A review by babewithabookandabeer
Lush Lives by J. Vanessa Lyon

5.0

Thank you Roxane Gay Books for my Netgalley copy of LUSH LIVES by J. Vanessa Lyon, out 8/1/23. 

This is a novel about brilliant and bold women in Harlem, New York in the art and auction scene. I loved it! I almost DNF’d in the beginning because it’s slow to start, but I enjoyed the way it wrapped up and I really liked learning more about auctioneering and high-brow appraisals. If you were a fan of SIRENS & MUSES, I think you would enjoy this book. It has queer love (and messy and stubborn communication tropes) and a look into the rich Black history of the Harlem Renaissance.

I don’t want to spoil the twist in it, but just know you will be googling a lot about Black literary history! I found this to be less of a romance (how it is marketed) and more literary fiction. The writing can be pretentious at times and the dialogue/spicy scenes a little cringey, but overall I really enjoyed how I felt after finishing the book. It turned almost into a thriller at the end (does this book understand what it is trying to be?) and a lot of readers didn’t like it, but I think they are being a little harsh. If you are interested in learning about the NY art world, how it aids and abetts controversial wealth stacking on the backs of Black & Brown people, how the pharmecutical industry created an epidemic killing LGBTQIA+ people and a frustrating lesbian love plot, pick this one up.