Book Review and Giveaway: My Secret Sister

By Sara Steven

How far would you go to save your child?

Claire is living every mother’s worst nightmare. Her daughter, Jess, has been diagnosed with a rare illness and desperately needs a bone marrow transplant. With no match on the registry, Claire turns to a charismatic geneticist for help and embarks on a Genetic Journey to seek a familial match for her daughter.

On the other side of the country, Marianne suffers her eighth miscarriage. Her perfect life is rotting underneath, but she is determined to do whatever it takes to have a baby.

When DNA test results reveal that Claire and Marianne are half-sisters, Claire must face the dark lies of the past and make impossible choices about the future. Is her secret sister the answer to her prayers, or will she cost her everything? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

My Secret Sister reminded me of the late evening true-life mystery shows you might see on tv; Dateline, or 48 Hours Mystery. The type of story that seems almost too unbelievable to be true, but yet it can happen, and it does happen. Most of my time spent reading about Claire and Marianne was in a constant state of “Whoa.” To discover that you have a half-sister somewhere would be mind blowing enough, yet the way Lauren Westwood depicted it, particularly by bringing in special charm bracelets that at first elicit mainly emotional significance and then later showcases so much more beneath the murky surface of what is really going on, I mean--my mind is still blown by all of it. 

Claire’s story, particularly where her daughters are concerned, was incredibly touching and deeply tragic. Claire would do anything for Jess, absolutely anything, and I could completely identify with that emotion. That’s why Marianne felt like such a lifeline to Claire at certain times, but when more is revealed when it comes to Marianne’s intentions, the end goal becomes blurry. There seems to be a lot of sacrifice from everyone involved, and it’s hard to know what the right or wrong thing is anymore. 

I loved how everyone was flawed and multi-dimensional. I could understand why each character wants what they want, at times seeking out destruction in order to achieve that. No one was the obvious protagonist or antagonist, because those characteristics melded together in every single person, which made for a really deeply involved read. Who do you side with, who do you root for? I think I rooted for or pushed against all of them at some point in time, hopeful there would be some sort of resolution in the end. 

With the ending--I had a feeling it would happen the way it did. I saw it coming, but that didn’t diminish from it. It fit in well with the flow and progression of the story, giving me what I wanted. Who needs television? A true-life mystery was revealed to me right here on the written page, and I more than enjoyed it. A well-written five-star read.

Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase My Secret Sister.

Author Bio by Lauren Westwood:

My books explore the darkness and the light of the human spirit, and take you on an emotional journey. My Sister’s Secret is a tense and emotional drama about a mother’s race against time to save her daughter’s life. My Mother's Silence is a gripping and romantic drama about homecoming and family secrets set in the wild Scottish highlands. It was shortlisted for the Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award 2020. The Daughter She Lost is a dark journey of self-discovery and overcoming the secrets of the past. My holiday romance Moonlight on the Thames is a love story to classical music and the healing power of love. It was a bestseller in urban fiction and top 100 Kindle book. My first three novels: Finding Home, Finding Secrets, and Finding Dreams all feature mysterious old houses and intelligent, feisty contemporary heroines who set out to unravel the mysteries of the past. I also write award winning children’s books as Laurel Remington. I am originally from California, and now live in Surrey, UK with my partner and three daughters. 

Visit Lauren online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Giveaway to Win 5 x e-copies of My Secret Sister (Open internationally!)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within seven days, then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  Chick Lit Central is not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.

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Giveaway ends November 18th.

Visit all the stops on Lauren's blog tour:

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What's in the mail

Melissa:
Hidden Treasures by Michelle Adams from HarperCollins (won from Goodreads)

The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith from Ballantine (e-book via NetGalley)

Love From Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill from Random House (e-book via NetGalley)

Curfew by Jayne Cowie from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley)

Love the Way They Lie by/from Linda Smolkin (e-book)

Out of His League by Caroline Richardson from Wattpad Books  (e-book via NetGalley)

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer from Putnam  (e-book via NetGalley)

Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith from Ten16 Press (e-book via NetGalley)

The Words in My Hands by Asphixia from Annick Press (e-book via NetGalley)

If You Change Your Mind by Robby Weber from Inkyard Press (e-book via NetGalley)

With Love from London by Sarah Jio from Ballantine (e-book via NetGalley)

Housebreaking by Colleen Hubbard from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley)

The Fashion Orphans by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose (e-book via NetGalley)

The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley)

For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino from Liza Dawson Associates

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle from Atria (e-book via NetGalley)

30 Things I Love About Myself by Radhika Sanghani from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley) 

Something Good by Vanessa Miller from Thomas Nelson (e-book via NetGalley)

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman from Ballantine (e-book via NetGalley)

Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley)

A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel from Atria (e-book via NetGalley)

Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley)

The Charmed List by Julie Abe from St. Martin's Press (e-book via NetGalley)

The Woman Who Came Back to Life by Beth Miller from Bookouture (e-book via NetGalley)

Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter from St. Martin's Press (e-book via NetGalley)

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus from Doubleday (e-book via NetGalley)

At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley)

Sara:

Anything You Can Do by/from B.R. Maycock (e-book)

Sasha's Redemption by Grayson Avery from Rachel's Random Resources (e-book)

Winging It by Emma Murray from Rachel's Random Resources (e-book via NetGalley)

Jami:

The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey from SparkPoint (e-book)

Melissa, Sara, and Jami:

From Amazon (e-book):
Model Home by J. Courtney Sullivan
If the Fates Allow by Rainbow Rowell
The Marriage Test by Suzanne Redfearn
Oh. What. Fun. by Chandler Baker

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Spotlight: Just Haven't Met You Yet

Hopeless romantic and lifestyle reporter Laura’s business trip to the Channel Islands isn’t off to a great start. After an embarrassing encounter with the most attractive man she’s ever seen in real life, she arrives at her hotel and realizes she’s grabbed the wrong suitcase from the airport. Her only consolation is its irresistible contents, each of which intrigues her more and more. The owner of this suitcase is clearly Laura’s dream man. Now, all she has to do is find him.

Besides, what are the odds that she’d find The One on the same island where her parents first met and fell in love, especially as she sets out to write an article about their romance? Commissioning surly cab driver Ted to ferry her around seems like her best bet in both tracking down the mystery suitcase owner and retracing her parents’ footsteps. But as Laura’s mystery man proves difficult to find—and as she uncovers family secrets—she may have to reimagine the life, and love, she always thought she wanted.

Purchase Just Haven't Met You Yet

“A perfectly charming escape. I laughed, I teared up, and I smiled my way through. Just Haven't Met You Yet hits all the right notes for a great romantic comedy.”
—Helen Hoang, author of The Heart Principle

"Endearing, sparkling, and hilarious."
—Josie Silver, author of One Day in December and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird

“Exactly the sort of fun, pacy, beautifully-written romantic story I needed.”
—Lorraine Brown, author of The Paris Connection

“This book is pure, unbridled joy. With a wholly immersive setting and pitch-perfect humor, Just Haven't Met You Yet is sure to leave you smiling long after you've turned the last page."
—Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of The Ex Talk

Courtesy of Sophie's website

Sophie Cousens worked as a TV producer in London for more than twelve years and now lives on the island of Jersey in the UK, balancing her writing career with working for an arts charity and taking care of her two small children. She is the author of This Time Next Year.

Visit Sophie online:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

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Spotlight and Giveaway: The Passing Storm

Today we are featuring The Passing Storm by Christine Nolfi. Thanks to SparkPoint Studio, we have one copy to give away!

A gripping, openhearted novel about family, reconciliation, and bringing closure to the secrets of the past.

Early into the tempestuous decade of her thirties, Rae Langdon struggles to work through a grief she never anticipated. With her father, Connor, she tends to their Ohio farm, a forty-acre spread that itself has enjoyed better days. As memories sweep through her, some too precious to bear, Rae gives shelter from a brutal winter to a teenager named Quinn Galecki.

Quinn has been thrown out by his parents, a couple too troubled to help steer the misunderstood boy through his own losses. Now Quinn has found a temporary home with the Langdons―and an unexpected kinship, because Rae, Quinn, and Connor share a past and understand one another’s pain. But its depths―and all its revelations and secrets―have yet to come to light. To finally move forward, Rae must confront them and also fight for Quinn, whose parents have other plans in mind for their son.

With forgiveness, love, and the spring thaw, there might be hope for a new season―a second chance Rae believed in her heart was gone forever.

“The Passing Storm is a touching tale of healing, hope, and belonging. The characters were richly layered, and the satisfying ending hit a perfect note. You don’t want to miss this unforgettable novel.” 
—Karen McQuestion, bestselling author of The Moonlight Child

“Christine Nolfi proves yet again that she knows exactly how to deliver an emotional, compassionate tale about real people and the complexity of their feelings as they work through grief and loss. It is a triumphant story, and once you dive into it, you won’t want to emerge from its beautiful depths until you reach the satisfying, uplifting conclusion.” 
—USA Today bestselling author Julianne MacLean

“Christine Nolfi’s The Passing Storm is a poignant and clear-eyed story about second chances, reawakening the heart, and having the courage to reclaim the life you were meant to live. Nolfi dives deep into the well of human emotions as her characters fight to right their journeys after life’s storms have blown them off course, showing us that sometimes the bravest thing of all is facing our own truth.” 
—Barbara Davis, bestselling author of The Last of the Moon Girls

“Christine Nolfi’s The Passing Storm may be her best novel yet. There is no storyteller better at navigating the complexities of human relationships, from the tragic depths to the uplifting heights. Hold onto your heart because you’re in for a wild—and satisfying—ride.” 
—Grace Greene, USA Today bestselling author of A Barefoot Tide

Christine Nolfi is the proud mother of six adult children. She is the author of The Road She Left Behind, a top book-club pick by Working Mother and Parade magazines; the award-winning Sweet Lake series, which includes Sweet Lake, The Comfort of Secrets, and The Season of Silver Linings; and the Liberty series and the Heavenscribe trilogy. A native of Ohio, Christine now resides in South Carolina with her husband and their crazy wheaten terrier, Lucy. For the latest information about her releases and future books, visit her website.

Visit Christine online:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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Giveaway ends November 16th at midnight EST.

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Book Review and Giveaway: Wish You Were Here

By Melissa Amster

Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s an associate specialist at Sotheby’s now, but her boss has hinted at a promotion if she can close a deal with a high-profile client. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. "You should still go," he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. Her luggage is lost, the Wi-Fi is nearly nonexistent, and the hotel they’d booked is shut down due to the pandemic. In fact, the whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.

In the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors and I have read almost everything she has written (with the exception of seeing Plain Truth as a movie instead). I have my share of favorites from her books, and am pleased to say that Wish You Were Here has made it onto that list.

Diana was easily relatable, even though there's 15 years between us. She was an interesting and sympathetic character and I could easily see becoming friends with her if we had met in real life. Her job even reminds me of my previous job, as we both had to research obituaries for somewhat similar reasons. So we could definitely commiserate about that together!

I really liked the setting of the Galápagos Islands, and not just because an important character went there on Schitt's Creek. (Given the timeline of the show and when Diana went, they should have met up if a crossover had been allowed.) The descriptions really brought it to life and the settings sounded amazing. I liked the life Diana made for herself there, while she had nowhere else to be.

I think I had my head buried in the sand during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic because I had no idea that it was as horrible as Finn recounts in his letters to Diana while she's away. I knew it was bad, but what Finn was describing was beyond nightmarish! 

Overall, it was a really compelling and well-told story that I had a hard time putting down to get back to real life. 

**I'll be posting spoilers below the giveaway, in case you've read it already or want to come back and read later after you've finished the book. Just scroll down quickly to the comments section if you are participating in the giveaway and haven't read the book yet.***

Movie casting suggestions:

Diana: Elizabeth Olsen
Beatriz: Kyndra Sanchez (she recently played Dawn in The Babysitter's Club, which I was watching while reading this novel.)
Gabriel: Jencarlos Caneda
Finn: Matt Lanter
Rodney: Dyllon Burnside

Thanks to Ballantine for the book in exchange for an honest review. They have one copy for a lucky reader!

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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Giveaway ends November 15th at midnight EST.

SPOILERS:

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I did not see that twist coming in the middle. At all! It had me questioning everything I knew to be real about the story and kept wishing that was actually a dream and that her real life was in the Galápagos. I applaud Jodi for doing this with the story, as it was a total game changer!

I also didn't know that one's body could atrophy so much while being in bed on a ventilator for a certain period of time. It almost seemed like Diana had been paralyzed. 

I found it so interesting how people could be living these full lives in their dreams during a short time period, like the guy whose spanned several years before he came back to reality. 

More by Jodi Picoult:

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Phoebe Fox has a way with words...plus a book giveaway

We are so excited to have Phoebe Fox back at CLC today to celebrate the publication of her latest novel, The Way We Weren't. Melissa really enjoyed this story and reviewed it this past summer. Phoebe has a lot to say about The Way We Weren't and we think you will find it really interesting. Thanks to Berkley, we have one copy to give away!

Phoebe Fox, a former journalist and actor, is the author of A Little Bit of Grace; the Breakup Doctor series; and—as Tiffany Yates Martin—of the bestselling nonfiction Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide for Revising Your Writing. 

Visit Phoebe online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram 

Synopsis:

An unlikely friendship between a septuagenarian and a younger woman becomes a story of broken trust, lost love, and the unexpected blooming of hope against the longest odds.

“You trying to kill yourself, or are you just stupid?”

Marcie Malone didn’t think she was either, but when she drives from Georgia to the southwestern shore of Florida without a plan and wakes up in a stranger’s home, she doesn’t seem to know anymore. Despondent and heartbroken over an unexpected loss and the man she thought she could count on, Marcie leaves him behind, along with her job and her whole life, and finds she has nowhere to go.

Herman Flint has seen just about everything in his seventy years living in a fading, blue-collar Florida town, but the body collapsed on the beach outside his window is something new. The woman is clearly in some kind of trouble and Flint wants no part of it—he’s learned to live on his own just fine, without the hassle of worrying about others. But against his better judgment he takes Marcie in and lets her stay until she’s on her feet on the condition she keeps out of his way.

As the unlikely pair slowly copes with the damages life has wrought, Marcie and Flint form an unlikely alliance that forces both to face secrets and dark truths from their past—and to decide whether to stay lost in the pain of the past or fight for healing and hope with the people they care about most.

What were the biggest rewards and challenges with writing The Way We Weren't?
This one took so long to come together! The very first proto-draft of this story was started about 15 years ago. It’s taken so many forms since then and kept getting closer to what I hoped it would be, but it wasn’t until I understood Marcie’s and Flint’s backstories that it finally started to jell. 

I honestly think I learned to write on this story: to create and flesh out character, to plot, to raise stakes, to create multiple storylines and POVs, etc. The whole thing was a huge challenge, but also a great education in writing—which is to say the real work of writing: editing, revising, rewriting, developing, etc.

The reward is that this is probably the best writing I’ve done. This story is different from my others, which tend to be more humor-forward. This one has humor—I can’t seem to avoid it—but it’s got a bit more heft too, I think. 

And just to finally see this baby in print, by such a fantastic publisher as Berkley, after all those years and iterations…it’s incredibly rewarding and validating. This was the “book in the drawer” that I couldn’t seem to let go of and leave there, and I’m thrilled it’s finally going to reach readers.

What is the inspiration behind The Way We Weren't?

I can’t even remember why I initially envisioned the earliest scenes, where Marcie basically abandons ship on her life out of nowhere and Flint finds her passed out on the beach outside his house, but that sequence has been in the story from the very first version, back in around 2006. 

That was pretty much the only thing that survived subsequent rewrites, though. I knew I wanted to write a story about what happens when a longtime marriage implodes, but I couldn’t come up with the right impetus for it.

Then I met my husband--relatively late in life, when I was nearly 40 and he was 45--and we had to decide immediately, pretty much, whether we wanted to have kids. It was one of the hardest decisions I think either of us has ever faced, and made harder by never knowing whether you’re making the “right” choice.

We finally realized there is no right choice. You make the rightest choice you feel you can for where you are in life, and then you decide to be happy with it. 

It got me wondering what might happen if two people who loved each other enormously came down strong on opposite sides of such an important issue, and I explored that in both Marcie’s and Flint’s stories. Flint lost his most important relationship over it, and it’s made him withdraw bitterly from the world. Marcie is still at that crossroads, and meeting Flint forces both of them to face some of these hard truths and choices from their past.

If The Way We Weren't was made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
You are always SO GOOD at this I hate trying to compete with you, but I’ll take a stab. I’d absolutely love to have Kathryn Hahn as Marcie, and for Will I see someone like Jason Segal (maybe a bit too young, but perfect for the way I picture him). Flint has to be someone like Tommy Lee Jones or Dean Stockwell, or Peter Fonda if he were still with us.

Side note from Melissa: Oddly and unfortunately enough, Dean Stockwell just passed away too.

What is something you are thankful for this year?
I have been enormously grateful for feeling as if the world has begun to inch back toward kindness and decency from what has felt like a very angry, divided time in recent years. Add vaccines to that mix and it feels as if we’re coming out of a long, dark winter and might dare to hope for spring. I’m cautiously optimistic and hopeful that we as humans might realize we have more in common than we don’t, and that we can find our way to respecting one another and finding a peaceful middle ground that creates a more connected and kinder world.

What is the last movie you saw that you would recommend?

We happened upon Free Guy the other night, with Ryan Reynolds--had never even heard about it, but it was so unexpectedly charming and entertaining. We loved it!

Side note from Melissa: I agree 100%!

What is a unique dish you serve during Thanksgiving or the winter holidays?
Because my hubs and I don’t have kids, our holidays have traditionally been spent with our families at their houses, but lately we’ve begun starting some of our own traditions. One is that I rampantly make toffee every holiday season, an enterprise that has expanded like crazy in recent years: As people hear about the toffee factory my kitchen becomes in December, I get “orders” from more people every year, and I send toffee all over the country. The amount of butter we buy at Costco is mortifying.

The other odd dish we’ve developed a slight Christmas Eve tradition around is--wait for it--fried chicken and champagne. I read a great book about food called Real Food, Fake Food by Larry Olmsted that got me into exploring varieties of specific foods: honey, olive oil, balsamic vinegar…and he mentioned that fried chicken and champagne was considered by many foodies to be the ideal pairing. I’m not especially into either one, but damned if they aren’t pretty amazing together.

Thanks to Phoebe for chatting with us and to Berkley for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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Giveaway ends November 14th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: We Are Not Like Them

By Jami Denison

Perhaps it’s due to her reporter background, but author Jo Piazza seems to have her fingers on the pulse of contemporary American women better than nearly any other author today. In books like Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win (review), Fitness Junkie (review), and Love Rehab (review), Piazza creates strong, relatable heroines who feel completely grounded even while their plots feel ripped from the headlines. Now Piazza has teamed up with editor Christine Pride in creating We Are Not Like Them, a heartbreaking story of the lifelong friendship between a White policeman’s wife and a Black news anchor that’s torn apart by a police shooting. 

Jen and Riley have been friends since daycare—the daycare run by Riley’s grandmother, where Jen’s teenage mother dropped her during her overnight bartending shifts. Now a TV news reporter, Riley has returned home to Philadelphia and reunited with Jen, who’s pregnant with her first child after years of IVF. Married to a cop, Jen didn’t have the money for college and ended up waitressing. Riley, close to her family, is more interested in her career than children. Yet bound by childhood, the women have tried to remain close. But when Jen’s husband Kevin shoots an unarmed Black teenager, the ties are frayed. Jen, while destroyed at Kevin’s actions, is also completely on her husband’s side, and refuses to see the shooting as part of the pattern of systemic racism. Riley, gutted by her friend’s insistence that she can’t be racist because her best friend is Black, is also torn between her sympathy for the dead boy’s mother and her desire to get the story and move up the ranks at her TV station. When Jen begs Riley to interview Kevin, to put “his side of the story” out there, things become even more complicated.

We Are Not Like Them feels so timely, I had to remind myself several times that the story was not real. And yet, all the details of the shooting—the alley location, the sound-obscuring headphones, the boy reaching into his back pocket for his phone—are so specific, it’s impossible for the reader to distance herself. The book opens with the shooting, with the boy Justin’s final thoughts—which are so universal 14-year-old boy ruminations that my mind immediately went to my son at that age. The scene might actually be too impactful; after reading it, I was more concerned with his mother than with the two old friends who hadn’t lost a son. 

The book is written from both first-person perspectives, and Piazza (who is White) tells readers in a foreword that she and Pride (who is Black) were careful not to assign perspectives based on race. Yet although Pride is an experienced editor, Piazza is an accomplished writer, and her voice seems to dominate the narrative. Riley is the more fleshed-out character, and with Piazza’s own background in journalism, that’s not surprising. From Riley’s viewpoint, readers feel firsthand the daily impact of the microaggressions that come with being Black. She wears an emotional flack jacket to handle the casual racism that starts from an early age and even exists in her own family. (Her brother only dates White women because “they’re prettier.”) Her friendship with Jen is only a small part of Riley’s story, as her career, the implications of the shooting, her grandmother’s health, her regrets over a lost love, and her relationship with her parents also factor in. Jen, on the other hand, feels more stereotypical blue collar White girl. A die-hard Eagles fan, she married Kevin because he was a stable guy with his own place and a good job. A blonde who waitressed at Olive Garden, she quit her job as a dentist’s receptionist to get ready for the baby. Her mother-in-law is a devout Catholic with racist tendencies who waits on her husband and sons. Jen’s pregnancy through IVF was the only thing that did not seem stereotypical, and that point seemed more of a plot contrivance to tie Jen closer to Riley. (Riley lent her some money for the procedure.) For all these shortcomings, though, Jen sincerely loves and admires Riley, and she tries mightily to overcome her own racist tendencies. For instance, she notes that she and Riley played on the same teams and took the same classes, but Riley got scholarships and she didn’t. At the same time, she acknowledges that Riley worked harder. 

Everything in the book feels so real—the social media attacks on Jen and Riley; the code of honor that his fellow cops want Kevin to honor; the racial missteps and misunderstandings—that it’s ironic that what felt the least authentic to me was the friendship between the two women. In the reader’s note, Piazza says that she and Pride were inspired to write the story by the statistic that over 90 percent of people did not have a close friend of a different race. And yet, to me, the Jen-Riley relationship felt contrived. Yes, they grew up together. But Riley grew up in a close, loving, intact family with two parents who pushed her to achieve the dream she’d had since she was a little girl. And Jen, born to a teenager who became a neglectful mom that refused to help her daughter get college financial aid, couldn’t see the world beyond her own place in it. As adults, Riley seemed so much smarter than Jen that it just wasn’t believable that they still considered themselves best friends, especially since Riley was also close with a high-powered Jamaican woman she met in college.

But this is not another version of Firefly Lane; We Are Not Like Them could be described as an adult version of Angie Thomas’s YA classic, The Hate U Give. As such, the rationalization of the friendship isn’t as important as the issues surrounding it. In today’s environment, where red states are passing laws forbidding schools from talking about racism, it’s more important than ever that women—especially White women—read books like these.

Thanks to Atria for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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