Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

14 reviews

jaz_gets_literary's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Please go over the trigger warnings before starting this book as it may be triggering to some. 

I really enjoyed this book. I thought I had the who done it figured out and I was shocked when it was actually revealed. I did figure out a few things along the way but the actual person had me like 😳 lots of important talking points in this book. Police brutality, racism, classism, and more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Abortion, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Chronic illness, and Racial slurs

haley49's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really wanted to love this book more than I did. The premise was great and the mystery was amazing. 

However, having a book advertised as the black queen and having her be murdered and then centering her self-centered white counterpart was a disservice. If it was marketed as a girl coming to terms with her internalized racism while attempting to find out who really killed her rival for queen would have been much more honest and engaging. Instead there is a focus on a rushed redemption arc for our main character with a side plot of the victim’s painful backstory. In the end I understand and like our fmc but I feel so bad for the victim and her story gets used a bit for another’s character development. 
On the other hand, Duchess’s character was really interesting. I just wish we saw a bit more of her. It was advertised as her book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Racism

Moderate: Abortion, Pedophilia, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Toxic relationship

clare072's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Murder, and Pedophilia

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Abortion, Rape, and Vomit

anna_wa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Bullying, Death, Addiction, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death of parent, Incest, and Pedophilia

Minor: Vomit and Abandonment

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

This wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I was hoping for and I wouldn't say it was good. I liked the reveal of the killer. I didn't care to follow Tinsley for the majority of the book. It was a story with potential but the execution, with the exception of the reveal, was quite meh for me. It was so focused on the redemption of the white girl (and the scandals of the white people in the book) I feel it lost what should be one of the takeaways- black girls/women being the victims of society and how everyone needs to do better so it doesn't keep happening. So would've preferred more focus on the black characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racism, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Sexual assault, Abortion, Rape, and Sexual violence

hannaws's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“Why is video evidence never enough to convict white people of killing us, but suspicion alone is enough to gun us down and lock us up?”

I had a major deja vu while reading this book. I don't know what triggered that exactly, but during the last half of the book, I felt like I've seen/read all this before. So much so that I knew how it would end. That was weird, very weird.

I don't think I've ever put a book on hold as quick as I put this one. I did that immediately when I saw they were going to order it when it's published. I was excited, to say the least. But it was kind of a let down. 

I really didn't think this book would turn out to be a book about Tinsley. Yes, she is the main suspect. I get that. But I still hoped for it to be something else rather than just pretty much all about Tinsley trying to save her behind. Duchess's POVs where really short and there were very few of them. You mostly read the book from Tinsley's POV.

I would have hoped to get more into everyones lives. Especially into the relationship between Duchess and his dad. But we barely scratched the surface. All the other characters and the relationships were left shallow as well.
Even with Tinsley. She has a relationship with the boy, whose name I cannot remember, but that was pretty much that. Her mom is a monster. Yet we don't really dive into her character either.

All in all it was a nice book. I would have hoped for more of the promised mystery but that was a little shortlived aspect for this book. It's not a bad book by any means, and the topic is very important. But I like my mysteries to be exactly that, a mystery. Now the culprit was discovered very early on in the book which left the end flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Abortion, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Cancer

lesseraliterary's review

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad 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

3.0

the story was interesting and the mystery was intriguing but you could tell this was a black story written for a white audience… this was more about tinsley and her dealing with her white guilt and unconscious bias than the actual murder and scandals that happened 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Infidelity, and Vomit

katebrownreads's review

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Abortion

jillianelis_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I had been waiting for this book for a LONG time, so I was thrilled that I got an advance copy and didn’t have to wait on my library’s hold  list! 

The Black Queen absolutely lived up to my expectations. While I kind of figured out the killer really early on, the story still had me on the edge of my seat! Nova slightly reminded me of Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks (murdered homecoming Queen who was full of secrets), and I wish we got to see more of her in life before she died. I would absolutely read a book about Nova’s life because I wanted to know more about her, her life in Virginia, how she became friends with Duchess, etc. All of the characters felt very real and fleshed out as well, and the handling of difficult topics was both sensitive and honest at every turn. I can’t wait to read whatever Jumata Emill writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Violence, Murder, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Cancer, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, and Infidelity

Minor: Police brutality and Abortion

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Bullying

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, and Cancer