This pseudonymous author takes a page from Terry McMillan with her title, but this novel is more Sex and the City
or Sisters
than Stella
. First-person narrator Geneva Holliday (who gets the byline) leads a cast of four mid-30s New York singles in search of love. Frustrated by loneliness and puzzled by her son's erratic behavior, divorcée Geneva's weight spirals out of control. Ivy Leaguer Crystal suspects attentive boyfriend Kendrick is hiding something, and only after he moves in does she begin to understand the seriousness of the problem. Frilly, surgeryized travel agent Chevanese is evicted and agrees to watch gay friend Noah's house while he visits London (but has no intention of leaving when he returns). Noah, meanwhile, has begun to sleep with women. When Crystal's desperate attempt to earn money goes awry, all come together and share a dramatic, improbable catharsis. Holliday (our bet: Bernice McFadden) spices up the narrative throughout with light erotica. The ending is weak; the rest is by-the-numbers and perfectly enjoyable, with the various exchanges of gentle sisterly barbs and incidental descriptions of life as an adult single that ring very true. Agent, Jimmy Vines
. (On sale June 28)
