THE COLORS OF LOVE

Three friends deal with the aftermath of a terrible event in Raye’s second campus-set novel in a series.

A deadly shooting in 2001 turned the lives of three college students upside down. Melody Wilkins is having the hardest time; the shooter was her abusive boyfriend Kevin, who pointed the gun at one of her best friends, Imani Jordan, before turning it on himself and taking his own life. Lance Dunn, another of Melody’s friends, also witnessed the shooting, which leaves them all with complex feelings of anger, guilt, and anxiety—feelings that they’ve been encouraged to keep to themselves: “Imani still wondered how much the college paid to keep Kevin’s suicide out of the news.” Football star Lance balances a desire to protect his two friends with his athletic ambitions and his weakness for casual sex, while Imani pursues a degree in chemical engineering despite running into racist barriers. Melody, meanwhile, struggles to find love again. The three friends all want to move forward from the tragedy as a united front, but are cracks in their friendship starting to deepen? Overall, Raye’s prose is fluid and sensual in style, as in this passage describing one of Lance’s ill-fated romantic escapades: “Lance entered his frat room tearing off the sheer red blouse of his latest conquest. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember her name….But her ravenous eyes that scoped him from across the room and her erotic dance moves that ensnared him, all told him her name didn’t matter.” The well-plotted story moves quickly, covering events over more than a four-year span. The storytelling feels a bit messy at times, but the scattered feel adds to the fun as couples form and dissolve, friendships are tested, truths are revealed, and soap-operatic drama ensues. Raye succeeds in capturing the highs and lows of university life, when one discovers the sort of person one wants to be—and the sort of people one wants to be with—which can be the most important lesson to learn.

A highly readable and dramatic tale of young adulthood.