A review by sophiasunlitreads
The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.0

The Davenports by Krystal Marquis is a black historical romance set against the backdrop of Chicago 1910. 

It starts off in the wealthy home of runaway slave, William Davenports. After escaping his slave masters, William Davenports goes on to become one of the richest men in the ton as his carriages are a must have by everyone and anyone of class amd prestige. 

The first half of the story kicks off with an introduction of the main characters. We get to see into their daily lives. The story is told in four different point of views of four different female characters that champion the plot of the book; 

We meet Olivia who is gentle and a very proper lady. She's the eldest daughter of the Davenports family and is hoping to find a suitor. 

Helen, the youngest Davenports Daughter who wants to challenge the gender stereotypes to follow her dream of working in her father's carriage company. 

Amy-Rose, a childhood friend of The Davenports children turned maid to their daughters. She wants nothing more than to start up her own business and fulfil her dreams. 

Ruby, Olivia's best friend whose family is struggling financially and it's on her shoulders to save the family by getting a good suitor. 

The characters all have distinct strong voices and as they grow throughout the book, they're forced into unexpected situations that causes a change in their personalities, ideologies and changes their perception of how the world around them is. 

Spoilers Ahead. 

Olivia, determined to find a suitable suitor and perform her duty to get married in the coming season and make her parents proud people and the talk of the ton.

But when she encounters a lawyer at an Activism meeting. She's forced into a world of politics and to face the realities of other black people in the ton. 

While growing up rich and watching her family take part in charities, she soon comes to realise that those aren't enough to strengthen the black community or to provide safety and protection for the black families that are less privileged. 

She begins to find her passion in Activism alongside discovering new romantic feelings that goes against everything her parents would stand for or accept in a husband for her. 

I liked Olivia's character and although she seemed like the forward main character of the 4 girls. Her voice wasn't strong enough. She fell flat in some of her povs and her part wasn't as captivating as the rest of the characters. 

Towards the ending she gets to experience first hand what the less privileged black people encounter in their community as regards to racism, police brutality, and capitalism and she goes on this pivotal change to decide what she wants for herself. 

Being a very proper woman, Olivia is torn between choosing her family's reputation and their expectations for her, and fighting for the new love she's experiencing.  

Helen Davenports is driven and ambitious but no one will take her seriously. Not even her father. Afterall she's a woman and women don't belong in the mechanic shop.

But despite the refusal from her father and the workers in her father's carriage shop. Helen is determined to prove herself to everyone that her ambitious aren't a joke and she as much as any of the men can repair the automobiles her brother brings in for repairs. 

I like Helen's chapters because she was determined and very driven. She wanted to challenge the narrative of gender and gender roles in the ton. 

Her story goes flat for me when it shifts from her wanting to pivot their father's carriages to horseless automobiles that ran on fuel. She encounters Jacob, the man who everyone is sure will propose to Olivia, her elder sister. 

Helen is torn as she begins to develop feelings that are reciprocated by her sister's match. It's nothing short of scandalous if anyone finds out. 

As Helen's story moves it focuses more on her relationship with Jacob. Obviously it's an historical romance, there is expected to be romance plots. But for a character like Helen that was laid an ambitious foundation, I wanted to see her continue to want to break those stereotypes until she achieved her dreams. 

For a character that was determined to not give up on her dreams, Amy-Rose sets the tone of the forbidden love trope in this book. 

After her mother passes, Amy-Rose is forced into servitude to The Davenports daughters. 

Driven like Helen, she saves up in hopes of buying out a store to start up her own salon. Although her entire dream is to leave The Davenports, she finds herself continually drawn to stay because of the eldest son, John. 

Amy-Rose's story explores classism, biracial identity, gender inequality and feminism. Now relegated to being a maid in The Davenports home, Amy-Rose is well aware of her place in their family tree and although once she had had a place at the table when her mother was alive, she's now the one setting the table. 

The way Amy-Rose was relegated into servitude after her mother's passing didn't speak well of The Davenports. As rich as they are, I felt they could as well take her in and not have her work as a maid to the kids she once played with as a child growing up. It felt dystopic how her realities changed. 

Because of how The Davenports are portrayed, especially William Davenports who was a runaway slave. Theire actions spoke differently from how the book wanted us to see them. Despite being rich, they didn't really do anything to fight the oppression and racism the Black community in the ton faced. 

It felt like The Davenports were immune at some point because of the privilege their wealth brought in. 

This also tells on Amy-Rose as she is rejected by William Davenports when John confesses his love for her to his father and he's forced to make a life changing decision, Amy-Rose or his future. 

I like that Amy-Rose was driven enough to want something different for herself than a life of servitude. Plus the relationship with John, while steamy and daring, it felt flat to me. Most of the relationships did. 

The last character, Ruby wasn't as interesting or intriguing as the rest. She's given this role of Olivia's best friend and we don't really get to experience any side of her asides her wanting to settle down to save her family from bankruptcy and she's woven into a love triangle between John and Amy-Rose. 

I generally didn't really like her as a character and her chapters were a bore. I mostly skipped them. 

The last act of the book stemmed up these conflicts that forced the book to continue into a sequel. In my opinion it would have been a good series of we explored each of these women in their own dedicated books. 

Keeping up with four different perspectives was a lot and sometimes you lose interest in one of the characters or more as you read. Because of how they're different in personalities, while reading chances are that you'll be focused on the character's with a strong presence like Helen or Amy-Rose and not necessarily Ruby. 

The drama was very much exciting and intriguing and I loved loved the world building and the setting. It felt good to read a historical romance that has characters that look and talk like me. 

Growing up, we'd all read Halequinn presents historical romances and they didn't quite seem to portray black or African American realities or even give women strong voices. It was mostly Steamy scenes with a sprinkle of plot which was usually live triangles or forbidden romances. 

I also like that this book wasn't heavy on trauma or anything like that. Like Shonda's Bridgeton, there's just enough dose of realities of what these characters experience in their society either because of their race, gender, societal hierarchy, wealth and political opinion. 

In my opinion The Davenports was light and an interesting read. It's a perfect fit for anyone into historical romance and you want to experience Bridgerton but with multiple strong female characters.