Rating: 
Summary: And We Believe We¿ve Overcome
Review: During the unrest of the Rodney King debacle in Los Angeles, a chance encounter occurs between Porter Stockman, a Caucasian journalist and Lenora "Lee" Page, a fellow journalist, who is African-American. When Lee relocates from Baltimore to Philadelphia she again encounters Porter working as a journalist at a newspaper where she has accepted employment.Porter relentlessly pursues Lee as she struggles between the attraction and the reality of dating outside of her race, while Porter claims to have no such feelings of racial unrest, its all irrelevant. Porter and Lee enter into a relationship that has all the standard clichés of dating someone of a different race-the reactions of family, friends and coworkers and the reactions of strangers. But it is Lee's obsessive behavior with interracial dating that causes Porter to step back and examine his take on race relations in turn raising his consciousness. In Meeting of the Waters, a story about the obstacles faced with interracial dating and the reactions invoked, Kim McLarin portrays her characters in a realistic fashion and tells this story in a smooth, mature and concise manner. Exposed are forces so strong-ignorance, pride, humanity and loyalty, you have to step back and ponder your take, as Porter did. An honest, meaningful and at times humorous portrayal, you will savor and be forced to think about these two souls, black and white, who had no intentions of coming together but nonetheless did! Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: Good, Honest Read
Review: I thought this book was an honest exploration of the complications that come along with a interracial relationship. No relationship is easy to navigate, add in some serious complications and things go south, but McLarin hit and addressed some serious issues that are usually glossed over, or missed altogether, in other novels of the same genre. Those little intracacies is what made this one stand out.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful story, best IR I have read to date
Review: Not only is this the best interracial "romance" that I have read, it is one of the better novels I have read in a long time period. This book reads much more like a novel than your typical romance, with the typical romantic conventions with the naive, virginal heroine who has been waiting her entire life to be rescued by the virile, successful alpha-male. No- this story is about real people, with real insecurities and the book pulls no punches. Due to the gritty reality of their meeting and courtship, their relationship felt well-deserved and not contrived. I must admit that I was a bit concerned in the beginning of the book that Lenora did not have any significant interaction with anyone non-black and that the "clash of two cultures" caricature would be over-played. However, the Lenora character was so well developed as an intelligent, multi-dimensional person that it was entirely believable that she would allow Porter into her life, albeit after some serious introspection. I loved Porter's character, he was written as smart and charming, but definitely not a superhero. He was something of a disappointment to his family who felt that he lacked ambition and seemed perfectly content to work as a reporter while renting a crappy apartment. Porter started the story confident of his feelings for Lenora and his attitudes towards race, but lost his way on both counts towards the end of the book. That he was truly conflicted was one reason that the book felt authentic. The book provided no easy answers, allowed its characters their flaws and prejudices and yet had an satisfying conclusion. Not for the reader who enjoys fairy tale style romance, but was a truly gripping read.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Interracial Story!
Review: Porter Stockman, a reporter for the Philadelphia Record, is at Los Angeles during the riots that broke out after the Rodney King verdict was announced. He gets beaten and is afraid that he's seen his last days on earth when Lenora Page rescues him. He thanks her for rescuing him and she stays in his mind until he finds her working at his job as the new reporter on the block. He finds himself attracted to her and wants to see if she'd be interested in him but there's only one barrier; he's white, she's black, and neither of them has ever dated outside of his or her race... MEETING OF THE WATERS, written by Kim McLarin, gives the reader an honest and sincere look at the problems that interracial couples must face on a day-to-day basis. Porter and Lenora, throughout this story, learn valuable lessons about each other and learn to rethink some of their thoughts, stereotypes, and prejudices that they've made of their lover's race. This novel is one that would make for an interesting and very lengthy book club discussion and it's definitely a book that will give the reader something to think about.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible, Horrible, HORRIBLE
Review: Talk about a rollercoaster ride with Lee and Porter!! WOW! And,just when you think you know where their relationship is going --- POW! --- another surprise! I totally loved this book and even found myself having somewhat of a CRUSH on Porter! A fast, satisfying read, to say the least! These characters were REAL and I truly felt EVERYTHING they were going through! Kim McLarin is a wonderful "delicious" writer that never lets the story fade! I may find myself reading this one again---and that's RARE for me to read a book TWICE! KUDOS TO KIM McLARIN!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all
Review: The meeting of the waters is an actual natural event that occurs in Brazil. It's where the water from the Solimões River (which is muddy) meets with the dark water from Rio Negro. They run side by side without mixing. I've seen pictures of it, but I hope to see it in person one day. The phenomenon is mentioned in the book and holds much significance to the story itself.
Porter Stockman, a white journalist from Philadelphia, goes to Los Angeles to get the story on the Rodney King riots. While there, he finds himself the target of a group of angry, black people. Fortunately, a black, female journalist, Lenora Page, saves him. When he finds out that she will be working at the same paper, he goes out of his way to show her his gratitude, which results in love.
I loved the characters in the book. You have Porter Stockman. His mother is overbearing. His father doesn't seem to care about much, and his sister is a maverick. He spent his teenage years wondering what the hell he was going to do with his life. He likes to think of himself as a white person who doesn't see race as an issue. He's an all-around good guy. He's believable, funny, and real. He doesn't do all the right things, and he doesn't do all the wrong things. He makes human decisions, which many authors tend to forget about.
Lenora is a very pro-black woman who can't believe she's falling for a white man. Her father left her family when she was young, and her mother is dealing with bi-polar. Her younger brother still longs to find their father, but she's given up all hope. She's very proud to be a black woman, and she's quick to let everyone know. She's independent, smart, and sassy. She loves herself, and honestly, a lot of women-of any race-could take a lesson from her.
The only thing that annoyed me about this book was Lenora's preoccupation with race. I understand this was important to establish her character. She was trying to make Porter aware of the prejudices that people of color and biracial couples go through, but it turned into borderline obsessive after a while. Being a woman of color myself, it even drove me mad. I definitely understood how helpless Porter felt. I could see the wedge she was driving into their relationship with race. It was tiresome, even for me - the reader. She manages to break a really good man, and by the time she realizes her mistake, things are already broken. Then they must choose what they really want.
Other than that, I loved this book. It really makes its reader thing about race relations. One of the most important questions posed in the book is not about Porter and Lee's relationship itself, but the question of what makes a person racist. It's not just a typical romance where two of the characters happen to be a different race. It really gets the readers thinking about the politics behind race.
Rating: 
Summary: whah-whah-whah
Review: This book to me was not so good. When I first starting reading the book I thought it was very long and hard to get through, it took me a little over a week to just read the first chapter, not because it had hard vocabulary, but mostly because it was very boring. The authors writing style is very deep and efficient, but at the same time I felt that she didnt really do much to make the main character Lenora that likeable, throughout most of the book she seems very dull and just plain old boring..................another thing I could not stand about her was her "I'm so proud to be black attitude", its one thing to be proud of who you are but going to the extreme is just over the top for me. Take one part of the book where it is mentioned that Lenora would rather drive miles away as opposed to just driving a half a mile to a gas station just to get gas because the gas station miles away is owned by a black man. I find that very idiotic and so stupid.....As for Porter, he did not do anything for me either at all in the book. Lenora's best freind is another character that didnt cut it for me at all also, when she finds out why Lenora's been acting fishy, I just think that she gets a little too upset to the point where I wondered if she was more than a freind to Lenora.
Would I recommend this book to somebody, no not really.
Rating:
Summary: A smart read.
Review: This book was a very smart read and that perhaps was the best part of this - the storyline and concept were great and the fact that it wasn't a fairytale type of romance really worked and set things off to a nice pace. The lead characters were smart, conflicted, complex and they thought right along with the reader on their journey. It was realistic and didn't take the reader for a fool. It's a great story and I would suggest it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a good one...
Review: THis book was predictable from start to finish. FIlled with stereotypes that blacks cannot seem to let go of. I am black, and this book was embarassing. The way the black characters feel is this book gives the idea that anything black is good for you...and EVERYTHING white is EVIL. Well newsflash: Not every white person is out to get you and not every black person has your best interest at heart! People who view the world this way are doomed to shut doors for themselves that would otherwise be open. IMO, no one looks at race more than African Americans and that to me, a young black woman, is incredibly disturbing. I must say I was turned off by the author's way of writing both Lee and Porter...Lee began as very condescending...as did her friends. I am all for black pride, but blind racial loyalties are dangerous. The end of the book was very predictable. The big climax or whatever you want to call it was so predictable. To have someone like Porter, who seemingly based how he treated people on their individual qualities, do what he did (two separate incidents) was nothing more than a copout and some sort of justification for the author's viewpoint. I did not find this book enjoyable at all. Save yourself the trouble.
Rating:
Summary: Not a good one...
Review: THis book was predictable from start to finish. FIlled with stereotypes that blacks cannot seem to let go of. I am black, and this book was embarassing. The way the black characters feel is this book gives the idea that anything black is good for you...and EVERYTHING white is EVIL. Well newsflash: Not every white person is out to get you and not every black person has your best interest at heart! People who view the world this way are doomed to shut doors for themselves that would otherwise be open. IMO, no one looks at race more than African Americans and that to me, a young black woman, is incredibly disturbing. I must say I was turned off by the author's way of writing both Lee and Porter...Lee began as very condescending...as did her friends. I am all for black pride, but blind racial loyalties are dangerous. The end of the book was very predictable. The big climax or whatever you want to call it was so predictable. To have someone like Porter, who seemingly based how he treated people on their individual qualities, do what he did (two separate incidents) was nothing more than a copout and some sort of justification for the author's viewpoint. I did not find this book enjoyable at all. Save yourself the trouble.
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