Fever

February 27, 2006
Bernice McFadden (Sugar
) returns as the pseudonymous African-American chick lit author Holliday with this juicy but slow-building sequel to Groove
. The four-friend cast of New York City singles is back, putting out fires and issuing advice they really should consider for themselves. Geneva Holliday, the plus-size waitress and 30-something single mother of two, thinks she's too old and fat for love, but her son's 23-year-old friend enthusiastically proves her wrong—much to her son's discomfort. Crystal Atkins is professionally successful but "snappish" and celibate, so her mother obliges her to host childhood friend Neville. It's no surprise that Neville grew into a fine specimen, but sparks fly between him and Crystal for unexpected reasons. High-maintenance fashionista Chevy Cambridge lands a glamorous but grueling job as personal assistant to a female radio personality, Anja the Anaconda—whose facade conceals a bizarre truth. Noah Bodison lives in London with his boyfriend and continues to dispatch hilarious advice and gossip from abroad, but he finds his relationship challenged when he and his mate are approached for a ménage à quatre. The fluffy rising action, audaciously detailed sex scenes and the novel's final risqué revelations offer Groove
fans more trashy fun. (Apr.)

Look for a Q&A with Berenice McFadden in next week's issue. —Ed.

April 1, 2006
Holliday's sequel to "Groove" takes place a few years later with the same group of childhood friends from New York City. Geneva is now trying to raise her two children; Crystal is still mending a broken heart; Noah has moved to merry old England and is sharing a flat with Zahn, the love of his life; and, finally, the conniving, gold-digging Chevy might have found the one job that will give her the life of luxury she so desperately wants. "Fever" deals with issues of friendship, body image, self-acceptance, and the search for love. Will a couple of indecent proposals, a trip to a swingers' club, and an affair with a younger man be able to quench these friends' sexual appetites, or only make them hungry for more? With this page-turner, Holliday once again takes her readers on an extraordinary sexual adventure that will keep them captive until the very end. For all libraries. [Geneva Holliday is the alter ego of literary writer Bernice McFadden. -Ed.]" -Leslie Hayden, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib."

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.