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thatcydney 's review for:
With Kookies on Top
by Bella Jay
emotional
funny
reflective
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
First, I am so incredibly grateful to Bella Jay for sending me an ARC.
With Kookies on Top is a confectionery masterpiece, filled with hot times, sweet times, sad times, and moments of reflection. I'm so glad I read Kookie Dough prior to this because it really helped me be on one band, one sound with Kayadah and Jonel's journey!
Yadah is so completely lovable. She's a smart, interesting, flawed, thoughtful, and at her core, she wants to be seen, chosen, and loved. Even though she has a past of being a side chick to married men, her journey of self discovery and self worth was a journey a lot of young women need to stand witness to. The thing I loved most about this book is that we so often as women are happy to read romances where the men are h00rs and get around—even with married or otherwise taken women—only settling down when the FMC comes around. In Yadah and Nelly's story, they BOTH are this person. And it helped me be extremely sympathetic to how a woman could find herself in that position. Not in a way that condones it, but in a way that ushered in a desire to see Yadah heal and learn and grow.
Nelly is lowkey such a loverboy and the simpest of simps. Long before Yadah started walking that path with him, he was ten toes down and not playing about Yadah. The way it seamlessly went from her working for him, to them beginning to hook up again, to them falling in love was such a journey. The thing I loved most about their love story was how they both worked hard to encourage the other to dream big and held space to witness their dreams coming true.
Don't be deterred by the length of this book! On the one hand, I could've read so much more (and I will be picking up With Kookies on Top: Kookie Crumbs when I'm able to). On the other hand, the length of this novel gave Yadah and Nelly a really natural progression of things. Every character felt well-developed and I was so completely plugged in and rooting for everyone to win. I have a feeling I know who the next couple is in this series and I love that for me in advance. There are some challenging topics within. I feel like they were handled with care and sometimes with humor, which is necessary.
This is truly one of my favorite stories of all time. Read Kookie Dough then dive into this! Black romance, you will always be famous!
Side note: Bella Jay, you win! Yoni is your word and I ain't complaining no more because you ate every syllable of this!
5 ⭐️s
4 🌶️
With Kookies on Top is a confectionery masterpiece, filled with hot times, sweet times, sad times, and moments of reflection. I'm so glad I read Kookie Dough prior to this because it really helped me be on one band, one sound with Kayadah and Jonel's journey!
Yadah is so completely lovable. She's a smart, interesting, flawed, thoughtful, and at her core, she wants to be seen, chosen, and loved. Even though she has a past of being a side chick to married men, her journey of self discovery and self worth was a journey a lot of young women need to stand witness to. The thing I loved most about this book is that we so often as women are happy to read romances where the men are h00rs and get around—even with married or otherwise taken women—only settling down when the FMC comes around. In Yadah and Nelly's story, they BOTH are this person. And it helped me be extremely sympathetic to how a woman could find herself in that position. Not in a way that condones it, but in a way that ushered in a desire to see Yadah heal and learn and grow.
Nelly is lowkey such a loverboy and the simpest of simps. Long before Yadah started walking that path with him, he was ten toes down and not playing about Yadah. The way it seamlessly went from her working for him, to them beginning to hook up again, to them falling in love was such a journey. The thing I loved most about their love story was how they both worked hard to encourage the other to dream big and held space to witness their dreams coming true.
Don't be deterred by the length of this book! On the one hand, I could've read so much more (and I will be picking up With Kookies on Top: Kookie Crumbs when I'm able to). On the other hand, the length of this novel gave Yadah and Nelly a really natural progression of things. Every character felt well-developed and I was so completely plugged in and rooting for everyone to win. I have a feeling I know who the next couple is in this series and I love that for me in advance. There are some challenging topics within. I feel like they were handled with care and sometimes with humor, which is necessary.
This is truly one of my favorite stories of all time. Read Kookie Dough then dive into this! Black romance, you will always be famous!
Side note: Bella Jay, you win! Yoni is your word and I ain't complaining no more because you ate every syllable of this!
5 ⭐️s
4 🌶️