A review by tdotrenae
Church Girl by Naima Simone

emotional reflective tense fast-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

4.75

thank you thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC! It was sooo good! I read this in a day! This short and spicy book is about Von Howard and Aaliyah Montgomery! Von is a successful tattoo artist and single father to the most precious little girl Gia, in desperate need of a nanny and in the thick of beef with his ex wife. And that’s where Aaliyah comes in! After leaving her fiancé at the alter, and escaping her parents’ rule over her life, she find herself living in Chicago! 

I really loved the characters in this book, even the side ones! I felt like they were so real. There’s alot of character development with both of our main characters with them being vulnerable and open to changing.  I loved the grumpy-ish x sunshine trope and the reasonable age gap troupe - where both were done in a way that wasn’t cringey. I loved the dual povs and how much tension was between Aaliyah and Von. And the spicy scenes were beautifully done and well written. 

Not to be dramatic, but this book really healed a part of me that I didn’t know was hurting. Similar to Aaliyah, I feel like in the last year I’ve been really freeing myself from others expectations and obligations and phew the growing pains associated with finding yourself. Only thing I wanted was it to be a little longer with Von and Aaliyah’s relationship once everything resolved or like an epilogue or something! I just wanted to stay with them longer lol. 
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