My Daughter's Boyfriend: A Novel

by Cydney Rax

Overview

MY DAUGHTER’S BOYFRIEND offers up the spicy tale of an impossibly tricky love triangle and marks the debut of a fresh and provocative new writer.

Tracey Davenport was only seventeen when she had her daughter, Lauren, and has proudly raised her as a single mom. Now that Lauren is seventeen herself, Tracey is pleased to see that her daughter has taken her advice to heart: Lauren wants to wait instead of having sex with Aaron, a college student and her first real boyfriend. But Lauren’s decision causes a chain reaction that no one could have anticipated. In a few chance encounters, sparks fly between thirtysomething Tracey and twentysomething Aaron. Coming off yet another disappointing relationship with a cheating bachelor her own age, Tracey is surprised to find that her daughter’s boyfriend is mature and understanding beyond his years, and Aaron discovers that his girlfriend’s mom is smart, womanly, and, well, very sexy. Eventually, what begins as a harmless flirtation turns into something much, much hotter. And that’s when things really get complicated.

Told in the alternating voices of the three lovers, My Daughter’s Boyfriend is full of sharp, lively observations about mothers and daughters, black men and women, and the truth about love and lust. Audacious and compelling, it’s the book everyone will be talking about.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307421326
Publisher:	Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/18/2007
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	197,661
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

CYDNEY RAX is the creator and manager of Book-Remarks.com, a heavily trafficked web-site that promotes books by and about African-Americans. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Read an Excerpt

Tracey

It was the second Thursday in November. It was also the day that my daughter, Lauren Hayes, turned seventeen. As soon as I thought she'd woken up, I burst into her bedroom with a card, a glass vase stuffed with pink spray roses, and a tiny rectangular birthday cake punctured with a single burning candle that spelled out the word celebrate. We ate one thick slice of her favorite, German chocolate, and my daughter then informed me that the festivities would continue that night. She'd been invited out for a bite to eat.

Later Lauren was surging through the apartment looking for her slingbacks and fussing with her French twist. And because I like to cool down after putting in my eight hours of workplace labor, I started my weekday ritual. As soon as I get home, I close the blinds and disrobe--my way of enjoying my world in comfort and without distraction. This particular evening I had on some white lace panties and a matching bra.

I was passing through the dining room, which has a mirrored wall. Everything was fine until I noticed my reflection. For most people there's always one body part or another that they don't like, and I'm what some might consider "thick," but even so, I'm proud of my creamy-looking legs and voluptuous thighs.

I was captivated by my appearance, but felt annoyed when I caught my daughter staring.

"Don't you have to get ready, girl?" I asked her from the mirror.

My daughter, five-seven compared to my five-five, inherited her daddy's fair complexion and long skinny legs. Although several people accuse Lauren of tinting her hair, those reddish and blond roots come natural. She has a mole above her lip. And she is blessed with some Beyonce-type eyes: wide, exotic, and sparkly. In spite of Lauren's cockeyed stare and her mouthing off that "Ugh! Nobody wants to see you half-dressed," I was too unnerved to admonish her for her ill manners. She shoved a red T-shirt and some black leggings in my hand, and stormed off to her bedroom. I slipped the T-shirt over my head, but thought it was too warm for the leggings, so I laid them on the brown leather sofa.

Once Lauren disappeared, I stole a look at my surroundings. Under normal circumstances our apartment was low-maintenance and free of excessive clutter. But tonight the place looked jacked. Piles of T-shirts and musty-smelling jeans made a trail from my bedroom to the living room. Dirty plates and crusty silverware littered the kitchen counter, and I wanted to start organizing the magazines that had multiplied all over the front area.

There's a wide column of built-in shelves that take up a wall in my living room. I was crouched in front of it, busy doing my domestic thing, back turned, when I heard this voice rush from behind.

"Well, hellooo, Mrs. Davenport."

I turned my head so sharp I heard a bone pop. A flush of heat penetrated my face from the inside out. I had on the T-shirt, but he could still see my panties, and my legs were uncovered. I didn't know if I should excuse myself, or skip the apologies and shove a huge throw pillow against my lower half. But, paralyzed as I felt, all I could do was stare.

Even though he'd been dating my daughter for quite a few months, it was always hard to catch him for long stretches of time; it seemed he and my daughter were always running in and out of the apartment to be with each other.

But tonight, Aaron Khristian Oliver hovered over me dressed in a wine-colored suit and a multicolored necktie. In some ways his looks reminded me of a tall version of the actor RonReaco Lee. His dark wavy hair, lightly trimmed mustache, and athletic body made it difficult to deny that Aaron Oliver put the "hot" in "hottie." His hands were shoved in his pockets and he tried to play things off, raising his eyes a little, but I knew he noticed my legs.

I turned from Aaron and my mind said, What the--okay, don't say nothing, just leave the room, no, no, his staring feels kinda--but this ain't cool, Lauren's only a few steps away . . . what if she . . . oh God, Jesus God.

Once those thoughts vanished, I felt a teensy bit tensed, but managed to sigh like his standing near was no biggie. I don't like letting any guy intimidate me, even if he does intimidate me. But just when I thought I was the one who controlled my world, I heard Aaron say real low yet audibly, "Mmm, mmm, wow."

At first his flirtation seemed silly. Yeah, right, he's gotta be kidding, I thought. Young fool, he's just messing with me. Ha ha ha, funny, funny funny.

I started to go on about my business, but Aaron wouldn't stop staring. Usually when men stare, I get annoyed and want to look anywhere except at the man whose eyes won't let me go. But with Aaron, this was different. I felt myself blushing, wanting to smile almost. Yet something screamed, He's crossed a line. Perform tongue-fu on him. Tell him his ass is grass and you're the lawn mower. But then another instigating inner voice said, Eat it up, Tracey Lorraine Davenport. It's okay for him to stare.

It felt weird to admit that I liked the way he lifted me. And after what I'd been through on my lunch break that day, hearing a long whistle and assuming it was a man, just to find out it was a bird, this was definitely an upgrade.

I turned and smiled at Aaron as widely and sweetly as possible. His body was so close he could have reached out and caressed my arm. I felt frozen to the floor.

"Mmmm, you look . . . never mind," he said in a low voice. Then he made a what's-the-matter-with-me groan and looked at the ceiling, at the floor, then back at me. I waved my hand at him so he could keep on talking, but without warning, he gave me a hardened stare and backed away.

Can you believe I felt a tiny stab of loneliness, just that quick? From enjoying the highs of feeling like an "it" girl, to being so-last-year, just that fast?

I stood only a couple feet away from him, but it felt like he was on the other side of the earth. He was standing next to the door, mumbling what sounded like "damn," and he was clutching and turning the doorknob.

"Hey," I said, stepping close to Aaron and forcing him to look at me again.

Aaron lifted his head and opened his mouth, but instead of hearing his words, I heard, "Mom, what are you doing?"

Right then I felt like the child and not the mother. I jumped back from the guy far enough to create some innocent distance between us. I covered my thighs with my hands, then grabbed a few magazines and placed them in front of my crotch with an overdue "This is so embarrassing. Aaron, don't you know how to ring a doorbell instead of just walking in here?"

I glanced at Lauren, apologized with my eyes. Her terse expression softened a little, but not enough to make me feel totally at peace.

The entire atmosphere shifted, the tantalizing moment escaping with few promises of a return. I even retrieved the leggings from the couch and scurried to my room and slid my legs inside them. Once my hands stopped shaking, and when I felt calm enough to emerge, I rushed past Aaron and resumed stacking magazines.

Aaron hung around for a little bit longer, until Lauren was ready. She grabbed him by the hand, snatching him through the door and toward the safety of the outside world. Yet before they left, and all the time he was standing there, I never made eye contact with him again. But I'd bet a hundred bucks, even though all three of us were in the same room, that my daughter's boyfriend sneaked another peek at me.

She didn't have to worry, though. I liked his attention, loved how good his stare made me feel, but after thinking about things long and hard, I decided I wasn't going to be a fool. Once I knew they were gone, I said out loud to the mirror with a strong voice, "Aaron is just a kid. And I don't do kids."

Reading Group Guide

1. Is Tracey someone you could see yourself being friends with? What are her redeeming qualities? Her negative ones?

2. Until Aaron came along, Tracey was doing a good job raising Lauren. Why was she willing to risk her relationship with her daughter? Can you understand how she thought things might work out okay for everyone?

3. There are several mother-daughter relationships in the book: Tracey and Lauren, Tracey and her own mother, Indira and Regis. Which strikes you as the healthiest? Which is most like your relationship with your mother? Your daughter?

4. Who is the most likeable character in the novel? The least?

5. In her relationships with men, Tracey seems to expect to be treated a certain way. Are these expectations realistic? How might they be contributing to her romantic frustrations?

6. Compare Tracey’s relationship with Aaron to Lauren’s relationship with him. How are they alike? How are they different? What does Aaron get from each woman that he can’t get from the other?

7. Discuss Aaron’s role in the affair. Is he the instigator? Once he starts seeing Tracey, is his behavior toward Lauren honorable, or are there things he should have done differently?

8. And what is Lauren’s role? Is the lesson here that she should have slept with Aaron? Why, or why not? At times she seems willfully naive about her mother and her boyfriend–is she intentionally ignoring signals, or is the truth simply too difficult to imagine?

9. Tracey tells Indira about the affair on page 150. Imagine you were Indira: How would you have reacted to such a confession from a close friend? Should Indira have done something more about it?

10. There are times when it appears Tracey wants to get caught–inviting Aaron over after Lauren goes to bed, for example. Why would she do this?

11. On page 215 Tracey raises the idea of karma–that they might be punished for their affair in some other area of their lives. Is Aaron’s father’s illness an example of this? How does Tracey’s karma manifest itself? Does karma figure into your own life?

12. Discuss the role of the church in the story. What does each character’s churchgoing habits say about them? How might each have behaved differently if religion was more, or less, important to them?

13. During the flood, on page 265, Tracey has an epiphany about her failings as a mother. What is the result of this awakening? Is her rescue a result, in some karmic way?

14. Throughout the book, characters tell Tracey that she worries too much about what other people think. Is this true? Are there times when she doesn’t worry enough?

15. Discuss Tracey’s relationship with Derrick. What does Tracey want from Derrick, and vice versa? On page 289 Tracey says Derrick is a female version of herself–how is this an accurate assessment, and how is it wrong?

16. A saying Tracey sees at church has quite an effect on her: Thinking beyond where you are will bring you out from where you are. What does this mean, and how does Tracey implement it? Are there similar mottos that help you in your own life?

17. Assess Tracey and Lauren’s relationship at the beginning of the novel versus at the end. How is it better? Worse? Are there results you expected that didn’t come to pass?

18. What do you imagine would happen if Tracey had allowed Aaron to come home with her on the last page?

Editorial Reviews

The author of My Daughter's Boyfriend re-sifts and comes up with an irresistible title based on a cool-headed premise. Anya Meadows suffers from FSAD-Female Sexual Arousal Disorder ("a condition that affects 47 million women for a variety of reasons"). To keep her husband Neil ("a taller, thinner, less insane version of Mike Tyson") from leaving her and daughter Reese, she proposes a contract: find a girlfriend, sort of: oral sex only, encounters no more than twice a week, no falling in love. The book opens, alas, with Anya sitting at home, awaiting word on the birth of Neil's new son, Braxton, with Neil's contract-girlfriend (and co-worker) Danielle. Rax shifts the book's first person among the three principles fluidly: Anya loves her stay-at-home-mom lifestyle, dependent on Neil's job as a capital projects manager at a local Houston college. Trying-to-do-the-right-thing Neil loves Anya, but also cares for the few-class-tiers-lower Dani, who is (in her own words) "spirited, decent-looking, employed, fun-loving, supportive." But among other drama, Neil's boss finds it unacceptable that a married, "high-profile" member of the department is "openly having babies with someone else." Rax manages the fallout from her exaggerated plot with insight, zip and wit, and airs multiple conflicts within black middle-class life in compelling detail. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

In this brash first novel, Tracey Kendricks gets her mojo working in a big way: after her 17-year-old daughter rejects sex with boyfriend Aaron, 19, he finds a willing partner in 34-year-old Tracy herself. Comparisons with Terry McMillan's How Stella Got Her Groove Back end there, as self-absorbed Tracey alternately begs, hollers, and whines her way in and out of several relationships, ignores her daughter Lauren's feelings entirely by stealing Aaron, and storms around in her car waiting for her cell phone to ring. What could have been a breezy, in-your-face fling turns into a hard lesson when Tracey gets a message from God about her bad behavior. Readers not alienated by the unlikable Tracey will tire of the wooden dialog, monotonous plot, endless variations on the verb to be. This is thin fare, even for the beach. Not recommended.-Jennifer Baker, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Lonely mom, handsome college student, resentful daughter. Tracey Kendricks kicked her honey to the curb after a screaming fight with the heffa he was seeing on the side. Where are all the good men? And why do single mothers have so much trouble finding one? At the age of 17, Tracey gave birth to daughter Lauren, who just turned 17 herself. Without much help, Tracey raised her child and did it right, but when does she get to have some fun? She's only 34 and not ready to give up on sex and romance. Just her luck: Aaron Oliver, the college student who's been dating Lauren, happens to see Tracey in bra and panties, and the gleam in his eyes and the husky catch in his voice let her know what he's thinking (same thing she's thinking). Good thing Aaron breaks up with Lauren not too long after that. Next step, a passionate affair has him and Tracey sneaking around and acting crazy. It's not long before Lauren finds out. Yes, there's hell to pay-and healing to come at a mother-daughter retreat. Juicy debut, capably written. Rax keeps it real, and Tracey is genuinely likable, for all her sins. Author tour. Agent: Claudia Menza/CMLA

Kirkus Reviews

Fascinating, witty, and thought-provoking . . . full of memorable characters. My Daughter’s Boyfriend is the perfect summer read.” —Zane

“Warning: Once you pick up My Daughter’s Boyfriend, you will not be able to put it down. It’s the book you’ll be talking about with your girlfriends as if you’ve just heard a bit of good gossip and can’t hold your tongue.” —Renee Swindle, author of Please Please Please

From the Publisher