Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant are two best friends who get together for lunch, cocktails, shopping and writing bestsellers. 

"It's a great time," says DeBerry. "It's like someone gave a real fabulous cake and then added the greatest ice cream to it."

The two have been best friends for 25 years. DeBerry was the vice-president of BB/LW, an agency for plus-size and petite models, and the spokeswoman for Hanes hosiery. Donna Grant was a plus-size model. The pair have written seven books including the recently released "Uptown: A Novel" (Touchstone 2010; $14.95).

The book tells about Dwight Dixon's plan to take over his father's Harlem real estate empire and to add to it by building the Dixon Plaza, a luxury high rise on Central Park North. In doing so, Dixon sacrifices much in his life, putting his dream before his family, as he seeks to earn his father's approval. The focus on real estate development melds with headlines from the news.

"Real estate is like the Gold Rush of the 2000s," says Grant. "Real estate is everywhere."

The fast changing real estate market had the two making changes to their book all the time.

"We'd hear the news or read the paper and would be calling our publisher and saying wait, we have to update this," says Grant with a laugh. "The book was going to print and we were calling them, but we wanted it to be right."

DeBerry and Grant, authors of "Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made" and "What Doesn't Kill You," not only plot and research their novels together, they also spend 16 hours a day in front of the computer side-by-side writing their books.

"One of us starts a sentence and the other one finishes it," says DeBerry. "The way it works for us is like chemistry."

Their characters encounter obstacles such as corruption, infidelity, greed and betrayal. But they also find love, forgiveness and compassion.

"We believe that the truth of women's life experiences like family, friends, mates, children, jobs, struggles, joys and everything in between, is a universal experience," says Grant. "It's one that transcends age or race."

          

 

 

Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant book signing, 2 p.m. March 21

 WHERE: Borders, Books & Music, 1539 E. 53rd Street, Chicago

FYI: (773) 752-8663