hit it off but Stella is feeling insecure about their age difference and Winston thinks she is being silly and that it is no big deal. I rate this audiobook a 5 because it was just a fun summer story to sit and relax to.
Rating:
Summary: pure sassy fun
Review: I loved Waiting to Exhale -- this book is not as "deep" psychologically speaking, but it's a fun romp in Jamaica. No one gets inside the upper middle class black mind like MacMillan. She's not going for Shakespeare here, so give her a break -- this is a fun book to be enjoyed and savored. I think more readers should be happy that for once we have positive and strong black literary characters who are financial successes. I hope both black and white children will learn something from these books alone the lines of there are plenty of successful black women -- not all black people play basketball or deal drugs! The sexual plot is throughly enjoyable -- I think MacMillan must have had a ball writing this one. For an enjoyable read, pick it up!
Rating:
Summary: Stella's Groove is obviously not for everyone
Review: I read this book when it first hit the book shelves and loved it loved it loved it. It was a perfect summer read. I was concidering re-reading it before the movie opened and that is what brought me to these reviews. I admit the stream of consciousness writing required a little time to get used to but it was a welcome change from the same ole same ole and well worth the effort. This style of writing was a perfect match for the book. I felt as if I had really gotten into Stella's head and it endeared her to me. After reading these reviews, it is obvious that not everyone can relate to Stella's Groove but the same can be said for any book and any protagonist. Relating to Stella may require that you become aquainted with that part of yourself that has the potential to be a free spirit. The book's message "Life is short, play hard!". Personally I can not wait to see Ms. Basset bring Stella to life. As for Ms. McMillan. Keep on writing girl and please keep ! experimenting with your writing style and bringing us stories ALL women can relate to.
Rating:
Summary: Good!
Review: Like a previous reviewer I also listened to the audiobook recording of How Stella Got Her Groove Back which was written by Terry McMillan who also narrates the audio recording and I thought the story was very entertaining. How Stella Got Her Groove Back is about a 42 year old woman named Stella who goes to Jamaica and gets involved with Winston a guy in his 20's and I thought this audiobook was pretty good and I recommend it and the next time I get to a used book store I will look for the paperback book!
Rating:
Summary: Oh Yeah
Review: No dis to the book it was a good story, It was my story. Ha ha I know about older woman/younger man love. It's gooood.
Rating:
Summary: book better than movie
Review: once again, i read this book years befoe the movie came out and i'm happy i did b/c the book was so much better. the ending was better and the plot was better. her best freind (whoopi goldberg's character in the movie)wasn't even alive in the book at all. she went to jamaica by herself when she met winston. but i think you should all read the book b/c it leaves you more emotional that the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Brutal
Review: scenes of ,far off on designer cheek slick postcards from zombie freezer,TELL IT LIKE IT US, IN A GROOVE OF A POST ARCADIAN NITEMARE OFF SQUALOR CANIBALISING YOUR PAST TOLD OH SO POST TOASTY DISSPOSABLE IN MICRO WAVE [LAUGHABLE] ORWELLIAN DOUBLE SPEAK.
Rating:
Summary: More than a love story
Review: Terry McMillan writes more than a love story here. We meet Stella a 42 year old high powered African American woman whose been divorced 3 years and has an adorable 11 year old son Quincy. All Stella's life is about is being a dedicated mother and career woman, that changes when she's fired. Quincy goes to visit dad and Stella and her "FRIEND" decide she needs sometime for herself to do something fun. The very rich details about her 9 day trip to Jamaica make you feel as if you're lying right next to her. She meets Winston, a 20 year old chef's assistant who keeps Stella weak literally! Stella is steadily questioning the weight of this escapade that leaves the island and follows her back to her home where her life that she was use to is now being challenged. I loved the relationship that Stella and her son Quincy share it's very open and relaxed.
Rating:
Summary: Groovin' With Terry
Review: Terry McMillan, more well known for the 1995 film *Waiting to Exhale*--she wrote the text in which the movie was based--moves on into her new venture, *How Stella Got Her Groove Back*. Whatever you do, don't let the panned film prejudge your thoughts on this wonderful book.McMillan pens a character who is a single mother forty, and coincidentally black, but don't let that dissuade you from picking this up. Although reading from a female, single, white perspective, there were few times I ever felt alienated, for McMillan brilliantly tells inexorable truths about being single in America today. Stella, the main character, has raised her son, established a lucrative career, and settled into a comfortable life finding her independence from men and society; yet something pulls her to a spontaneous Jamaican holiday and inevitably a 21 year old native man named Winston. What follows is a juggling act that any May/December romance would produce. Stella reproves herself constantly, unable to believe Winston would actually want to be with her, and unable to make a commitment after what the world has taught her. She confesses that "what I do know deep down although I keep it secretly secret is that I am terrified at the thought of losing myself again wholeheartedly to any man because it is so scary peeling off that protective sealant that's been guarding my heart and letting somebody go inside and walk around lie down look around and see all those red flags especially when right next to year heart is your soul and then inside that is the rest of your personality puzzle pieces and they're full of flaws and in your grown-up years you have just finally started to recognize them for what they are one by one." This narrative, a no-holds-barred free for all, tumbles easily like a mountain stream. McMillan speaks to her readers as friends and thus Stella becomes anyone you know, or yourself, because she tells you information as if you were best friends. This style, mostly associated with women writers and minorities in particular, may not jell with what we've been taught in the canonized versions of literature; yet it moves with such fluidity you can't help but smile and turn the pages. McMillan speaks of Jamaica in such beautiful and colorful language, I felt like an American tourist sharing the beach with her. Her admiration for beautiful bodies, no color specific, is a lesson to all on how to see the attractiveness within every person. After maintaining a long-distance relationship, with its drawbacks and pitfalls, Stella journeys to Jamaica again, this time with her son Quincy in tow to vote yea or nea on Winston. What she learns is that no one, not even her son, can make a heartfelt decision about love for her. Does love conquer all? Is she able to throw the yoke of society and its view on older women/younger men relationships? And does she eventually tell her mother and sister knowing the reproach she will certainly receive. Well, I'm not going to tell you. Pick up the book.
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