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1.91 AVERAGE
1.91 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book sounded full of potential, a historical fiction set against the life of a White passing Black girl through the times of segregation through the Civil Rights Era, and beyond in the Deep South and West Coast upper crust. Unfortunately, this miss the mark in execution. For dealing with a very heavy topic the story came across clunky and low stakes. The main issue was the structuring and pacing of the story. The novel covers several decades of the main characters' lives, yet critical events in history that would have a profound impact on Blacks at the time were only mentioned in passing. Additionally, the amount of time spent of different eras and the transitions felt rushed or unnecessary. It made it hard to connect with the characters. The long lost love angle felt undeveloped and forced, which disconnected the reader from the character even more. The only real action took place in the final few pages, and had one too many convenient discovers to build up any true stakes. Due to the opportunities listed above, this one is a pass for me.
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
This is quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. I only read this book as I was going to be compensated for my review, however, after leaving my honest review I did not receive compensation and am no longer able to access my account and was told there were errors in my review on the review website. Not only that, they list the compensation as a "bonus" and state your review is a "volunteer" non-paid review. Horrendous book, regret reading.
At the beginning of this story, there was a lot of unnecessary dialogue and information that made it hard to follow and a bit annoying to read. This book seems to have no main storyline for the first half of the book, with it picking up some semblance of cohesion after the halfway mark, then completely fumbling for the last chapters of the book. The writing style of this entire story is extremely juvenile; the beginning is choppy with several short sentences, bouncing between too much dialogue and between several characters. It is confusing to follow.
The book did become more cohesive and not as difficult to read after the halfway point, however, the storyline still made no sense and seemed rushed. In a matter of pages, the story did a complete 180 on the writing structure and suddenly the characters were in a completely different part of their lives. This skipped over any real character development in the story and made it impossible to bond with the characters and empathize with them at their low points in the story. It felt as if the author did not know where they were going for the first 150 pages and only just started figuring it out mid-writing. Vanessa is the alleged main character in this story, but many parts focus on her best friend, Trisha, which makes the story even more confusing as they are completely uneventful and add nothing of substance.
The last 10% of this book was utterly ridiculous. It was not only rushed but also sloppy, unrealistic, and extremely disappointing. The author haphazardly decided to have a "feel good" ending with the unsavory characters getting what they deserve but had no build-up to their negative endings. This book has graphic descriptions of sexual encounters that can be uncomfortable as well as unnecessary. The men in this book involved with the main character are very coercive.
This story felt as if it was not appropriate being written and told by a white woman, there were uses of racial slurs, and depictions of racism and hate crimes seemed not only unrealistic but written in an ignorant manner. There are depictions of sexual assault in this book.
At the beginning of this story, there was a lot of unnecessary dialogue and information that made it hard to follow and a bit annoying to read. This book seems to have no main storyline for the first half of the book, with it picking up some semblance of cohesion after the halfway mark, then completely fumbling for the last chapters of the book. The writing style of this entire story is extremely juvenile; the beginning is choppy with several short sentences, bouncing between too much dialogue and between several characters. It is confusing to follow.
The book did become more cohesive and not as difficult to read after the halfway point, however, the storyline still made no sense and seemed rushed. In a matter of pages, the story did a complete 180 on the writing structure and suddenly the characters were in a completely different part of their lives. This skipped over any real character development in the story and made it impossible to bond with the characters and empathize with them at their low points in the story. It felt as if the author did not know where they were going for the first 150 pages and only just started figuring it out mid-writing. Vanessa is the alleged main character in this story, but many parts focus on her best friend, Trisha, which makes the story even more confusing as they are completely uneventful and add nothing of substance.
The last 10% of this book was utterly ridiculous. It was not only rushed but also sloppy, unrealistic, and extremely disappointing. The author haphazardly decided to have a "feel good" ending with the unsavory characters getting what they deserve but had no build-up to their negative endings. This book has graphic descriptions of sexual encounters that can be uncomfortable as well as unnecessary. The men in this book involved with the main character are very coercive.
This story felt as if it was not appropriate being written and told by a white woman, there were uses of racial slurs, and depictions of racism and hate crimes seemed not only unrealistic but written in an ignorant manner. There are depictions of sexual assault in this book.
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Abortion