Reviews

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

marrbarnett's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

kalkail's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

librarianinstitches's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

3.75

dizzle_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

erinrway's review against another edition

3.0

This one was tough to rate. I wanted a historical fiction set in the Caribbean and that's what I got but it was definitely long and a bit cumbersome. Dolly had 10 children with 5 different men (if I recall) and just by sheer virtue of that, there was a lot of repetition. We had to meet the man, outline the relationship and dynamic, have the sex scene, have the closure of the relationship over 5 times as the men came and went and came back in Dolly's life. I almost never abandon a book but after a month passed and I'm only 80% complete, I decided I had gotten what I came for and I didn't need to spend more time on it.

madtown_jen's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

sylda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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

3.0

zarrazine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional

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

4.5

yarnmoose's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-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

2.0

destdest's review against another edition

emotional medium-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

Fine. Dolly is resourceful and smart as a whip. The majority of this is her being a businesswoman and the various white mens infatuated with her (varying in power imbalances from much to little to none). Wealth becomes a security blanket for Dolly, helping keep the nightmares, the past, the racism, and the feelings of inadequacy at bay.

Don’t be put off by the length. Each chapter is bite-sized.

I was very impressed by what the author was able to infer from historical documents. But I wanted more about how Dolly started training her workers than all the mens.