Friends & Fauxs Read online

  2. Do you think Lydia was mentally disturbed from the beginning, or was she driven past the brink by fame, fortune, and too much cocaine? Do you blame her for wanting to get back at Gillian, Brandon, and Imelda for the way they fired her “unjustly,” ruining her career?

  3. Was Lauren truly happy globe-trotting with Gideon, or was she, once again, simply running away from reality and keeping her head buried in the sand? Do you think that her and Gideon’s relationship will last? Why or why not?

  4. Is Imelda any different from many parents who give birth expecting that their children will take care of them in old age?

  5. Do you feel that Imelda’s lessons have been truly learned at the end? Do you think she is a changed person? Or do you think she will just revert back to her old ways, using Gillian for her fame and fortune? Explain.

  6. Do you think Charli was fully responsible for her life as a stripper, or were her poor circumstances responsible, giving her no other choice?

  7. Should Dr. Young have gone ahead and told Chris that he wasn’t Rowe’s father—when Reese didn’t—in order to get to the real father more quickly? Do you think that, in a situation where a life is on the line, a doctor has the right to disregard a patient’s privacy and interfere with family affairs?

  8. Between Mildred and Max, who most used whom? Explain.

  9. Do you think that Chris will continue to support Rowe and Reese financially after finding out that he is not Reese’s biological father? Should he?

  10. Even though Charli and Gillian are identical twins, should Brandon have believed his wife when she told him that the pornographic photos were not of her?

  11. Between Gillian and Brandon, who is most to blame for their dysfunctional relationship? Explain.

  12. At the end, Gillian tells Brandon that she loves him and, for the first time, really means it. Do you think that all their problems are solved? Is there hope for Gillian and Brandon’s relationship over the long term?

  About the Author

  Tracie Howard is the author of six books, including Revenge Is Best Served Cold (coauthored), Why Sleeping Dogs Lie, Never Kiss and Tell, Gold Diggers, and Friends and Fauxs. She is a former columnist and lifestyle editor for Savoy magazine, and a current contributor to Up Town magazine, among others. Tracie was recently a visiting professor at Institut Supérieure de Management in Senegal, Dakar. She is also co-owner of a fashion/lifestyle company called Ethos, and lives with her husband in Atlanta, Georgia.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2009 by Tracie Howard

  All Rights Reserved

  Published in the United States by Broadway Books, an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  www.broadwaybooks.com

  BROADWAY BOOKS and the Broadway Books colophon

  are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Howard, Tracie.

  Friends & fauxs / by Tracie Howard. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  1. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 2. Actresses—

  Fiction. 3. Revenge—Fiction. 4. Man-woman

  relationships—Fiction. I. Title. II. Title: Friends and fauxs.

  PS3608.O94F75 2009

  813′.6—dc22

  2009000532

  eISBN: 978-0-307-58918-7

  v3.0