SBF Seeking ...

by La Toya Hankins

Yvette Thurman never thought placing a personal ad to meet a white man for a fling four months before her wedding would lead to her becoming a lesbian.

Genres: LGBT Romance, Lesbian, Romance

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 22, 2012

About the author

La Toya Hankins is a native of North Carolina and currently resides in Durham NC. A graduate of East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism with a minor in political science.

Hankins currently serves as Gamma Xi Phi National President. She joined the fraternity of artists and creators in 2021. Hankins also serves as the Program Director for the fraternity's Theta chapter which serves the Raleigh/Durham area.

During her college career, she became a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and has more than three decades of membership. She has served in local and state leadership position within the organization.

Her literary influences and loves include Zora Neale Hurston, Walter Mosley, Anne Rice, and Pearl Cleage. Her motto, borrowed from Hurston, is “I do not weep at the world, I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I read SBF Seeking…it was for a book club. Initially I thought it was unbelievable. Who puts an ad out for a heterosexual interracial fling and then gets turned onto women??? I discussed my concerns with the author, who was in attendance, about the realism of the story and she graciously explained to me that it was semi-autobiographical. The events that were unbelievable to me were her life occurrences in character form. What impressed me the most about SBF Seeking was the character development. While Yvette’s story on the surface appears to be a modern coming out tale, I found that the depth of her story lay in self-discovery and self-acceptance. With the assistance of a colorful cast of characters Yvette’s transition from SBF Seeking to SBF Found… makes for a good read.

[African Americans on the Move Book Club · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yvette Thurman is about to settle down and marry the love of her life. At least that's the plan. She becomes restless at the monotony of hers and Martin's relationship and after some soul searching places a personal ad. She does meet someone who is intriguing to her but it doesn't go anywhere. This does give her the strength to know that she and martin are not meant for each other and she calls the wedding off. She really doesn't know what she wants at this point but becomes interested in finding out what her true desire in life may be. This causes her some inner angst but at the same time she needs to know if this is what she wants to make her happy. The reader will be caught up in Yvette’s story as she learns who will accept her for who she is and those that won't, most of all will she accept herself for who she is? She will also learn that no matter where love comes from, sometimes that just isn't enough.

Zandra Barnes
AAMBC Reviewer

[Justina Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book runs the gamut of super highs and heart-wrenching lows. Most of the story takes place in Raleigh, North Carolina and other Southern locations. There is an incredibly appealing and emotionally packed journey that I would recommend to women and men, gay and straight, people of color, and white folks, too. For at the heart of it all, this story is about love, family, friendship, courage, passion, sacrifice, and pain. It is about life. Magnificent!

Yvette Thurman is an SBF, single black female, and as she blithely states the only 'chocolate drop' at her job. Additionally, she will take on a huge burden that dwarfs the problems that her upcoming wedding brought down on her head. Yvette appears to find her true center and equilibrium, but the price might be high and the balance is precarious. Yet, there are many who have her back, including me. Plus, there is an elusive but palpably gorgeous rainbow showing her the way. She even throws herself a coming out party. I loved Yvette!

Jasmine has partnered with Yvette after a painful and devastating breakup. They blended together so beautifully, it was reasonable to assume they were linked for life. Jasmine may not be all that she seems but with the wondrous glow of early love surrounding Jasmine and Yvette that idea just seems to be so far-fetched.

Yvette has a fairly large family and a wonderful group of stalwart close friends. Her relationship with her fiancé, her twin sister, her mother, her work associates, and Jasmine, of course, just delightfully peppered the landscape as Yvette evolves and matures into the woman she begins to recognize as her true self. The fabulous scenes in North Carolina and its environs, but most definitely Yvette's wonderfully amusing excursions to allow her inner truth to bubble forth, are surely the heart and soul of this satisfying story. Don't miss it!


NOTE: This book was provided by JMS Books for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[Tally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real Rating: It was an enjoyable book with it's specific topics. It was three and a half stars at best.

Overall Reading Experience: I enjoyed reading an urban book. First one of the year and it was filled with decent Adult-like drama. It was nice to read something that isn't considered Young Adult. My main issue was how the option of being bisexual wasn't even there. I feel like going from being "Straight" your entire life, meet a few lesbians and now you just jump straight down the lesbian hole was unrealistic a bit. No one suggested that she might have been into both sexes?

What It's About: This story is about a woman who is engaged who wants one last rump with someone. She wants it to be with a white man. When that doesn't work out she begins to believe she may be a lesbian.

Word Vomit of What I Really Thought: I enjoyed the short story and I enjoyed Yvette's friendship with her friends and family. It was lovely reading that. I loved how we got to know about her work life and such and it just kinda felt like an autobiography of a few years that mattered most to this woman. Again the fact that being bisexual wasn't brought up kinda felt a bit weird but aye, it is what it is. I feel like the cover is so drab. Doesn't really make you want to read it, if you were just looking at it. Yes, people do judge books by their covers these days. I was a little saddened by the ending because it just ended. Like it wasn't much of a conclusion. No real happy ending for her love life. I felt like if you end a story like that, there should be more self discovery being noted. It's like she ended right where she started off and I did feel like the story was going to have a great ending paragraph. Idk, it just didn't feel totally complete. Otherwise it was a nice read to read inbetween fantasy books. :)

[Sarah Weathersby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met the author through a Meetup.com writers group. I had the opportunity to do a critique of a chapter of her work-in-progress that became this novel. The next time I saw her at a meetup, she had just published her book and was excited about telling the group about her experience.

I try to support any author I know in person, and even though I gave positive supportive feedback for the chapter I read, I was torn, knowing it was a lesbian romance. Should I buy the book...of course. Will I read the book? Maybe. Then she asked me to write a review. So I had to tell her. I don't often read gay literature. I recently read Justin Torres' "We the Animals" and before that a couple of James Baldwin books...forty years ago.

She tried to let me off the hook, but I got the ebook Sample on Kindle and the story grabbed me. It's a light-hearted romance of a young woman preparing to marry her college boyfriend when she realizes he is not the one she wants to spend her life with.

After trying personals ads and dates with other men, she gradually finds her way into a relationship with a woman. She continues her friendships with the friends she has always hung out with, and reaches the point when she has to come out of the closet even though she just discovered she was in the closet. The way the author handles a delicate subject with humor, makes the book an easy read. Until she decides to tell her family, and the self-righteous bigotry flies.

I won't spoil the ending for you. I enjoyed reading SBF seeking...

[Kathryn Bundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This debut novel carries you along. The characters are well defined and believable and the dialogue is very good. This is a fast moving, entertaining book ---- go ahead and give it a spin.

It does have more than a few technical errors in typos, grammar, missing words. For me, it didn't detract from the story too much, but for some readers, it might.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting by the pool, and I'm glad I did. It's a fun novel of friendship, love and self-discovery. LaToya Hankins writes a fictionalized version of her own coming out story, where her main character, Yvette, facing her wedding day four months away, decides to put an ad in the newspaper looking for a white man. Through many twists and turns, this ultimately leads to Yvette discovering she's a lesbian. I thought this book was entertaining and appreciated the character development and voice, even when the book could oftentimes have benefited from a stronger editor.

[Celenia S · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading a book by this author. It has a lot of ups and downs. But some people’s lives are that way.
Main Character story starts out engaged to man. By the end of the story she is a lesbian. Goes through coming out and getting her heart broken.

[Jens · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was OK, a fun read. But does nobody else react to the many mistaken, omitted, or additional words? Like "her" instead of "here", "they" instead of "there", etc. This happens countless times all over the book. I got my copy from Smashwords, maybe there are better revisions elsewhere.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the subject matter but didn’t care for the delivery.

[LVLMLeah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

Kindle edition

My review:

http://bi-curious-romancenovel-chat.b...

[Tylis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

Finally! A lesbian romance written by a black author without a lot of unnecessary drama and a high body count. Well done.