Similar to my last review,
I've essentially been planning to review these books together all year,
so I'm thrilled to finally be executing that plan! A three-fer of Black
romance novels, with plus size female main characters, being loved on
by two or more Black men at the same time! A Black, plus size, poly
extravaganza! Now. Based on how I define plus size (people who are unambiguously fat,
not just "thick" or "curvy," etc.), I must acknowledge that "plus size"
is a bit of a misnomer here. When I discovered these books online
toward the end of 2024, I was so excited to find more plus size Black
women represented in romance that I was reluctant to accept, once I
started reading, that the label doesn't fully apply due to how the
lead characters are depicted on the front covers and/or described on the
pages.
The first novel is about a 30-something
woman down on her luck, who unexpectedly reconnects with her rich
gangster ex and his longtime boyfriend, and agrees to be their live-in
girlfriend on a trial basis; this woman is glowingly described as "fat,"
which is wonderful. (The abstract cover design doesn't reflect
that, but no matter.) The second novel is about a widowed professor
whose husband arranged in advance for his
three best friends to become her lovers in his absence; this woman is
more midsize than anything else.
(Imagine if Ms. Sara Bellum were a 40-something Black MILF.) And the
third novel is about a 41-year-old hair salon owner who meets a Senate
candidate and his retired athlete partner at a sex club, and then agrees
to be their fake fiancée and live-in girlfriend in exchange for six
figures; this woman is described as proudly "plush," and the cover
illustration of her is the most unambiguous... but she's denoted in the
book as a size 16. (Which, with the average woman in North America being
a size 16 to 18, is far from plus with a capital P.) I say all of this
to say that even though my enthusiasm seemed to outstrip what these
three novels altogether offer in terms of plus size representation, I'm
still elated to have read them all. And I already decided on the
theme of this review months ago, so I'm sticking to it! (If you want to
read about expressly fat women getting down, check out Viano Oniomoh or Rebekah Weatherspoon.)
The Air Between Us by Shameka S. Erby
At
the beginning of this novella (151 pages containing six chapters and an
epilogue), Nasima "Nas" Jones seems to have hit rock bottom. After
previously working so hard to leave the unnamed place she grew up in and
be financially secure, she's now back in her hometown, underemployed
and living with her cousin who overcharges her for rent and expects her
to cook for everybody in his house. Unfortunately for Nasima,
"everybody" includes her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be her cousin's
best friend and whose infidelity caused her to be evicted from her
previous apartment in the first place. While walking to a diner for a
breather and a sweet treat, she spots her first love canoodling out
front with the current love of his life. That first love is a
high-ranking gangster and drug dealer named Trevino (a.k.a. "Trev" or
"Vino" or "Truck"), and Trevino's current love is a boxing gym owner named Bashir (a.k.a. "Bash"
or "Butta"). Bashir has never met Nasima, but
thinks highly of her and knows how much she still means to Trevino,
based on all that Trevino has told him about NT's past relationship as
young lovers helping each other survive their tumultuous youth. In fact,
Trevino is the one who initially paid for Nasima to go to community
college so she could study accounting and business and pursue a better
life somewhere else.
After treating Nasima to
lunch and hearing what she's been through, Trevino and Bashir invite her
to their three-story Victorian home to get further reacquainted and
offer a proposition. TB are polyamorous and have been looking for a
third person to complete their triad, and Nasima needs a more peaceful
space to rebuild her confidence and get her life back on track, so why
doesn't she move in with them? Leading up to Valentine's Day, the men
invite her to spend the next two
weeks being pampered and learning how to
be in a three-person dynamic with them, and provided she doesn't leave
early, she can decide whether to take this dynamic further after
spending V-Day with them. Cue a near-disastrous trip to retrieve some of
Nasima's belongings from her cousin's house, a shopping spree, a dinner
date, much
boinking and spoiling and vulnerability... and suffice it to say Nasima
never moves out. She remains Trevino and Bashir's "Lil Baby" for good.
Toward the end of the novella, the engravings on the Valentine's gifts
they exchange underscore NTB's respective contributions to the
relationship: Trevino is "The Enforcer" for his protectiveness, Bashir
is "The Foundation" for the stable home and sense of calm he provides,
and Nasima is "The Breath," the titular air between TB who keeps them
awed and inspired.
Trevino is a little too
controlling for my tastes, but I can see
how his intensely worrisome insistence on taking care of Nasima and
keeping her safe would appeal to certain readers. Readers who enjoy a
man with rough edges. Readers who are used to doing too much and making
too many decisions all by themselves, and thus yearn for the relief of
relinquishing the reins to someone else. While he might not be my type,
and I did identify more with Nasima as a character, Trevino is actually
the one who impressed me the most. I admire that Shameka S. Erby went
against type by writing Trevino as a bisexual
gangster who not only is not closeted, but who also has been in a
publicly committed relationship with a man for five years, and is
prepared to stomp anyone who has anything snide to say to either of
them about it. Furthermore, I respect Trevino's self-awareness as
someone who tortures and kills people for a living. He
knows that he does dirty work. And I don't have a heaven or hell to put
him in for that, but he himself expresses being prepared for whatever
punishment might await him in the hereafter, which explains his
determination to protect and make the most of the time he has with Nasima and Bashir in the present.
Although I regard The Oath as technically the best out of all three books in this review (more on that later), The Air Between Us
is my favorite. There's no confusion about the female main character
being fat, the intimate scenes are the most resonant, the man-on-man action
feels the most real and the least obviously like
gay-stuff-for-women's-gratification, and the efficiency of the
storytelling is impeccable. On that last point, TABU reminds me of I Think I Might Love You
by Christina C. Jones. Granted, I haven't read a ton of other Black
romantic/erotic novellas, but the impression I have so far is that
independent authors like Erby and Jones are experts at making every page
count. It's as if they're communicating to us through their pacing, "Welcome,
reader! Have a seat. Now keep up!" Nasima goes from being harassed by
her roommate/ex-boyfriend and needing to budget for a small
treat at the diner, to having all her material needs met and riding
Bashir (whom she's just met) while Trevino gladly watches, all in the
span of three days. And because Erby is skilled at what she does, it
works!
Favorite quotes:
"Butta is different from you, and I'm not expecting you to love me the way he does. I want your love; I don't want you to mimic his" (29).
"And
now he'd given her a bonus—Bashir on the other side. Two men, at her
feet, belonging to themselves, and to each other, and to her all at
once. It was heady and scary, and Nasima couldn't believe she was free
falling like this" (100).
"Every piece Trev gives to you... I get back... from you. You're mine too, baby" (102).
The Oath by T.M. Richardson
The is book 1 in the "Secrets" series, a series of three standalone erotic novels that are steamier and more risqué than
the romances that Tati Richardson normally writes (hence the different
pen name). In Atlanta, Dr. Tatum Simmons is a literature professor on
sabbatical while she tends to Franklin, her lawyer husband of 22 years
who is slowly dying from lung cancer in their home. They receive moral
support from their college student son Morgan, Tatum's cousin Alisa, and
Franklin's three best friends. Two of these friends went to the same
HBCU as Franklin and are partners and co-founders of his law firm: a
meticulous workaholic lawyer, divorcé, and neat freak named Miles, and a
promiscuous pretty boy forensic auditor named Deacon. Cassidy, who
joined the friend group later, is a mysterious jack-of-all-trades who
turns out to be an astrophysicist with a hood streak and a short temper.
One night, after Franklin expresses his concern for Tatum's sexual
needs and encourages her to "get your back blown out" at Secrets (the
sex club they used to frequent together), Tatum hesitantly goes to
Secrets accompanied by Alisa. Before she can do anything with anyone,
Cassidy intercepts Tatum and aggressively orders her to return home,
which she does, just in time to have a brief final conversation with
Franklin before he dies. After the funeral, Deacon, Miles, and Cassidy
inform Tatum about the titular oath they swore to Franklin, that they
would take care of her in any and every way she needs; she's in no way
expected to have relations with them, but the trio are more than willing
to handle that for her too.
(It's later revealed that DMC each became
infatuated with Tatum at first sight but have played it cool all this
time out of respect for their friendship with Franklin. Franklin,
Deacon, and Miles all spotted Tatum at the same event while in college,
and
Franklin just so happened to be the first one to approach her.)
At
first, Tatum is overwhelmed and offended by the men closest to her
making decisions about her future without her input. But as she spends
time alone in her grief and returns to teaching summer classes, the
loneliness creeps in. An impromptu FaceTime sex session with Miles (whom
she's known the longest of the three) opens her up to accepting what
DMC are offering. That is, on the conditions that she gets to know them
better for herself (not merely as Franklin knew them), and that the
arrangement only lasts for the summer so that Morgan doesn't find out
when he returns from his internship in Washington, D.C. Gradually,
one-one-one dates and intimate interactions between Tatum and her men
build up to regular foursomes, and despite Tatum being the happiest
she's ever been since Franklin's diagnosis, TDMC's arrangement is
temporarily paused when Morgan returns home early and catches TDMC in
the act. Some weeks after the resulting blow-up, Tatum is able to mend
her relationship with her son, and reunite with DMC based on their
shared desire to make a life together as a long-term polyamorous quad.
There's so much to love about The Oath.
I love that Tatum is a Sagittarius like me. I love that Tatum calls DMC
out when they try to act like her saviors and solve her problems
without consulting her. I love that N.K. Jemisin
is mentioned twice; Cassidy and Tatum start reading Jemisin's work
together
after they bond over their favorite Black femme science fiction authors.
I love that nipple clamps are not only mentioned, but also used. I love
that Miles and Deacon are bisexual, that they have a history of fooling
around with each other, and that being involved with Tatum
inspires them to explore their connection more intentionally. And I
love how unique Tatum's one-on-one trysts with DMC are. With Miles,
Tatum calls him to comfort her during a thunderstorm, which makes her
feel safe enough to get spicy with him over FaceTime (as previously
mentioned). Later, they have a date at his house which consists of a
lavender-scented bubble bath while listening to Samara Joy,
heart-to-heart conversation, and Miles putting Tatum through his
mattress before they fall asleep. With Deacon, Tatum lets him eat her
out after he gifts her a massage appointment, a sultry nightgown, and a
home-cooked meal at her house to help her recover from being harassed by
a student. Later, after tempting each other at a golf
course, they have a date at Deacon's secret photography studio where he
photographs her nude before picking her up and railing her while
standing up, as his camera snaps photos of them on a timer. And although
Tatum is the least familiar with Cassidy, out of DMC her sexual tension
is the strongest with him even before Franklin's death, so her letting
Cassidy finger her during a planetarium visit is hardly a surprise.
Their next date starts with looking through a gigantic telescope at an
observatory, and ends with Cassidy domming Tatum as they do deliciously
ungodly things to each other back at her house.
Speaking
of deliciously ungodly, never have I ever encountered a book of smut
opening with a textually-relevant Bible verse! The epigraph of The Oath
is Deuteronomy 25:5, which establishes a historical and biblical
precedent for a deceased man's brother stepping in to (marry and)
copulate with the widow rather than letting her marry some unfamiliar,
only
in this novel Franklin has multiple "brothers." The inclusion of this
verse tells me that Richardson has audacity if nothing else, she's
prepared to make substantiated arguments for the smut she writes, she
can make thematic connections between texts with brilliance, and most
importantly, she doesn't suffer prudes! She's obviously aware of Black
Americans' general prudishness (or at least public prudishness) about
sex and non-conventional relationships, and she's also aware that this
stems from Black Americans' cultural religiosity. So she uses the
verse to throw that religiosity back in Black readers' faces,
challenging them to be open-minded and move beyond judgment. In other words, she references biblical precedent to guide people into a story about polyamory. (And
not the kind of polyamory, which is really more akin to polygamy, that
numerous Black male celebrities have been hopping onto as a trend to
frame their desire to collect multiple women without fuss or consequence
as enlightened when it's not. But that's a rant for another day.)
I only have two issues with The Oath. My first issue is the way Tatum handles explaining the situation to Morgan after he walks in on TDMC messing around in her kitchen. Before I'd finished the book I was discussing it with an online acquaintance who remarked that Tatum annoyed her, and once I reached the confrontation between Tatum and Morgan, I understood what she meant. So I followed up with this acquaintance, "Having finished the book, I see what you mean about Tatum being annoying. Because, 'I didn't judge you for being gay and dating my TA who's older than you, so don't judge me for you catching me in the kitchen of our family home getting fingered by your three quasi-uncles after your father recently died' is WILD to me! Those two things, while both non-conventional, aren't the same at all!'" I feel like Richardson knows (or should have known) that that's not a sufficient argument on Tatum's part, especially since Tatum's a professor who grades essays and literally teaches students how to substantiate arguments for a living. So I can't account for Richardson's choice, I just know that I didn't like it. My second issue is a small gripe that has been needling me: Why spend time acknowledging the need for STI testing and condoms when Tatum discusses DMC's offer with her friends, and why have Tatum mention testing and condoms as requirements to DMC when she accepts their offer, if Tatum is just going to have raw, penetrative, ejaculatory intercourse with DMC every time anyway? If all that safe sex talk is mere lip service (no pun intended), then why bother including it at all?
Gripes aside, the premise of The Oath
makes even more sense when you consider sex as not only a salacious
activity but as an expression of care, which I believe Richardson does.
She demonstrates this idea more than she discusses it, but there's a
phenomenon at play here that I think would make a fascinating graduate
thesis for somebody
(not me) to explore, and that thesis is about grieving through sex, or grieving as sex. DMC dating Tatum and getting carnal with her is
how they help her mourn Franklin's loss, and how she helps them mourn in
turn. Furthermore, while some readers (and Morgan) might find it
disrespectful for TDMC to go wild in one of Secrets' private VIP dungeon
suites on Tatum and Franklin's first wedding anniversary since his
passing, that's actually TDMC's particular way of honoring Franklin's
memory and his wishes for Tatum. It sounds twisted and obscene, but I'm
picking up what Richardson's putting down and I think it merits further
research. Overall, I applaud Richardson for pushing so many boundaries
with The Oath. Plus, I'll always be grateful to her for being the bridge between me watching season 6 of 'Black Mirror' and me learning that Sweet Vengeance existed.
Favorite quotes:
"Baby, I will not be here much longer. You and I know this. I am giving you permission to have a basic human need met" (6-7).
"Cassidy
rubbed the bundle of nerves until Tatum shook. She stared up at the
ceiling as shooting stars and comets zipped by. She felt herself getting
close, as if she could join those heavenly bodies up in the sky"
(120-21).
"I
think it's kind of brilliant... I mean, no man can be everything to
you. No matter how much you love them. Shoot, sometimes I wish I had an
extra husband who did the things I know Eddie wouldn't. And with you
losing Franklin, there is no one that can truly take his place. But he
knew the right men for the job" (221).
The Offer by T.M. Richardson
This
is book 2 in the aforementioned "Secrets" series, focusing on Tatum's
cousin Alisa and once again set in Atlanta. Over a year ago, when she
accompanied Tatum to Secrets in book 1 and Tatum abruptly left, Alisa
stayed behind and got serviced by strangers in the pool area. This made
her realize from then on that she needed at least two men at once to
truly satisfy her. But while her business as a hairstylist and salon
owner is staying afloat, her love life has tanked; she can't manage to
find a singular man who doesn't bore her, much less two. Little does she
know that Christophe (a suave lawyer/politician running for U.S.
Senate) and his life partner Kadeem (a retired NFL player turned sports
commentator) were in another part of the pool area that night, watching
her. Christophe is pansexual, Kadeem is bisexual, and they've been
together since they met as HBCU roommates 20 years ago, but have kept
their relationship a secret from their families and the public. As a
polyamorous couple they've been seeking a woman to complete their triad,
and watching Alisa get her rocks off convinced CK that she was the one
for them, but she disappeared before they could approach her that night.
They've spent months returning to Secrets to search for her, to no
avail.
Until one March night when Alisa's urges lead her to visit Secrets for
the second time, this time alone, and ACK gets busy in the sauna. CK
give her a ride home and ask her to consider a more permanent
arrangement, but it's too soon and they come on too strong, so Alisa
bluntly and emphatically refuses.
Later, when a
leaked photo of ACK leaving Secrets together goes viral, and Christophe is advised
by his campaign manager to take on a fake fiancée to assuage voter suspicion about his bachelor status, he convinces Alisa to agree to a
two-fold arrangement. Publicly, she'll appear with Christophe at events
as his fiancée until the election in November, while privately, she'll
test-drive being Christophe and Kadeem's live-in girlfriend
during that same duration. In exchange, she'll receive $800,000 to cover
her debts and help her open a new franchise of wig and weave salons.
(CK ultimately give her $1.5 million.) As the months progress, ACK find
their groove and push through multiple obstacles, which include CK
repeatedly trying to convince Alisa that their connection with her is more than a
fling or a fantasy, plus CK coming out as queer and poly to their moms and
introducing Alisa to them during a Mother's Day brunch. But as
Christophe's campaign manager turns out to be his vilest enemy, more
private information gets exposed, and election day goes awry, ACK must
decide if staying together is worth putting their safety and respective
careers at risk.
I want to get my singular complaint out of the way before I shift to the positives of The Offer, and that complaint is Christophe. Richardson wasn't lying when she included a trigger warning
for "(slightly) dubious consent," because I couldn't stand Christophe's controlling
and invasive behavior. From trying to finger Alisa into
submission/agreement twice, to having her investigated to the point of
accessing her financial records, to secretly swiping her phone while
she's staying at CK's mansion to plug in contact info and sync all their
calendars and sleuth through her apps, and other infractions I'm probably forgetting, Christophe
feels entirely too entitled to have access to Alisa's body, her space, her information, and her obedience. Not only that, but he's so
arrogant and unapologetic about crossing these boundaries, which Alisa
has barely had time to set or articulate because Christophe insists on
making things progress so quickly. She's similarly strong-willed
and
mostly finds their battle of wills arousing, but reading more of his
shenanigans just bolstered my loathing for his character and how
accustomed he is to getting his way. I'm aware that his aggressiveness
is meant to be part of his appeal, and Richardson does briefly go
through the motions
of
addressing the fact that a number of Christophe's early physical
interactions with
Alisa are technically assault... but these moments of acknowledgement
are played off like a joke or funny banter. Eh, well. The only kudos I
can genuinely give Christophe is that his habit of wearing mementos of
his lovers for every
public appearance (cufflinks from Kadeem, and a folded pair of Alisa's
panties as a pocket square) is wholesome.
Now for the positives. Overall I would rank The Offer in 3rd place after The Air Between Us and The Oath, not because there's anything fundamentally wrong with The Offer,
but because I wasn't captivated by it as much as I'd hoped to be.
However, I did appreciate how Richardson took Alisa's story in an
unexpected direction. I'd assumed that Alisa's boyfriends in book 2 would
be the strangers she played with during her initial visit to Secrets
in book 1. That is, until I paid closer attention to the cover and
realized that the dudes caressing Alisa didn't match the previous
strangers' descriptions (a young Black man with locs and a young Blasian
man). It's refreshing that Richardson chose not to go the obvious
route and chose to expand this series's world instead, by introducing
Christophe and Kadeem.
I also appreciate the commonalities that The Offer shares with other romance novels I've reviewed. The Offer has a very similar premise to The Air Between Us,
with a Black woman of size being invited to join a polyamorous
relationship and live in a spacious house/mansion with two queer men,
with one being a sweetheart and the other having anger and control
issues. The Offer also takes a moment to summarize its characters' personalities in an adorable way just like TABU
does; as Christophe's mother succinctly tells Alisa, Kadeem is sweet,
Christophe is sour, and Alisa is the spice that pulls all of them
together. Like its predecessor The Oath, The Offer is yet
another smutfest that Richardson boldly opens with a Bible
verse, confronting Black readers with their own religiosity again! (This
time the verse is 1 Corinthians 7:9, which declares that people should
get married if they can't control their urges, "For it is better
to marry than to burn with passion." Fortunately for ACK, by the end of
the novel they get "married" and keep their passion
burning!) The contract discussion and sex/kink negotiation scene between
ACK, with its emphasis on consent and Alisa being able to veto the
requests she's uncomfortable with or uninterested in, reminded me of a
similar scene in Rebekah Weatherspoon's Harbor. Ironically, I remember there
being more gay intercourse in The Oath than
in its successor, presumably because CK are so dedicated to pleasuring Alisa
and making her feel comfortable with them, that more of
the focus is on her getting hers rather than on CK pleasuring each other. Nonetheless, The Offer still joins
TABU and The Oath in not shying away from featuring
man-on-man scenes. And of course, Alisa receives her happily ever after with
multiple wealthy and well-endowed male life partners, despite never
having been in a polyamorous relationship before, just like her cousin
Tatum did in The Offer and like Nasima did in TABU.
Favorite quotes:
"Alisa, you're too young to be acting so old. You're barely forty. You
work hard as hell. You can still have a good time... don't let the juicy
years go to waste. You are still fine" (8).
"Don't think because you pulled orgasms out of me like a gumball dispenser that you have my vote!" (38).
