Description: "Something inside of me always holds me back from going all out with a girl and letting my emotions become too involved. Was it the rules I set up for myself before I even get with anybody, preventing me from getting too close because I categorized our relationship either as a) purely physical, or b) seeing each other/just kicking it? What happened to c) boyfriend/girlfriend? When did that fall off the list?"

This is the question that college junior, former hoopster, Tony Norris is trying to answer for himself, and in the process, all the black male twenty-somethings of his generation in "Move Over Girl," the debut novel from Brian Peterson. Though Tony is beginning to realize there's something wrong with his thinking, and how his love life has been going, he's not sure how to get "boyfriend/girlfriend" back on the list.

Being a good looking young man with a gift for gab, Tony puts as much time in his studies of women as he does his courses. The problem is his grades are higher in his classes then in his relationships. He keeps falling for the wrong women and overlooking the right one, who's under his nose.

Tony's amorous adventures play out against the backdrop of college years and his boys. There's Derrick, a football star and his best friend, who's figured out the whole relationship thing and doesn't understand why Tony hasn't. Then there's Jay who only drinks Snapple, unless there's liquor around ("sometimes he'd just mix Snapple and vodka, and call it a day"), and Kwam, who "you never had to wonder what was on his mind 'cause he wasted no time letting you know.

Does he figure it out? Does he update the list? Only time, and the end of the book, will tell.

Please Wait