Renee And Jay by J.J. Murray

Renee And Jay Reviews

• 
  The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears

  I don't know where to start with my criticism of this book.
  
  I suppose I was hoping for something with a lot less dependency upon trite stereotypes of black womanhood. I was trying very hard not to be offended at yet another white male fantasy of what black women are about, even one written by a man in an interracial marriage.
  
  Renee, for all her supposed education and sophistication, was a tiresome character, and her personality was far from being amusing. In fact, she came off rather ignorant, especially when it came to trying Italian cuisine for the first time. I mean, did the woman live in a vacuum? It seemed that Renee had never enjoyed a pizza or spaghetti before. If Roanoake, VA is that backwards, I for one most certainly wouldn't want to live there.
  
  Renee's views of Italians came off as biased and prejudicial. Her comments about Giovanni having a "smell" that she found distasteful was bothersome. Does the author really believe that most black people in America have never been around Italians? Has the author ever lived in New York, or somewhere a tad more cosmopolitan?
  
  To me, Renee came off as selfish and far more concerned about what other people might think about her growing relationship with Jay, and less about her own true feelings. I was very disturbed by her refusal to allow Jay to hold her hand or bestow a kiss on her in public because she didn't want anyone to see them together.
  
  In many ways she was petty and juvenile, and if I had been Giovanni, I'd have married someone who had their heads on a little straighter than "sister girl" Renee. Renee's overbearing mother and best friend left a lot to be desired as well.
  
  Giovanni was too typically the "romantic" hero and he could have used a lot more guts. The entire "hip-hop" poet aspect, also left me feeling a little unsure. It seemed almost contrived somehow, as if the author was trying to convince the reader that Giovanni's interest in Renee was sincere.
  
  The only decent characters with any sort of warmth and likeability were Giovanni's father and sister, who was a lesbian. Their reunion was probably the most touching moment in a book rather bereft of them.
  
  Being in an interracial relationship myself, Renee's behavior just reinforces my belief that some people simply are not emotionally mature enough to handle going against the grain. For myself, the only happiness I care about is that of my partners' and my own. The rest of the world can go hang.
  
  I will say, in spite of my disatisfaction with much of the novel, I still read it in two days, the only reason being the lack of interracial romances in general.
  
  
• 
  Bg

  J.J. Murray has struck my fancy for interracial romances and his style of writing though I don't really see much of a difference from a normal romance novel. So instead of saying interracial, I'm just going to stick with romance novel. Still Renee and Jay screams author and his first novel. It wasn't enticing or as well written as Original Love that I read previously by him.
  Renee Howard, a hard working independent African-American woman with a horrible attitude, is probably the most irritation character in the book next to her mother who think they know everything about everyone all the time. Renee is ghetto fabulous, and extremely pro-black and thinks very little of Caucasians.
  Giovanni "Jay" Lucheshi is a very excepting Italian-American that she happens to meet when her car gets stuck in the snow during a snow storm. Giovanni is the more likeable character in this book and is always aiming to please. After Giovanni helps Renee with her stranded car he invites her to his family's restaurant self titled Lucheshi. Renee finds herself checking him out with comments like "white boy with a nice ass." and one thing lead to another and somehow their in love after being together for probably less this twelve hours!
  
  This book was very unrealistic. It screams first novel, like I said. The romance in the book I can't really get into because Renee is such a racist to me sometimes and very close-minded. And Giovanni just seems to be wasted on her. I admit that I couldn't really see him with anyone else, but Renee could have been a little nicer to him. Also all the "black slang" and references were a little embarrassing to say the least not to mention the bad grammar on purpose. I can't really recommend this book unless you like random romances that frustrate you, cause this was very random and at times frustrating. But I still have hope for J.J. Murray. its not everyday you find an author who is a white male writing about a black female. That's original in it self. Hopefully the next Murray book I read will be better then this one.
• 
  Mimi Tremont

  Never in all of her twenty-six years did Renee Howard ever consider that her soulmate would be anything other than Tall, Dark and Super Fine. But during a freakish blizzard in Roanoke, Virginia stranded only a few yards from her front door, she meets him. Mr. Tall, Skinny and Too Pale. Quite honestly, at first glance she thinks he looks an awful lot like a kitchen match with his orange hat on. But from that point forward the sparks begin to fly almost instantaneously as she and Giovanni aka "Jay Anthony" hit it off.
  
  Renee is often anything but nice, sweet or demure. A good deal of the time homegirl is trippin' and she knows it. While Jay is all that just about any woman could ever hope for. Gainfully employed, sweet and incredibly sensitive. And let's not forget, very passionate. In every sense of the word, he's truly a gentleman worth waiting for.
  
  Their relationship withstands the doubts and attacks of both their sneaky parents, doubting friends, a rebounding ex in the form of Mr. Tall, Dark and Super Fine and Southern society's racism.
  
  Yet despite all that, you are guaranteed to spend a good deal of the time laughing. I have read this book COUNTLESS times. Each time I've had to force myself to put it down after I'm finished and read something else between reading...and each time, it's as funny as the last.
  
  "Renee and Jay" by J.J. Murray (Kensington) written for his wife Amy Renee, is a book unlike any other that I've ever read simply because of two things essentially: One, I was convinced within the first few lines that J.J. Murray was not only female, but an African American female. And two, after the first few lines I really didn't care that J.J. Murray wasn't an African American nor female. It's as if Mr. Murray...as a friend of mine said, "walked all up in his wife spirit and put it on paper." Written in a straight style from Renee's point of view, it's a book that you'll not only like, in many cases, you just might identify with her and her evil moods when she trips.
  
  
• 
  Xfbc

  For me, this book was not very well written. The dialogue between Renee and Jay made me ask myself time and time again, why, oh why, am I still continuing to read this book. I found myself hoping that it would get better. Hoping that Renee would not be so stereotypically ghetto, domineering, demanding and disrespectful. Hoping that Jay would grow some balls and learn to lead instead of acting like a trained puppy. Hoping that Renee's mother would not actually be such a manipulative, overbearing itch (you know what I mean.). Oh, and aside from the feeble minded characters, it was hard for me to actually imagine a location as prejudiced as Stupidsville, VA. I mean really????
  
  With that said, I doubt very seriously I will read anything else related to Renee and Jay. It is exactly what I would expect a WASP to write about black females....stereotypical and not reality based.
• 
  Danielle The Book Huntress *Pluto is a Planet!*

  One of my very first interracials. I'm cheap, but I bought this in harcover, because I was so glad to see an IRR on the fiction shelves. I adored Giovanni (Renee calls him Jay). Renee was somewhat hard to like. She's prickly, abrasive, and rather mean to Jay. She's really bossy to him. I admired his toleration of her. I love strong women, but I don't like bullying women or heroines. That's how Renee came off. I thought the chemistry was good, although the love scenes were a little too earthy for my tastes. They seemed more like sex than lovemaking to me. The storytelling was very good. Definitely will stay a keeper on my IRR shelves, although Renee is nowhere near a favorite heroine of mine.
• 
  Paganalexandria

  DNF'd once again. I have tried to read this book multiple times over a 10 year period. I always run across it during a shelf rearranging session, remark on how pretty it is, and can't recall why I haven't read it. Only to have the reason crash into me during the attempt.
• 
  Susan

  About 100 or so pages into this book and I was asking myself, ‘What were you thinking?’
  
  The answer is I am curious to read romantic novels written by male authors (let’s call it research). I thought I would get a story told from the male pov but that turned out not to be the case.
  
  It is told by Renee, the female protagonist, who is an African American female (AAF). I did not like her - at all. She was crass, vulgar, rude and racist with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. But this is not my problem with the book (an annoying character isn’t enough for me to right off a book). My problem is that Renee has the audacity to speak on behalf of all AAFs. She does not see herself as an individual, more like a drone in a collective (like the Borg in Star Trek), and so she constantly refers to herself as ‘my people’- and I do mean constantly. It becomes really tedious. In reality, Renee is not like any person. She is a caricature who panders to every AAF stereotype going - also very tedious.
  
  Murray tries to tackle a difficult and uncomfortable issue that many shy away from, i.e. racism, in this novel, which is sort of commendable. BUT it is hard to empathise with Renee when she is the worst offender where racism is concerned. So, in the end, the book does more harm than good in its attempt.
  
  It wasn’t all bad. I thought it improved (a little) as it went on and there were some laugh out loud moments (many actually). I liked some of the poems (especially Pops’ poem and the one Giovanni wrote for Janae).
  
  To be fair to him, this was JJ Murray’s first novel and was published in 2002. I got the impression that he had the potential to write a much better one. I recommend it to no one but I wouldn’t right the author off. If you’re interested in checking out his work, go for something he has written more recently instead. (I am currently reading Original Love, which is a massive improvement.)
  
• 
  Charlisa Tyler

  This was a good read,I enjoyed this book, it was funny, and I like the way Giovanni, didn't care about what people thought, he kissed her in public, wanted to hold hands while they were together.It's something that a lot of people should recognize that love is more powerful than anything. Good book.
• 
  Lawanda

  I first was introduced to J.J Murray when i read his book "Something Real". This book is a great example of the trials and tribulations that most relationships go through especially interracial relationships. The humor and love between Renee and Jay entraps the reader from beginning to end. She kinda reminds me of myself. lol. Definitely a good read!!
• 
  Ikaika

  Awesome!!! Renee and Jay was hilarious. Some of the scenes had me laughing so hard it made my side hurt. Renee was a bit bossy but I liked her because she knew what she wanted and wasn't going to take anything less.
• 
  Chivon

  So far, this is the best J.J. Murray book I have read. It flowed well, was funny and a good romance novel. I liked this book.
• 
  Carey Anderson

  It was pretty ok, I read this book years ago.
• 
  Shayna

  One of my first interracial reads and I loved it.
• 
  Victoria

  The female character was annoying. The book was still a good read.
• 
  SassafrasfromAmazon

  As far as I can remember, this was Mr. Murray's first interracial BWWM romance. It was written quite some time ago, so I would have to reread it to honestly assess the style from then until now. What I do know, however, is that there is a very discernible progression of excellence pertaining to his writing style, original plot lines and overall brilliance of his body of work in the IR/BWWM category. Read my reviews of some of his other books and read a few.
• 
  Synthia Bass

  I didn’t like Renee character , and Giovanni was a bit too compliant.
• 
  Natalie Everett

  This is the first book of J.J. Murray's that I ever read...many years ago, and it's a good introduction to his writings. It is his first novel, so I won't be overly critical. I've only read one other novel (Too Much of A Good Thing), so I know his writing has improved greatly since this one. That being said, the premise of this story is worth reading. I once read somewhere that J.J. Murray was inspired by his own romance with his wife, and that he wrote this for her :0) That makes the story told in its pages, even more worthwhile. You'll be pulling for Renee and Jay as you read through this novel. Even if the characters were of the same race or other races beyond Black and White, you'd want them to make it. Simply put, they're relatable. Makes me wonder if I have a Jay out there somewhere...
• 
  Tameka

  I wanted to read this book a year ago, but it wasn't available on the Nook at that time. I went ahead and read a few of J.J. Murray's other books first, and I'm VERY glad I got to those before reading this. If I had read this book first I would have never ever picked up another book from this author again. The main character in this particular selection was so ignorant I could barely stand to continue reading. The only thing that made the book worth reading was the love interest, Giovanni. I will continue to read his books based on the great work (in my opinion) that I've already seen from him, but this one has to be the WORST interracial romance novel I've encountered so far.
• 
  Nyeisha (Bookbabe of Delaware)

  This is the first J.J. Murray book that I have read. I fell in love with his work and since then I have purchased every book thats out so far. I have even pasted these books on to friends and family. All of which love his so much that they are also supporting his work.
• 
  Jenn

  Real sweet story about an interacial relationship that is blossimg. It allows you to see how hurtful people are when they stare or whisper when they see a interacial couple publicly.
• 
  Christie

  The debut from this writer, who specializes in interracial relationship novels. A fast paced and sometimes laugh out loud read, and though you know how things will end, it's still fun getting there.
• 
  Ursula

  So ridiculous it is funny.
• 
  Kimmieco Reader

  I absolutely loved this book! It hooked me from beginning to end! Beautiful love story with great dialog I am truly a fan!
• 
  Shandra

  A beautiful interracial love story!!!
• 
  Stephanie

  I.LOVE.THIS.BOOK! I'm a sucker for a good love story, but this book took it to another level. It made me feel warm and fuzzy! :D
• 
  Dona

  Renee was funny at times, but I didn't really get her. Maybe she's a little more rough-around-the-edges than I would be.