Reviews

Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander

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tai08's review

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hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

mnqmariah's review against another edition

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4.0

Couldn't put it down. I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction but this historical fiction was refreshing and I would totally recommend it to friends and family!

booksandmoorer's review against another edition

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Writing was dry and hard to stay invested in.

shannanh's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow. I did not want this story to end. To be one of the first black women able to own real estate after slavery and being a free woman? That is astounding. I loved the writing and the flow of this book. It makes me want to do a little more research on the woman herself. It's just mind boggling about how many black hidden figures there are and how their stories are just coming to surface in this country. This was such a great fictional account of a real person. This was the perfect read to round out black history month and also close to women's history month. This was such a great and inspirational story.

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review

teaux's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

Very boring book.

imfixintoread's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

This book has been on my TBR since last summer when I picked up a copy of this on a trip to Edenton, NC. I was familiar with Josephine Leary because of the historical marker outside of her building and was so excited to learn a bit more. While it is historical fiction, there were parts that I did not feel the author went deep enough given the amount of research she did. It fell a little short for me in terms of the depth of the story line and I was a bit underwhelmed with the lack of history brought in about the area and town at the time. Additionally, I was disappointed in the language choices used. There were a few times that I had a hard time with the language as it came across formal and did not pick up on the unique dialect and words that are specific to Eastern North Carolina.

Despite all of that, I would still recommend a read of this book to learn more about Josephine Leary and potentially explore your own research from there. She was fascinating and I'm glad I read this.

Content Warnings