Jonathan Plummer, the ex-husband of Waiting to Exhale author Terry McMillan, has written a novel about a Jamaican man whose ordinary life was disrupted when a powerful woman crosses his path and brings him into her world. Sound familiar? Balancing Act: A Novel, to be released Sept. 4 by Simon & Schuster, is described by the company as “a sexy and satisfying novel as deliciously racy as the life he lived," reports Contra Costa Times. Although the work is fiction, the story is based on his own marriage to McMillan, which ended in a nasty divorce in 2006 after he revealed to her that he is gay. In Balancing Act, the woman owns a modeling agency and decides to sign the “handsome Jamaican man,” described in a press release as having “hazel green eyes offset by dark chocolate skin" as well as a "perfect body and defiant attitude." Here is a more detailed description of the book: Justin Blakeman is living an ordinary life in Jamaica, when vacationing Tasha Reynolds spots him selling sugar cane on the street. He, of course, has no idea that her modeling agency is fast becoming the hottest in the business. He plans to live the island life set out for him, stepping up to head the family sugar cane enterprise in time.In the ruthless modeling world, Tasha is a great white shark with an uncanny knack for finding blazing new talent in unusual places. She always gets what she wants and she wants Justin -- whose hazel-green eyes, offset by dark chocolate skin, make her palms sweat, a sign that she is on to something. His perfect body and defiant attitude will make him a mega star.But soon, a relationship that began as strictly business crosses the line into a complex game of sexual desire and control. Their crazy, volatile bond -- littered with dark influences from their pasts, complicated by ambition, and fueled by insatiable passion -- is as combustible as relationships can get. And when Justin discovers a hidden hunger for a male model, the stakes are higher than ever.
