Always True to You in My Fashion

When three women are in love with the same man at the same time, there's the possibility for both romantic disaster and an engaging novel. Valerie Wilson Wesley could have made this story about a man's inability to commit boring; instead her story line piques listener interest. Caroline Clay, however, gives a singularly poor performance. She fails to differentiate the characters to the extent that even in a dialogue between a man and a woman the listener isn't certain who's speaking. Ironically, the only bright note in this narration is the writing. P.R. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

November 25, 2002
A slick ladies' man is forced to reconsider his philandering ways in this mature, believable romance. After more than 15 years of friendship and casual sex, 35-year-old painter Medora Jackson finally kicks her womanizing so-called boyfriend, art dealer Randall Hollis, to the curb. She is so fed up that when she learns she is pregnant, she decides to raise the child without him. Randall promptly takes up with two women, one 13 years older than Medora, the other nine years younger: Ana is a well-to-do patron of the painters Hollis represents and Taylor is a privileged grad student with an eye on a career in the arts. What Randall doesn't know is that Ana's son is Taylor's ex-boyfriend and that they all travel in the same gossipy social circles, so it's only a matter of time before he is found out. Wesley (Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do; the Tamara Hayle mysteries) spends plenty of time getting inside her protagonists' heads, though often at the expense of her plot: Medora's father, also a painter, was a lousy parent and husband; Randall's dying mother is an emotional vampire and he never knew his father; Ana's two marriages ended badly; Taylor's twin died at birth and her father left her mother for a younger woman. Despite all this, Wesley avoids histrionics, allowing her complex characters to evolve as they learn from their own mistakes and others'; from the Freudian haze emerge some valuable observations on love, self-respect and responsibility. Agent, Faith Hampton Childs. 7-city author tour.

Three women are involved in the art world, and all are dating Randall Hollis, an art dealer in New York City. What a mess when one becomes pregnant, and each finds out Randall is dating the others. Oh my, the feathers do fly. Gloria Reuben narrates with quick-paced words and a soft voice, except for the shouting scenes. This intense narration brings to the fore each woman's emotional involvement with Randall, their friends, and their families. As Randall learns about women, so they learn about men and the risks of commitment. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine