From Library Journal
In this first novel, four single, former coeds, who met when they were the only African American women at their Minnesota college, reunite at a friend's wedding and forge a lasting bond before returning to their separate lives.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Another sister-girl story, about four African American women. Gayle, Roxanne, Cynthia, and Monique attended a Minnesota college campus where they were among a small group of black students. Eight years later, after participating in a college classmate's wedding, they rekindle their friendship at a time in each of their lives when friendship and sister love are needed. With help from each other, a series of problems are overcome: Cynthia learns to cope practically with being overweight and to realize that a man should be attracted to her for who she is and not how she looks; Gayle reciprocates a coworker's advances by inviting him out to eat; Roxanne dismisses a man who misreads her feelings as friendship and not romance; and Monique vows to contact her life-long friend, confidant, and ex-fianceto repair past hurts and disappointments. These women, with their collective disappointments and successes, may not be in control of all the things that happen in their lives, but they can rely on some constants: friendship--and the rent. Lillian Lewis


From Kirkus Reviews
Psychologist and first-time author Mitchell offers a highly entertaining and unusually illuminating study of female bonding The focus here is on the time-tested but undeniably complex friendships among four African-American women who first met in college. The long-suffering Gayle has wanted for years to return to school for an advanced degree, but instead she toils away at an unfulfilling desk job in order to remain at home in Cleveland and care for her ailing mother, alcoholic father, and withdrawn brother. The glamorous Monique is flawless on the outside, a mess within; a successful attorney, she hides her emotional, warmhearted side from the world with a tough-girl, ultraconfident veneer. Cynthia is insecure and lonely and will do almost anything to meet Mr. Right; unfortunately, several Mr. Wrongs will cause her to make some decisions that have drastic consequences. And, finally, there's Roxanne, highly educated, attractive, and good-natured to a fault, but she can barely make ends meet with her job as an inner-city teacher and the hours she devotes to volunteer work. In Minnesota, where the girls met at a small liberal arts school populated almost exclusively by white kids, friendship seemed easy but romance was hard to come by. Now that they've been out in the world for almost eight years, however, both friendship and men are trouble. It'll take a reunion at Cynthia's condo in Tampa, and an unexpected crisis, to get these four very different but equally loving and worthy women to realize that for all these years they've been looking in all the wrong places. Nothing groundbreaking here, just another ``girltalk'' novel, but this one has heart and, even rarer, soul. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Roxanne, Monique, Cynthia, and Gayle first met when they found themselves an African American minority at a Midwestern college. Now living far apart, they're approaching age thirty and wondering if they're getting all they can out of life. Roxanne takes a teaching job in one of Boston's rougher neighborhoods. Cynthia has switched from husband hunting at Tampa Bay churches to killer workouts at a health club. Gayle, living at home and hating it, is pushing so hard to prove herself at her Columbus, Ohio, bank job that she's lost sight of her own happiness. Monique, a Cleveland prosecuting attorney, wanted so desperately to escape her Houston socialite mother she ran out on her fiance, too - only to find that moving away doesn't necessarily mean moving on. But it isn't until a crisis brings them together again that they discover how much they need each other - and need to reveal some heartbreaking truths.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In yet another debut that tries too hard to re-create the power of Waiting to Exhale, four friends, reunited at a Minneapolis wedding, discover that none of them is able to find love. Shy, workaholic bank manager Gayle nurses a quiet crush while she balances her stalled career and her responsibility to her ailing mother. Boston social worker Roxanne tries to overcome a series of rejections from a reptilian businessman boyfriend (who insists on calling her "a friend"). Cleveland lawyer Monique rebels against her bourgeois mother's carefully laid plan for her life. And, from Tampa, Fla., churchgoing PR flack Cynthia battles a dangerous eating disorder and bewildering loneliness. Although many readers will sympathize with the problems these women face, Mitchell's portraits are unintentionally unflattering. The friends spend a lot of time sniping at each other's hair, figures and attitudes toward men, while contrived Worst Possible Date scenes and superficial minor characters keep the novel's tone regrettably shallow. (Apr.)

Kirkus Reviews

Psychologist and first-time author Mitchell offers a highly entertaining and unusually illuminating study of female bonding The focus here is on the time-tested but undeniably complex friendships among four African-American women who first met in college. The long-suffering Gayle has wanted for years to return to school for an advanced degree, but instead she toils away at an unfulfilling desk job in order to remain at home in Cleveland and care for her ailing mother, alcoholic father, and withdrawn brother. The glamorous Monique is flawless on the outside, a mess within; a successful attorney, she hides her emotional, warmhearted side from the world with a tough-girl, ultraconfident veneer. Cynthia is insecure and lonely and will do almost anything to meet Mr. Right; unfortunately, several Mr. Wrongs will cause her to make some decisions that have drastic consequences. And, finally, there's Roxanne, highly educated, attractive, and good-natured to a fault, but she can barely make ends meet with her job as an inner-city teacher and the hours she devotes to volunteer work. In Minnesota, where the girls met at a small liberal arts school populated almost exclusively by white kids, friendship seemed easy but romance was hard to come by. Now that they've been out in the world for almost eight years, however, both friendship and men are trouble. It'll take a reunion at Cynthia's condo in Tampa, and an unexpected crisis, to get these four very different but equally loving and worthy women to realize that for all these years they've been looking in all the wrong places. Nothing groundbreaking here, just another "girltalk" novel, but this one has heart and, even rarer, soul.