Parade, a woman in her early 20's living in the "urban" streets of Hyattsville, MD (I'll explain the quotes later). She is a dark-skinned black woman who grew up being told by her mother and good friend Sky that she was ugly. Because of this, her confidence is pretty low. She can't keep a job and her relationships with men are left to hidden affairs. What follows is kind of an examination of life in this world and the way Parade ultimately finds confidence and a way to live her own life. One of the main plots centers around Parade's very pretty friend Sky, who gets into an argument with a woman at a party and ends up killing her. This murder leads to some interesting plot twists when the murdered woman turns out to be the wife of a successful drug dealer in nearby Washington, D.C.

Black and Ugly, Sky Taylor, Parade Knight, Miss Wayne and Daffany Stans are introduced. Growing up in Hyattsville, Maryland, these friends struggle to keep their bond together.
Sky persecuted Parade for her dark skin. She believed her own light complexion gave her the advantage and didn’t mind telling people to their face, including Parade. But what she didn’t know was that her man Jay was sleeping with Parade behind her back.
Parade hates her complexion because of the scratches on her face, and the darkness of her skin. Despite her inner battle, she finds comfort in the curviness of her body. Miss Wayne tells her she could eliminate some of the pain she feels if she’d just take care of her acne problem, stop fighting and take pride in her beautiful skin tone. Her unattractive boyfriend Melvin, who she dumps early on, does nothing but use her sexually making her feel worse. It’s not until she gets with Jay, a neighborhood dealer, behind Sky’s back that she starts to gain confidence. But Jay also adds to the pressure by trying to keep her down by saying she’s ugly.
One night after being with Parade an hour earlier, Jay and Sky meet up at the movies. There she sees the neighborhood kingpin Smokes and his wife who is sporting expensive jewelry. Instead of focusing on Jay, Sky does everything she can to get Smokes’ attention. Smokes’shows a little interest and gets into a brief altercation with his wife when he’s caught. The two leave and Sky misses her chance. Still at the movies, Sky reaches over to kiss Jay and notices he smells like the perfume she gave Parade. She immediately suspects he’s been with her instead of another girl. She questions Jay about his infidelities but doesn’t let on that she thinks Parade’s the culprit. After all, to Sky, Parade isn’t even in her league.
The next day at the mall, Parade, Sky, Miss Wayne and Daffany, who recently discovered she was HIV positive, gets into an altercation. All because Parade believed a girl

i loved this book :) ( )

this is a good book