Afterburn

by Zane

In the latest romantic romp from New York Times bestselling author Zane, two hapless lovers get lost in a dating game gone awry.
When Washington, D.C., chiropractor Yardley Brown goes to his local bank, it isn't only to make deposits into his account. He has long since accrued some interest in Rayne Waters, a bank employee who's too beautiful to be true - and too beautiful to be single. At least that's what Yardley believes, which is why he has never approached her.
Little does he know that Rayne is anything but taken. Not for want of trying, of course. But after barely surviving a dating disaster with her hairdresser's brother and then falling for a member of her church band who, it turns out, is celibate, she's on the verge of giving up. That is, until Yardley - discouraged by his own slew of dead-end romances - finally works up the courage to give her a try. The true craziness, however, is just beginning, thanks to a cast of characters who seem bent on botching the young couple's relationship.
There's Rayne's erratic mother, who constantly boasts about being a "good whore"; Yardley's playboy buddies, always trolling for sex; and, worst of all, past lovers who make a habit of popping up and ruining things as only old flames (or previous mistakes) can. Weaving the carnal and the comical in true Zane fashion, Rayne and Yardley's struggle to find love in a world gone mad is a timeless talk about everything that can go wrong in the dating game - and a few things that can go right.

Genres: Erotica, Romance, African American, Fiction, Adult, Urban, Erotic Romance

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 4, 2005

About the author

Zane is the New York Times bestselling author of Afterburn, The Heat Seekers, Dear G-Spot, Gettin’ Buck Wild, The Hot Box, Total Eclipse of the Heart, Nervous, Skyscraper, Love is Never Painless, Shame on It All, and The Sisters of APF; the ebook short stories “I’ll be Home for Christmas” and “Everything Fades Away”; and editor for the Flava anthology series, including Z-Rated and Busy Bodies. Her TV series, Zane’s Sex Chronicles, and The Jump Off are featured on Cinemax, and her bestselling novel Addicted is a major motion picture with Lionsgate Films. She is the publisher of Strebor Books, an imprint of Atria Books/Simon & Schuster. Visit her online at EroticaNoir.com. - See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Z...

Reviews

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story!

Heartbreaking and thought provoking.
Rayne and Yardley ending up together was predictable but the turn of events in the end made the beginning "fluff" worth the read.

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

NEVER before have I loved a book so much but given it a rating based solely on its ending. I really like Zane's writing style. I love that she can write romance that's so erotic yet tasteful. I love heroines that are strong, empowered, experienced, and not afraid of admitting that they like sex.

The book had a 4.5 star rating from me up until the last chapter where the author threw in the most AWFUL ending from out of NO-FREAKING-WHERE! It was absolutely pointless to kill the heroine off in a random corner store robbery. It had nothing to do with the story. Where THE F*** is my HEA???? What was the purpose of this senseless fictional random act of violence?

At the end of the book, in her notes, the author explains her decision to kill off the main character as some kind of profound 'wake-up' call so her readers would not 'waste time on things that don't matter, life is short,tomorrow isn't promised, etc,etc,". She then goes on to explain how losing important people in her life affected her decision to kill off our heroine.

While all that's fine and well and I do agree, life is short, we shouldn't waste it. But for Pete's sake, this is a "ZANE" novel. ZANE who's works include "The Sisters of Alpha Phi Fuckem: The Indoctrination of Soror Ride Dick." and "The Sex Chronicles". When one goes to the bookstore or clicks a link to buy a freaking ZANE novel, one typically isn't looking for words or wisdom or life philosophies. I mean, come ON, it's ZANE, not Paulo Coehlo or Mitch Albom or someone like that.

My ONLY issue with this book was it's ending. While I can appreciate the "Don't waste time because life isn't promised" message, I absolutely DID NOT appreciate said message coming in the form of an off the wall ending of an erotic novel. It simply didn't fit and ended up ruining the ENTIRE book for me.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay....WOW....didn't expect the book to end the way it did. That completly threw me for a loop.

This was a good story but not a great one. I liked the tale of two spirits finally finding their soulmate.

Rayne grew up with a drunk mother but was able to get an education and make a life for herself.

Yardly had all of the advantages but had some pain and trauma early in life but was STILL a good man. This character is an honorable man that many women wait their whole lives for.

THE ENDING THOUGH....sad but I guess it is a bit more realistic than happily ever after. The moral of the story is not to waste time and put off for tomorrow because tomorrow may never come.

[Kierra]

so amazing i loved this book and im still waiting for the sequal

[Amy M. (Amy Loves Reading Blog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow!! I love reading recommendations and especially ones that have my mind thinking long after I have finished. As I have just finished this book I know it will be on my mind for a long time afterwards.

Rayne and Yardley are the two main characters we get to watch grow and get hurt through different relationships. Rayne had a mother that wasn’t your typical mother and who she was very ashamed of but like all of us her mother also had her own demons. Watching Rayne learn from her mother’s demons was different and the way she went about life was an experience. Rayne had some things about her life that I didn’t agree with and very much hated her at one point but I could see the insecurities that led her to these decisions.

Yardley.... this man had some questionable picks for woman but I swooned hardcore. He was the whole package and I couldn’t understand how each woman didn’t understand what they had when they had it. One woman in particular had me disgusted and wanting to beat her ass. (Well, maybe more than one woman.) But in the end he chose to live his life and demand the love and respect from the woman of his dreams.

I have had issues in the past when an author does what this author did in this book and which is the reason I took a full star away. I completely understand why you did what you did and I read the entire book from cover to back looking for the explanation you gave but it still broke me. I don’t value reading books like this because I want to learn hard lessons or get a reality check, I read because I want to escape my life and the sad things I have gone through. I don’t want to be reminded and then told I need to get up and live, I’ve been trying....

I did enjoy this book very much until the end. It’s hot, sexy and gave me hopeful feelings. Just beware that as with life, this book throws some harsh truths in your face.

[Afira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every book she writes it makes me wonder if she has experience these words or have talk to other to inspire her thoughts. These thoughts are real and it scares me that she has all of this romance, love, sex and positions in her head to share....lol

[Sugarpie]

this novel is not like all her other novels i encourage anyone to read this book

[Jen McGraw]

I'm giving this one 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed reading it but I did not like the ending!

[Tya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just the second Zane book that I have read and I have to say that I liked this better than the other one I read (forgot which one). I'm not into the erotic fiction but to me had just the right amount of sex. I wasn't too raunchy and not too romantic. I don't know that I liked the character of Rayne. She spends her entire life trying to proof to herself that she is not the whore that her mother claims to be. Hummm, I kind of disagree with that. She is a little bit of a whore, for the simple fact that she threw herself at any man that crossed her path. She clearly has not problem with sleeping with men on the first date, and that night with Basil??? WTF was that all about? Wait, let me back up to something even worse. She had an orgasm...in church...by just looking at this man? Really? By just the mere thought of being with him? And! then she was surprised that he didn't want to have sex until marriage? Man, if that isn't a whore I don't know what is. Having getting passed that, the story overall I thought was a really good one and I liked the ending. The other reviewers were not thrilled but I like a good plot twist. I was looking forward to reading part 2 only to realize that has never been released...what a shame.

[July · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book by Zane I have read. It was a beautiful written Love Story.
Rayne is raised by a single mother who is a alcholic and trying to sleep with every man around.
Yardley is raised by a loving couple who has been married for years and are truly in love.
Rayne has problems throughout the book with relationships. Thank goodness she has had a steady friendship with a childhood girlfriend Chance that kept her normal. They went to college together.
Yardley has problems throughout the book with relationships also. But hangs with his childhood friends still also.
The book doensn't bring these two together until they are almost thiry. But by then they are ready for a real relationship.
This story has a truly surprising ending. A definite one I will remember as a beautiful Love Story.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read this book twice and had a greater appreciation for it the second time I read it. I forgot most of what the book was about and what happened in the book so it was almost like reading it for the first time. It's about life, its gains and its losses, the precious moments, love, love loss, friendships, relationships, and time among other things. It will have you thinking twice about the things and people that you put your time and energy into and it will have you asking yourself, "is it/are they worth it??"

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book; cant believe I forgot to add this to my collection...as I am going through all of my books THIS book amoung all gave me a real surprise and had me in tears in the end. It teaches one to have the courage to go after what or WHO one wants, it also teaches about LOVE and how one should NEVER take WHO or WHAT is loved for granted...one minute there are shared conversations and laughter and the next loneliness and sorrow.

[M.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books from this author. Rayne and Yardley where great, they had a lot to deal with such as her mother and his friends.Rayne and Yardley's struggle to find love in a world gone mad is a timeless struggle that can go wrong for this couple.

[MavLit Publishing · Rating 1 out of 5]

This should have been titled as "Afterthought" because for me I fell asleep barely 10 pages into reading it.

[Adrienna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book so much I bought it.

[Naysha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Naysha Murillo


The novel I chose to read is called the Afterburn part of the zane series author named Eric Jerome Dickey.

this novel is an urban fiction novel based on lives of the ghetto and how we supposively live.The story Afterburn would have

to be about taking chances and never waiting until its too late. Thats the message it gave me at the end of it. These two

young adults struggly with finding love and they're taking forever to see the only trouble is them both being to shy,

scared to approach the other. When they finally do so , they are happy as can be but that is snatched from them in the

end.




The story afterburn is based on love,lies,deciet and taking chances. Gina and Yardley both two very

sucessful young adults but both have the same problem since young kids. They both faced issues that challenged

them for finding love in the future. They don't entirely know eachother in the novel until towards the end of the novel.

Gina is an accountant at a bank and Yardley is one who always comes to the bank to put money into his account.

Yardley goes there to see Rayne but she has no idea that he's doing that for her they watch eachother secretly

but both are to blind to see their connection.Roxie her best friend is always trying to see the light but puts it off

because she is always over thinking her plans. They both have friends that want them to meet but its on them to

realize time is ticking.



The story Afterburn in my opinion was a great. Im a female who likes to read about love and the

journey it takes you in. This book took me through many paths it had me thinking many things it would always take

different direction. So I never can really tell what was going to happen. My favorite scene would have to be when Yardley

and Rayne finally sit down and chat with one another . Its a hard to get non-chalante meet but very cute. He asked he to surprisingly

to go to a new coffee shop but hse had replied saying she can't get close to customers of the bank . So he asked her to surprisingly stop by

and maybe chat with her. She was hesitant and shy but Roxie her crazy spanish friend convinced her to go. When she was there ,they both

acted as if it was there very first encounet, it was a very sweet moment. A moment i remember vividly would have to be when

Rayne's mom oddly in all her ghetto gear appeared at her door expecting to be taking in Rayne's house without it bothering her daughter

out of the kndness of her heart she did it for awhile. That decision interrupted her life but she dealt with it. Questions i had for this story

is ,why did Rayne let her moms life interrupt hers .? What took her so long to say yes and give in to lve? What was she thinking when that

pulled the trigger.? The end in my opinion was horrible she died. The author said there was a lesson in that i say not really it was just a messed

up ending. The author sort of stated that times never guaranteed so live every moment loving and for Rayne her time was up and all that love

she had was never really fully expressed .



I would never really reccomend an urban fiction book to anyone its too much for me sometimes. I tend to like that stuff though , its not

about fake stuff its about situations in life than can really happen. Adults may not agree to these books but they hold an interest to me and I

know it woiuld to other teens because its based on love and how we live not how they make it seem we live.It wouldnt be a read aloud book

too much to do that but a nice book to keep you quiet and the suspense is awesome.




The novel Afterburn was a perfect choice for me because I like the subject love and where it takes you .No matter the outcome of

it . This book had many ups and downs but i can honestly say i took something out of it , Time is never promised so love hard , its one of thos books

you'd like to have a conversation about. It ended with a shock but its the best part about it not the typical all in all happy ending.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a book club meeting with my wine group meet-up. I expected it to be an erotic novel, but it was more of a romance. It was a little disappointing. But it was nice to read someone who could include a plot and decent dialogue, rather than the poorly edited self-published books I often read in this genre.

One thing that really bothered me was the amount of homophobia in this book. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a reflection of the community represented, or if it was supposed to show how manly the men were. But you don't have to participate in a behavior to be tolerant of it--which actually makes you more manly in my opinion.

Also some of the prose felt a little "name-droppy". I mean, when someone talks about a place they "the movie theater on Q" not "the Hoyts Majestic 14 Stadium Theater on the corner of 22nd and Q". I liked knowing the places she referenced in DC, but it was a little too much the way she did it.

[Mrs Tupac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zane has once again done her thang delivering the tastefully sizzling, descriptive, sexy AFTERBURN! First, I would like to commend her on her creative characters, imagination and expressing the importance of friendship. I'm a faithful fan that appreciates that each main character in each book share the common factor of having a strong friend to lean on. Yardley was every woman's fantasy being respectful, handsome and having much skills in the bedroom. Rayne in my opinion one of the more relatable main female characters created thus far. She's beautiful, young, successful and proudly full figured. The two of them went through their share of unsuccessful relationships before finding true love within each other. This book delivers so many impactful messages such as be careful who you trust, true friendship is treasured, know the people you date,true love can be found, timing is everything & LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST.

[Nandi Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after I lost someone I really loved tragically, and I learned that life has a lot of twists and turns, and not only that we don't know what it has in store for us, so the best thing to do is to live it to the fullest and stop living mediocre, unfullfilling lives. The hero and heroine in this story was digging on each other for TWO years before any of them would approach the other. Finally the girlfriend of the lady told her to talk to him and a wonderful relationship evolved which would have lasted forever except for circumstances. A favorite book dealing with life's challenges and the glory, as well as the pain of love.

[Alysssaaaaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t want to say this was a good book. However, it wasn’t a terrible book. It was cheesy and random and made little to no sense at times. What was up with her mom? And all the guys she dealt with were absolutely terrible. The profanity and sexual slang like “dick slayer” and “good whore” made it pretty cringe at times. That was the beginning through the middle. I really enjoyed what was close to the ending with them “evolving” and everything. Yardley was super cute. I was truly excited when he actually became about them. What in the world was the ending though? I cannot believe it. It was completely unexpected and UNNECESSARY.

[Bonita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book up until the end. In my opinion, and I know I did NOT write this book, but the ending was absolutely unneccesary. I kept asking myself that question. And justified or not, and even though I love Zane, it's taken me about 3 years to pick up anothr Zane book. jmo

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed this book, it's not one of my absolute favs.

[Punkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was different from the other zane books,i liked it made you realize whats important in life..

[Steph Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book spoiler alert im mad rayne died smh sad

[Nayah James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left me full of anticipation and wondering thoughts. From beginning to end I was curious of the characters and how they played out. The end left me speechless and thinking WHY????!!!

[Winter Sophia Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tastefully Sizzling!

[Ty Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad! But good story

[Gw · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read a few Zane books.. the books suck!!

[Margie Cobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time is a precious thing.

This book made me emotional in the end. I was waiting for Rayne and Yardley ' s wedding. Was not expecting the story to end like it did.

[Ariana · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was a terrible ending. Wth is this middle school were you kill off your main character just because?!?!