L Williams

It’s getting 5 stars regardless

Revisado: 09-22-24

This was an enjoyable book but I didn’t find it relatable and some parts were a little unrealistic. Stop reading HERE if you don’t want a spoiler!
Spoiler alert!!
The first book in this series was way better.
I was not prepared for the sex scene. Whoa! The language.
The thought of an identical twin stealing his brothers girlfriend and agreeing to raise their baby, while the first twin is watching from a distance just didn’t seem like something that would happen in real life.
Garrett meeting and falling in love with Olivia within days of arriving in sag harbor to square away his dead mother’s affairs didn’t seem realistic either

All that said, I LOVE the way Hostin intertwines the characters. You find out who is related to who and who is really who’s child, etc. The only thing that confused me was, I did not remember Ama having a baby in the first book. I remember her promising to take care of her best friends baby and then putting her up for adoption, but somehow Edie/Bea’s existence escaped me. That said, where is Bea’s husband? Did he take off? He’s never a part of the story.
Finally, the last thing I find a little unrealistic was how Ama refers to herself as having “raised” Olivia Billie and the other godsister”
She and Omar were their godparents and took them in SOME of the summers. I don’t know that “that’s not how i raised you” truly aligns with the relationship dynamics there.

Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I support black authors, so for ALL OF the things I found a bit unrealistic or “off”, I’m still giving this 5 stars. I don’t downvote black women. Sunny Hostin put a lot of work into these books whether *I* feel like they’re the perfect book or not
Five stars for being entertaining, characters I was looking forward to and felt familiar with, and clearly lots of hard work :-)

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Very enjoyable but….

Revisado: 07-01-24

I’m rating this 5 stars because the storyline was VERY GOOD, and the story progressed and developed in such a way that I truly did enjoy listening to it
The ONE THING that I simply can not wrap my head around is how much the male narrator sounds like Tone Loc. That may be a great thing for some people but the voice for me was hoarse and gravely. That being said, he is an amazing narrator and brings life to the character but the SOUND of his voice has me imagining Tone Loc! That’s just not what I wanted to hear listening to the more sexy parts of the book.
Also, I never listen to the ending credits but I did this time. This was recorded at Joseph Buttafucco’s recording studio? I’m not sure if that’s THEE same Joey Buttafucco or not but I found that interesting…..
Back to the story…. The female narrator was phenomenal. The book is clearly well written. I love that I could hear about Hendricks and the other friends, since I’ve listened to other KR books
5 stars from me
Just pointing out some things I found review worthy.
Will definitely be putting her other books on my audible account.
Worth the read, go get it and listen. Super enjoyable!!!!

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Relatable

Revisado: 05-27-24

This book is very relatable for most black women whether you’re in Tabby’s situation or not. Beware though: if you have mother in law trauma, it can be triggering. I love this series to keep me entertained during my daily walks and morning commute to work. The characters are pretty well developed. So much so, that I hate Mark’s mom-she’s a jerk, and I want to fight Mark for not sticking up for Tabby. But that’s what happens when an author develops characters-they make you feel real emotion toward the characters. I’m only halfway through the book but it gets 5 stars from me for being entertaining and the performance is great.
There’s nothing in this book that seems unrealistic at all.
I will be reading the next book in the series when I’m done listening to this one :-)

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Spectacular

Revisado: 05-19-24

Trevor Noah brought us into his world. He is a superb storyteller. You will laugh. You will cry. You will have feel good moments. Well worth the listen.

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Should Be Required Reading

Revisado: 04-01-24

I read this for personal learning reasons. I love history and I’m a counselor. Every school counselor school psych school social worker foster care worker and administrator should read this for context. Yes this is a book focused largely on history, But understand that this book is a VERY clear depiction of what has happened in this country to people of color with (or without!) mental health needs, especially children. It is a snippet of what has happened. The beliefs and effects of this do not magically disappear with legislation. The writing, research, organization, and performance make this a five star listen. It does not “read” like a history book. Hylton is a talented historian and writer. This book makes me very proud to be a Black woman in mental health care. The dedication to writing this is UN.MATCHED. Thank you so much for writing this. Thank you thank you thank you

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Well developed but read, don’t listen

Revisado: 07-08-23

The narrator is excellent, however….something about the cadence and mildly New York accent didn’t make the story as “listenable” as I would have liked. The voice didn’t match for an early 19th century story, if that makes sense
I would LOVE to hear this narrator in a modern setting and time type of book.

The story was very well developed as were the characters, but I did struggle at times and had to rewind to refocus.

Buy it and listen and judge for yourself
It was overall enjoyable

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Ummmmm

Revisado: 05-29-23

It was a decent read but so much of this wasn’t quite believable, and/or was upsetting to listen to

1. A husband kicks his wife out of the house bc he finds out he wasn’t her first? Seems excessive:
2. Whining children- I’m not sure if this is a result of the narrator or if that was the writer’s intention but the whining kids is just a turn off to this listen for me
3. The stay at home mom “struggle” life is just something I have zero sympathy or empathy for. “It’s a full time job” “it’s so hard”. Okay, whatever.
4. This book is about a pedophile. Plain and simple. There is absolutely NOTHING exciting about reading about how a grown man grooms a child then rapes her. Yes, rape. Even consensual sex with a minor is known as rape
5. The woman then goes BACK to the pedophile as a grown woman, and sleeps with him, shortly after he gets out of……PRISON? Like….. that’s just…. Ugh, so unsafe…. I think we all know what happens in pris—-eh nevermind.
6. The snooty Dames. I can’t.
7. The way the grandmother beat her when she found out she was pregnant was disturbing. Beat a pregnant child? Yeah no.

Here’s the thing, when a book makes you feel this strongly about the characters and storyline, and makes you pissed off about what went wrong, it’s worth buying to read. But be forewarned, this book could be triggering for victims of child abuse, physical abuse, domestic abuse, and r*pe.

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Meh

Revisado: 05-16-23

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you don’t want hints at what happens

I didn’t care for this as much as Johnson’s other stories but it was okay. Nice listen for my daily evening walk
But I take issue with the storyline
1. Ain’t no way in ________ my best friend sleeps with my man and then in the end I forgive and just call her. I get that we all want a happy ending but no…. I couldn’t stand the best friend. And it was REALLY weird how the best friends had a sexual relationship as teens and then…… sigh, just weird
2. I couldn’t stand the husband Lonnie.
3. The wife Bea taking him back, arguing with his side pieces, turning the other way, like it just screamed weak woman and it was hard to like her. Easy to feel pity for her but just annoying how the character was the “no income stay at home suburban mom whose husband cheats on her and she’s gotta find out what real life is like and get a job” (eyeroll)
3. Those whining children annoyed me.
4. Why didn’t we get more of Dakota? Tall dark and handsome but he was a BLIP in the storyline.
5. No final developments on WHOEVER was breaking into houses in the neighborhood
6. Bea shoots Lonnie bc he’s sleeping w her best friend awilde?! Awilde covers it up? They start speaking again? And DASSIT????? The police don’t suspect NOTHING? That ain’t quite how it goes in real life.

*7* LOVE the NJ references and the shout out to Rowan university!!!! That was pretty cool. If you’re a south Jersey girl that will grab you and pull you in. The towns and local “things” and events in Jersey being a part of the story were cool!
8* I’m not sure why the main character was a surrogate. I couldn’t quite piece together why that was a relevant part of the story….

All in all I DID like some parts of it but just didn’t feel like the story was cleaned up enough for me at the end.
This is a good listen for a long car drive or your daily walk. Buy it. Make your own decision and enjoy 😍

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Wow

Revisado: 05-09-23

I can’t begin to tell you how very talented this author is in the way she brings history to life.
She simply is a gift to those who love history and fiction. I finished this in 2-3 days and I wanted to devour each chapter
This work is accurate but entertaining. When I say entertaining I don’t mean it in the way that a sitcom is entertaining. I mean that she draws you in to characters that have a way of being “someone you already know”.
Everyone knows a Greta Hepburn, an Eleanor’s mom-the mom who works tirelessly to put her baby through college and try to give them a chance at life better than what they’ve been able to provide, everyone knows a mean nasty a Rose Pride, an Inez, a Fatty. You’re just going to find a connection in one or more characters to either yourself your family or a neighbor or friend. This makes the book so much more than a book. It’s a piece of work, a piece of art. The fact that it’s historical fiction and based on truth is a bonus because you get a history lesson.
I would LOVE to have a part two, fiction or not, where ancestry.com helps heal the wounds for some of the real life Eleanors of the world.
I just loved it
The icing on the cake is how well it was performed
I want more
Enjoy it!

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Worth it

Revisado: 05-04-23

Warning: this review contains spoilers.
First of all, this is a very, VERY good overall book.
I got mad at times, not at the author but at the characters, which means this book was written and performed very well. When you can connect or when the author elicits emotion, she’s done her job well. For example, I did NOT appreciate Josiah and Vashti starting a relationship ship, IN THE WORKPLACE, right in Yasmin’s face. Like no, we not doin that. I also at times wanted to pop the smart mouthed 13 year old.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book bc it was less of a story about relationships and loss, and more of a story about Black mental health to manage trauma. And I’m here for that.
With that said, it was performed exceptionally well but I had to look (hear?) past the male performer’s voice. He is a phenomenal performer but sounds a LOT like Tone Loc. almost 100% perfect pitch. :-) regardless the performance from both was amazing/
Anyway, all that being said this was a FIVE STAR BOOK. I loved all of it

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