e-Audio, 07:16:45
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt & Tyla Collier
Release Date: July 1, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape (Viking Books for Young Readers)
Read from: June 30-July 5, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning:
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Contemporary, Dual POV, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Romance, So Good I read the Acknowledgements, Socioeconomic Diversity, YAThe glitz of Gossip Girl meets the hustle of Leah Johnson’s You Should See Me in a Crown in this charming and hilarious story of ex-BFFs from PG County, Maryland, perfect for fans of Joya Goffney and Elise Bryant.
Girls like Reya Samuels always come from Prince George’s County. Reya is rich and she’s not afraid to show it—she wears designer clothes, drives a custom pink Audi, and lives in a neighborhood tucked behind a fancy cast iron gate. She works hard, but she can get anything she wants with a snap.
Sommer Watkins is from Seat Pleasant, where the cast iron gates are significantly smaller—and attached to the windows, where most folks are still trying to make ends meet. Every day for Sommer is a hustle, working at her dad’s bookstore, and using her art skills to scrounge up enough scholarship money for her dream school, Spelman.
Reya and Sommer used to be BFFs—back when Reya lived in Seat Pleasant, too. Now the girls are from different stratospheres—but when Reya desperately needs help to prove to FIT admissions officers that she has what it takes to make it in fashion, the only person who can help is Sommer. Reya promises to help Sommer in return—she’ll pay her for her services, helping Sommer afford the school her parents can’t.
As the girls work together, slowly they begin to trust each other again. But when new relationships push them both, and Sommer’s dad’s bookstore is suddenly in danger of closing, old wounds bubble up. Can the girls find a way to repair their friendship and stay true to themselves along the way?
*MY THOUGHTS*
Y’all know how I collect ARCs with Black girls/boys on the cover? Well I saw this one and I was SO JEALOUS that everyone except me got one. This cover eats down and I wanted one so bad. But then I got an e-ALC and I was so excited! And then I finally read it. And that was when I realized you really can judge a book by it’s cover lol Not only was this cover amazing, the inside was as well.
Ok so the main thing about this that I liked was the main characters. I loved both of their drive and I was glad we got to see them both in action in their own rights. I also really liked the way they were so different but were still so very different. Where Sommer had a humble beginning and then had to keep navigating herself in the same area, Reya’s started with humble beginnings, but then had her life changed when her mother got a new job, a seat at the “Real Housewives” like table and moves them out of Seat Pleasant. Both of them were so authentic and it really felt like I was watching something online. It was real enough to me to realize that I could relate to the both of them. Also, their growth throughout the story was astounding. One went from forgetting where she REALLY came from to finally realizing that someone was making her forget it. And the other made me realize it with her relationship. She seemed to be coming to the conclusion that everything isn’t always greener and I was happy for her about that. Nothing is as it seems.
The writing style was so realistic too. I could really see what she was describing when I was reading it. The graffiti? I saw it clearly when I read it and when she caught them, I really felt like the older auntie or the older librarian yelling at them while I was reading. For it to be a dual POV book, it was so funny how both voices and characters were so different, but so much the same. After reading this I really thought these characters were really based off real people because they felt so real.
This book really was so much fun. I legit LOLed at some parts. And this cover is amazing. I can see this one really flying off the shelves. There is so much in this novel; more than the usual friend story. I would say this is for sure the best example of “Squad Goals” that I’ve seen.
Overall, I give this
