lucybbookstuff 's review for:

Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

I'm always talking about how much I love Chicago media, and media that portrays Chicago with love and care. But the truth about all that is I'm mainly talking about the Chicago I have experienced. There is a huge portion of the population experiencing an entirely different place. No less loveable a city, and certainly still deserving of criticism as well, but very different. So it is good for me to hear these stories as well. I could tell that it truly came from the heart and experiences of the author, which always adds a little extra something. It was also very well-narrated and immersive.

I just wish it did a bit more showing-not-telling. It was very much a predictable, linear narrative. There is nothing at all wrong with that, I'm just personally looking for something a bit more challenging in my contemporary fiction reads.