Warm Hands

by Margaret Johnson-Hodge

Mya is feeling free and content after months of heartbreaking sadness in the aftermath of breaking up with her commitment-phobic boyfriend, Vincent. She's taken up running, looks good, and has no intention of starting another relationship. Then she meets Jeff. Handsome, decent, and kind, he's a keeper-the kind of man she's always wanted...the man she is about the marry. Until she stuns herself and everyone else by betraying Jeff...with Vincent.

Hurt and angry, Jeff walks out of her life, leaving Mya alone to confront her deepest self and her destructive behavior. In doing so, she takes a brave look at her own life and the family patterns she learned to follow. Through a haze of pain, despair and desperation, Mya awakens to life's truest lessons: self-love is the most important love of all, and only by loving yourself can others truly love you...

272 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2000

About the author

Margaret Johnson-Hodge is the author of several books that have received national acclaim. She is a winner of the 1998 Reviewer’s Choice Awards, for “The Real Deal”. “Butterscotch Blues” made the Blackboard Bestsellers List, the Essence Magazine Bestseller List and Black Expressions Book Club 2000 Book of the Year coming in at number 6.

“A New Day” made the Mosaic Magazine What’s Hot Top Five Fiction List five (5) times and “True Lies” made the Black Expressions Best Sellers List in 2002. Margaret has garnered rave reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, The Quarterly Black Review, Essence Magazine and Ebony Magazine.

She has been featured in major papers in her hometown, was a guest speaker at Georgia’s Writers, Inc. Her novels “True Lies”, “Some Sunday” and “Butterscotch Blues” were Main Selections for Black Expressions, and “The Real Deal”, “A New Day”, “Warm Hands”, “A Journey To Here” and “This Time” were alternates selections.

Both Showtime and Hallmark Hall of Fame have considered her books for movie options and with the release of her sixth novel “True Lies”, Publisher Weekly declared: “Johnson-Hodge's popularity continues to grow. Audiences tired of shallow buppie antics will respond favorably to the earthy dramas she describes.” Her seventh novel, “A Journey To Here” was released to great reviews and the book garnered her a nominee for Author of The Year.

In 2005, Margaret donned a new cap - publisher - and released her eighth book – “This Time”, through her own publishing company – Sutton Place Publishers, Inc. "This Time" was well received by both critics and readers a like.

Born and raised in New York, Margaret no longer lives there, but New York is where her heart remains. She continues to craft stories about the great city in which she grew up and looks forward to telling more of them.

A mother and full-time author, she writes on a near daily basis, rarely taking a break from her craft. “There is always some story inside of me,” is how she sees it “and I just try and get it told.”

Reviews

[Heather Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED this book. Read it in college and need to read it again. Why? It, for me, embodied understanding the need for self-esteem and appreciating your worth. I tell women, especially women of color, to read it and, even if they don't like some of the story's framework, to see if they recognize any negative aspects of the main character within themselves. If so, they need to change them! : ) Margaret Johnson-Hodge did a great job with this novel.

[De · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read. All the usual platitudes.