How multiracial people navigate the complexities of race and love
In the United States, more than seven million people claim to be multiracial, or have racially mixed heritage, parentage, or ancestry. In The Colors of Love, Melinda A. Mills explores how multiracial people navigate their complex—and often misunderstood—identities in romantic relationships.
Drawing on sixty interviews with multiracial people in interracial relationships, Mills explores how people define and assert their racial identities both on their own and with their partners. She shows us how similarities and differences in identity, skin color, and racial composition shape how multiracial people choose, experience, and navigate love.
Mills highlights the unexpected ways in which multiracial individuals choose to both support and subvert the borders of race as individuals and as romantic partners. The Colors of Love broadens our understanding about race and love in the twenty-first century.

"Mills’ findings contribute to our understanding of multiracial identities, intimate relationships, specifically, interracial relationships, and questions surrounding how/if multiracials blur color lines and the existing racial order." - Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

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Relying on interviews with a snowball sample of 60 individuals to illustrate her theoretical analysis, Mills dives deeply into exploring this well-patrolled world. Her unique focus is useful for understanding the range of issues that American society, which is highly racialized, presents to those crossing long-standing barriers. This is a must read for anyone seriously examining race in the US, especially scholars with a social psychological interest.