Book Review: “One and Done” by Frederick Smith

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If you want to enjoy a spicy romance novel that will have your heart racing, then read “One and Done.”

Set primarily in San Francisco, California, it is a higher education romance (and comedy) fiction novel about two Black queer men.

Taylor is a levelheaded Virgo and career-oriented Vice President of California University, Lake Merced with longevity career aspirations. On the contrary, Dustin presents himself as an arrogant contractual educational consultant and project manager. 

Detroit native and author Frederick Smith takes us on a journey of self-reflection, goal-setting, and opening the heart. And trust, there’s enough Beyoncé Renaissance album track references, character depth, and sensuality to last a lifetime.

Intentional Character Dynamics in “One and Done”

Taylor and Dustin narrate each chapter from a first-person perspective. As a reader, I felt immersed in the vast facets of their lives and found myself smitten, cheesing, and laughing throughout the entire book.

Taylor is originally from Los Angeles (with family roots in Texas and Louisiana) and Dustin is originally from Oakland. They meet at Beaux, a local LGBTQIA+ bar in the Castro District on a Sunday Funday. Taylor’s best friend, Markell, is a bartender at Beaux and a fitness trainer who is more-so like his brother.

Throughout the novel, Dustin allows his childhood traumas to affect his present relationships. At the same time, Taylor is too apprehensive to touch love because of his professional goals and image.

From lust and love to death and rebirth, readers will walk away understanding why being your true self and giving grace to yourself and others is vital.

In addition, Smith writes with cultural intentionality and inclusion, making his work relatable to often-overlooked communities. He makes it a point to tap into an array of Black folk’s lenses throughout the Bay Area. Characters like Manessa, Miss Coco Hydrate, Wes Jenkins (academia stunt queen), Ms. McMillan, and others authentically show up as themselves, flaws and all.

“One and Done” also oozes with coming-of-age reflections as Smith describes Dustin’s coming out and upbringing in Oakland. “Being okay with the realization that I was gay early on in life, but knowing it was smarter to keep it quiet in order to avoid being bullied and having my a** kicked on the daily by classmates, neighbors, and family” (p.28).

It was beautiful to read a novel centering on community engagement and involvement concerning current times. “My team had spent the afternoon interviewing transgender, nonbinary, and genderqueer students of color, including my cousin Manessa and their performer colleague Coco Hydrate, who were part of a university program Taylor had created to recruit, admit, retain, and graduate that demographic with four-year degrees” (p.74)

Smith affectionately mentions historical areas in The Bay including the Filmore District, Bayview-Hunters Point, West Oakland, and Vallejo. As someone who loves and appreciates The Bay Area “One and Done,” felt like a love letter to the region.

Ultimately, “One and Done” is a quick yet satisfying novel that readers will not want to end.

Interview with Author Frederick Smith

The Black Wall Street Times interviewed Frederick Smith on the depths of “One and Done” and his current journey.

Quinn: What inspired you to ideate and write “One and Done” and how was the process?

Frederick Smith: I pitched One and Done as a Black, Queer, Higher Ed, Bay Area, and Beyoncé / Renaissance-inspired romance novel, published on Bold Strokes Books, a mid-sized publisher focused on high-quality LGBTQIA+ stories. I’m in love with the romance novel genre, and each of my six novels focuses on Black and queer characters living in California – either L.A. or the Bay Area.

I know many Black LGBTQIA+ people see themselves in Beyoncé’s Renaissance album, myself included. So, I thought first about creating characters who come together in romance and friendship around their love of Renaissance. In my professional life, I work at a university and I’d never really seen any romance novels set at universities or involving people who work at colleges – so this served as inspiration. 

Then, being new to the San Francisco and Oakland area, and also being Black and gay, I thought it would be exciting to bring in the aspect of being Black and gay in San Francisco, where the Black population has decreased significantly over the years. 

Add all those elements, plus a not-so-cute meet-cute between the characters Taylor and Dustin at a Sunday Funday Renaissance-inspired drag brunch and you get One and Done. I had a lot of fun writing One and Done and I hope readers see and experience that love while reading it.

Quinn: As an author, why is it important to focus on LGBTQIA+ storytelling? 

Frederick Smith: As a proud and out Black and gay author, it’s important to me to carry on the storytelling legacies of writers like James Baldwin, James Earl Hardy, and E. Lynn Harris, who shed light on Black and queer experiences, opened the door for Black and gay authors like me, and who paved the way for contemporary MM (male-male) romance novels that we see today.

Also, people like to see themselves reflected in fiction. I know I do now and I did growing up. Through books and storytelling, LGBTQIA+ people of all ages, across the spectrum of genders and sexualities, can see experiences like or not like them, and can also see something in characters to aspire to. 

LGBTQIA+ storytelling is now more important than ever, given efforts in some places in the U.S. to ban books by and about the community. It surprises me that in 2024 people want to erase the reality of the LGBTQIA+ community in schools, books, libraries, arts, etc… I think it’s weird that people obsess over the LGBTQIA+ community and want to take us back to a time that didn’t include or value our queer friends, neighbors, and family. 

Quinn: In which character(s) do you see yourself most and why?

Frederick Smith: One and Done is fiction. Some of the locations in San Francisco’s Castro District are real and serve as the setting for the novel. I think being Black and gay in San Francisco is a unique experience – not a large population of us in San Francisco; in Oakland a few more – and I wanted One and Done to set up a community of Black and queer characters who are culturally empowered, proud, develop found family, and navigate life in a city that has been very open to the LGBTQIA+ community but maybe not has always centered Black queer people in the community. 

I do work in higher education as a senior administrator, so I can identify with the character of Dr. Taylor James. I’ve also served on program review teams for university departments, so I can identify with the character Dustin McMillan who is reviewing the campus where Taylor is a Vice President. I’ve developed a community of found family, which the characters in One and Done have done. There’s a lot of me in the novel, but much more of it is created and made-up.

Support LGBTQIA+ Authors

Smith shared, “I encourage you to support authors – especially Black and Black LGBTQIA+ authors – by following and re-posting their posts on social media, buying or borrowing their books, reviewing and rating books that resonate with you on book review sites, and requesting and borrowing books from libraries.”

Library patrons can borrow books from free digital library services like CloudLibrary, Libby, and Hoopla.

“One and Done” could easily be adapted into a TV or adult book series. Wherever Smith takes off next will be major. In the meantime, interested readers can view Smith’s oeuvre here.