What exactly is love and to what extent do some of us go to get it? Darnella Ford addresses this question in Crave, shows the frailty of the human need to love and to be loved. It is a some what dark story of a woman who missed out on love and affection as a child and how it affects her when she gets older, basically leaving her with a craving to be loved, suffering from illusions of normality, and a low self-esteem that controls her decisions.

Michael Morgan is confused about life and love and is convinced that through her sexual exploits she can find a man who will give her the love she seeks. Almost in a daze and going from man to man, she doesn't quite grasp that love cannot be found between the sheets. Because of this, she sets herself up for constant heartbreak, pain and misery. While the trauma of her situation should eventually wake her up from her actions, she can't release the yearning she has inside. Just when she is at her lowest, she meets a wonderful white man who she's not so sure about initially, but then she ends up falling for him -- falling in the worse way. It is the way that Michael is known for falling for men (hard and quick) in an unending cycle on her search to love.

The characters, both protagonists and antagonists were well-defined and yet vague when needed, offering a perfect balance to this disturbing, yet sometimes funny book. I especially liked the interactions between Michael and her two best friends in the book, both of whom are suffering with their own issues of drug addiction and homosexuality. Poetic and dramatic, Crave is a relationship novel, yet it crosses the line into something more and stands out on its own. Addressing the issues of self-worth and mental illness with the normal story lines of other relationship novels made this book more alive, more focused, and more set on bringing the lessons home.

By: Dela Williams
SistaGirl Book Club Reviewers