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| Right Side of the Wrong Bed | 
| Author: Frederick Smith
Publisher: Kensington
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $7.74
You Save: $7.26 (48%)
New (33) from $7.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 319778
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0758219261
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780758219268
ASIN: 0758219261
Publication Date: December 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: K20081002111532G
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Product Description
Breaking all the rules... At thirty-three, Kenny Kane seems to have it all: good looks, a great career as a university administrator, a silver BMW, a sprawling home in the tony hills of Monterey Park, and a hot firefighter for a boyfriend--that is until he cheats on Kenny with a woman! After devoting the past seven years of his life to his ex, the last thing Kenny needs is to get involved with someone new. So when he meets Jeremy Lopez at a West Hollywood bar, Kenny is content to just buy him a drink and leave it at that. Is the only way to go... But Jeremy won't take "no" for an answer. Six feet tall, dressed in baggy, low-rise jeans and sporting plenty of bling, Jeremy is "straight-up East L.A." He's also a mere twenty-one-years-old--and Latino. Except for the one white boy back in college, Kenny's always dated other African-American men. When it comes to getting what you want... But he can't deny the chemistry between them. And before he knows it, Kenny's having the time of his life--hanging with Jeremy and his boys...clubbing and hitting the frat parties...feeling like a kid again. But how long can a thirty-something like Kenny keep it up? And is he really gonna find what he's been looking for with a kid like Jeremy--or will Kenny wake up feeling like he's on the right side of the wrong bed? "Reads like real life...this smart and touching novel just won't entertain you. It'll make you think and perhaps even remember." --Black Artemis, author of Burn "Funny, touching, and intoxicating. Smith has written yet another compulsive read." --Maurice Jamal, writer and director of Dirty Laundry and The Ski Trip
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Poorly Written April 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I recently purchased this book based on the reviews on this site. I was disappointed. I was able to get through 1 1/2 chapters before admitting it wasn't worth reading. The story line is a relevant one but I was too aware of the writer's style and grammatical errors to continue.
 Good Concept, Failed To Execute Properly March 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
After hearing rave reviews about,"Right Side Of The Wrong Bed" I purchased this book in hopes of reading an interesting yet romantic story. While the book didn't bore me, the plot and storyline lacked in certain areas.
Kenny Kane a thirty three year old professional administrator is recovering from his seven year relationship with Devon (a fire fighter) who eventually broke poor Kenny's heart. Devon was apparently on the down-low and fathered two out of wedlock kids while they were together. Kenny is devastated and wonders why cant his relationship be the epitome of his best friends(Carlos and Ricky).
He ventures to a club in West Hollywood and is approached by a twenty one year old hip hopper(Jeremy) who's bold, confident, and demanding. Kenny in instantly fascinated by his young suitor and becomes a doormat. He looses all sense of rationality when it comes to Jeremy. Throughout the book it doesn't matter what Jeremy does whether it be manipulation, cheating, or lying Kenny is so mesmerized by the young trouble maker than he refuses to pay attention to warnings from his mother, friends and family. Even when Kenny decides to finally end it he gets manipulated again.
If you're looking for fun and light conversation then the book is interesting enough to hold your attention. But substance wise, it was a complete let down. The story is basically about a middle-aged insecure black gay man who party hops, dresses in hip hop attire, and basically looses common sense in order to chase a young immature-latino/dominican boy who still carries a Gameboy.
C-
 A Lovable Twosome In Spite of Themselves March 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Of the top ten major cities in America, Los Angeles is arguably the least ghettoized. In the core metropolis few neighborhoods have an overwhelming predominance of one ethnic/cultural/social group over another, particularly when it comes to people of color. African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Caribbeans, Eastern Europeans, whites, straights, openly gay men and lesbians, Muslims, Jews, and folks of every imaginable multi-racial combination comfortably share--there are exceptions of course--common walls, fences, block parties, neighborhood watches, schools, restaurants, nightclubs, barbershops, day care centers, and gossip. Even one of the city's most popular churches, Agape', boasts an SRO rainbow coalition each Sunday morning. L.A. is quintessential Obamaland.
It is against the colorful backdrop of this ditzy but delightful city where no one is really black or white, that Frederick Smith sets his ditzy but delightful sophomore novel, "Right Side of the Wrong Bed," a story where nothing is really black or white or exactly what it may seem.
When it comes to love our narrator Kenny Kane, a handsome thirty-three-year-old African American and otherwise intelligent college administrator, is an educated fool. Not only did he not see it coming, but financed court cost and paternity suit battles leveled against DaVon, his drop dead gorgeous firefighter partner of six years who had at least three children by two baby-mamas during the time of their `committed' relationship. Only after all of this does Kenny put the brother out of his sprawling home in the toney hills of Monterey Park.
Five months later at a gay bar in West Hollywood, Kenny is hit on by Jeremy Lopez, a six feet tall, baggy low-rise jean wearing, twenty-one-year-old Mexican/Dominican straight up East L.A. hottie boy-toy. Sparks fly and before he knows what hits him, Kenny is caught up in a whirlwind of sex and romance with this youngster.
But one incident after another involving drunken club hopping, police-raided frat parties, jealous ex's, arson investigations, unexplained hickies, and the plain old capriciousness of youth, keep Kenny in a tailspin. But even as best friends Carlos, and even his mother caution him about being on the right side of the wrong bed ("Do I have to come down there and slap some sense into you?" straight-shooting Mom warns him), Kenny is, alas, stuck on stupid when it comes to Jeremy.
And one can almost see why. Almost. Aside from his golden good looks, Jeremy is a passionate lover who is sexually accommodating in every way imaginable. He is young and proud, a macho young homosexual very much in touch with his sensitive side, and not the least bit concerned with the public display of affection when it comes to his man which he lavishes with hugs and sloppy kisses at taco stands, in front of chi-chi gyms, at family gatherings, on campus, anywhere he feels like it, which is everywhere, knowing that his youthfulness is giving his older lover a new shot in the arm.
And Jeremy is very smart for his age (if not very mature), and talented, a poet who was a contestant on "Teen Jeopardy." He is loyal to his family and friends (if not to his lovers, of which he has many) and dedicated to his college studies and efficient at his job as a student affairs aide for a city college.
But the kid has a lot of problems, most of them related to just growing up. Eventually we realize that Kenny has not grown up either, as he forgives almost unforgivable transgressions and totes too much of Jeremy's devil-may-care baggage, not to mention a lot of his own, time and time again.
But as exasperating as Kenny can be (like his mother, we want to slap some sense in him too) the poor guy is just unlucky at love, even though he tends to bring the bad luck on himself.
There are hints in the story that even before Kenny's cheating fireman, he was batting zero in the romance department although he'd been up to bat several times.
As we listen closely to his narration, we come to realize that Kenny is just a poor sap in deep denial who should have stayed a little longer in the therapy he was once undergoing.
The story breezes along gleefully though, fueled by Kenny's endearing, if frustrating emotional bumbling, and Jeremy's charming and irresponsible youth, but just when it seems that there may be a glimmer of hope for these May-December lovers, tragedy strikes, adding an unexpected but deeply moving poignancy.
Late in the story, writer Smith gives Kenny a beautifully rendered thought on all the beds we occupy through life, and how we must take responsibility for the beds we make for ourselves (even though emotionally, I doubt if Kenny ever bothered to change a sheet). Nonetheless, this is the best piece of writing in a novel that overall consists of wonderful and easily digestible prose; fast paced, at times funny, very conversational, and human.
I suppose that's what makes us like Kenny, in spite of all his misstep, bad judgments, and denial; and why we like Jeremy, in spite of all his naughty, childish little ways. They both possess that special save: humanity. Looker: A Novel
 Good effort, but author has a lot to work on March 4, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Buy this book because:
1. there aren't many novels being published whic deal with the love lives of gay men of color
2. it's a good effort; a contribution
with that said, I should warn you that the novel has many problems which are just too obvious to ignore. In the hands of a seasoned writer "Right Side of the Wrong Way" could've been a great novel. It has a good storyline: professional older man falls for the well endowed troubled younger guy who wreaks havoc in his life. In other words, it's full of good ole gay drama; full of twist and turns. The only and major problem is that Mr. Smith's skills as a writer haven't improved much since his last effort, "Down For Whatever." I often hear that the first lesson on how-to-write is that one should show not tell, which Mr. Smith sadly overlooks. The novel reads as if Kenny, the main character, is talking to a friend. kenny speaks with the vocabulary of a twenty year old non-English speaking native, when he is suppose to be a professional man working at a college of all places. He simply relates his story from point a, to b, to c, and so on without zest. It's stale.
Men are fools too January 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This author proved that men are fools for love also. I just felt so bad for Kenny because he really seemed like a nice guy and I just hated to see him putting so much of himself and his funds out there and getting nothing in return but deceit and heartache. This story flowed very nicely and was a good read for the true romantic.
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