Vow (Millner, Burt-Murray, Miller)

The Vow 
Denene Miller, Angela Burt-Murray, Mitzi Miller, 2005
HarperCollins
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780060762285

Summary
In this runaway hit novel, three best friends come together for their sorority sister's glitzy wedding in Atlanta and make a vow to get married within one year. As they embark on their search to find their soul mates, they navigate the full-contact sport known as being a SSBFLA (successful, single, black, female in L.A.) and negotiate the shark-infested waters of making a name for themselves professionally in Hollywood.

Can Trista, the hyper-driven celebrity agent, find the time to schedule a meaningful romance? Will Amaya, the sexy starlet, convince the married hip hop-label exec she has been seeing to leave his wife, or will the NBA star steal her heart in the final seconds? After undergoing a complete makeover, will Vivian, the jaded gossip columnist, win back the father of her child?

As seductive as it is empowering, The Vow is a page-turner that will keep you cheering for these women as they discover that their desire to find a husband isn't as important as finding themselves. (From the publisher.)

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Author Bios
• Denene Millner is a columnist for Parenting magazine. She has worked as a senior editor at Honeyand as an entertainment and political journalist for the New York Daily News. She is also the author of The Sistahs' Rules and co-author of several books, including the novel A Love Story (with her husband, Nick Chiles), and The Angry Black Woman's Guide to Life, a humor book. Millner lives in Atlanta with her husband and their two daughters. (From the publisher.)

• Angela Burt-Murray is the editor-in-chief at Essence magazine. She has written for Essence, Honey, Parenting, and Working Mother magazines. The co-author of The Angry Black Woman's Guide to Life, Burt-Murray lives in New Jersey with her husband and two sons. (From the publisher.)

• Mitzi Miller is associate editor at Jane magazine and has written for Elle (U.K.), Parenting, and Upscale magazines. She is the former entertainment editor for Honey magazine and the co-author of The Angry Black Woman's Guide to Life. She lives in New York City. (From the publisher.)

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Book Reviews
(Starred review.) Veteran author Millner (What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know) has teamed with Burt-Murray and Miller (editors at Jane and Teen People, respectively) to produce an emotionally charged portrait of contemporary Hollywood with a cast of unforgettable characters. Reunited at a wedding on New Year's Eve, three 30-something sorority sisters pledge to become engaged within a year. Trista Gordon, a power hungry talent agent, will do whatever it takes to beat her politically connected colleague, Steven Banks, to a partnership. Beautiful actress Amaya Anderson, in line for her first leading role, juggles two boyfriends while focusing on toning down her flashy image. Slightly plump Vivian Evans, an entertainment journalist, remains hopelessly in love with her son's father, her ex-husband. Fortified with new skills meant to drive a man wild, the trio find their wants don't often meet those of their romantic prospects, who include a basketball star, a closeted gay attorney and a hip-hop artist. Readers will eagerly turn the pages of this edgy, sexy novel to learn what's happening next.
Publishers Weekly

Enter the world of California glitz and glamour as three friends navigate their way through Hollywood's chaotic dating scene. Trista is vying for partner at one of the hottest talent agencies in Los Angeles and finds herself caught between a former love and her current, slightly boring boyfriend. Amaya, an actress contending with the casting couch to improve her roles, obsesses about her affair with a married man while dating a basketball star. And newspaper reporter Vivian is still in love with her college boyfriend, the father of her son. Prompted by a New Year's resolution to be wed by the year's end, the women discover the strengths and weaknesses of their friendships, their families, and themselves. Millner (The Sistahs' Rules) and magazine editors Angela Burt-Murray and Mitzi Miller have collaborated before, in The Angry Black Woman's Guide to Life. Their latest endeavor brings fast-paced romances to life and features a trio of engaging characters. Perfect for light reading, this book is recommended for popular fiction collections, especially where Millner is popular. —Joy St. John, Henderson Dist. P.L., NV
Library Journal

The path to true love is never smooth for three sexy black Los Angeles women who set a deadline for landing Mr. Right. A New Year's Eve wedding celebration spurs best friends Trista, Amaya and Viv to make a pledge to find themselves husbands within a 12-month period. Should be simple, right? After all, they have talent, beauty and drive to spare. But finding men does not seem to be the problem, just getting the right one to commit. Earthy single mom Viv longs for a full-time family with her son's father, a successful plastic surgeon, but gets sidetracked by a smitten gangsta rapper; talent agent Trista seems to have met her match in smooth lawyer Garrett, but cannot get her college sweetheart Damon out of her mind; and starlet (and part-time hustler) Amaya hedges her bets with a strapping young basketball star in the hopes that her married music-mogul lover will become jealous enough to leave his movie star wife. This familiar story of friendship and self-realization from Millner (A Love Story, 2004, etc.), Teen People magazine executive editor Burt-Murray and Jane magazine associate editor Miller is peppered with Hollywood gossip about the African-American entertainment elite, along with several frank and funny sex scenes. These wannabe brides are far from chaste, and their unapologetic romps drive the love-yourself-first message better than some of the more conventional plot revelations. Through a series of crises that include a boyfriend on the down-low and a sick child, the friends are forced to face the flaws in their plan and deal with their own fears until they realize that they need each other far more than a ring. A warm-hearted Jackie Collins-meets-Terry McMillan ode to sisterhood, with few surprises.
Kirkus Reviews

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Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Vow:

1. Did you enjoy the unusual structure of this book: three different voices, written by three different authors? Does the story hold together—do the authors pull it off?

2. Are the three main characters authentic and well-developed as individuals? Or do you find them stereotypic: the man's women, the woman left with a baby, and the hard-charging career worman?

3. Are the characters compelling—do you care about them? Do you have a favorite among the three—Trista, Amay, or Vivian? Do you see qualities of yourself in any one of them?

4. Does The Vow do a good job of describing the cultural issues faced by single working women who are also in the market for a mate? Are the challenges the three women face authentic?

5. What about the men? Is there one you like/dislike one more than the others? Who...and why? Are the men fully developed as characters, or are they one-dimensional caricatures?

6. How would you react if you found your boyfriend was on the down-low?

7. Viv began a self-improvement program, then back-tracked. Were you disappointed in her...or sympathetic? What about Sean's justification for leaving Viv with the baby? Does his reasoning stand up? Does Viv end up with the right guy?

8. What do you think of Amaya handing over the photos of his wife to Keith?

9. What does each of the three women start to realize in the process of finding a husband...what do they learn by the end of the book?

10. Did The Vow hold your interest? Is it a page-turner...or were there times when you lost interest?

11. Are you satisfied with the way the novel ends? Do you feel each woman gets what she truly needs...or deserves? If you could, would you change the ending...and, if so, how?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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