e-Audio, 10:54:05
Narrated by: Angel Pean and Erin Spencer
Release Date: January 31, 2023
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Read from: December 19-27, 2022
Stand-alone (Maybe?)
Source: PRH Audio (I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Murder, Racism, Use of the N word
For Readers Interested In: Thriller, Mystery, LGBTQ+, Dual POV, Realistic Fiction, YANova Albright was going to be the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High–but now she’s dead. Murdered on coronation night. Fans of One of Us Is Lying and The Other Black Girl will love this unputdownable thriller.
Nova Albright, the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High, is dead. Murdered the night of her coronation, her body found the next morning in the old slave cemetery she spent her weekends rehabilitating.
Tinsley McArthur was supposed to be queen. Not only is she beautiful, wealthy, and white, it’s her legacy–her grandmother, her mother, and even her sister wore the crown before her. Everyone in Lovett knows Tinsley would do anything to carry on the McArthur tradition.
No one is more certain of that than Duchess Simmons, Nova’s best friend. Duchess’s father is the first Black police captain in Lovett. For Duchess, Nova’s crown was more than just a win for Nova. It was a win for all the Black kids. Now her best friend is dead, and her father won’t face the fact that the main suspect is right in front of him. Duchess is convinced that Tinsley killed Nova–and that Tinsley is privileged enough to think she can get away with it. But Duchess’s father seems to be doing what he always does: fall behind the blue line. Which means that the white girl is going to walk.
Duchess is determined to prove Tinsley’s guilt. And to do that, she’ll have to get close to her.
But Tinsley has an agenda, too.
Everyone loved Nova. And sometimes, love is exactly what gets you killed.
*MY THOUGHTS*
It didn’t take much for me to be basically salivating for this book. The cover alone had me wanting to read it immediately. I waited as long as I could, but once I got it, I had to read it. And I’m so glad I went around my schedule and read it. I couldn’t help myself.
First things first, I LOVED that this was done in dual POV. There would have been no way to really get into the drama of it all. And the way they teamed up all for the love of Nova. I loved that because it was handled so real life like. Duchess couldn’t stand Tinsley ass, but she made it clear she was helping her because of Nova. And as a Black woman, I understood that completely. I’m not trying to clear your name at all, but you have the means to help me figure out what might have happened to my friend. I wouldn’t even say we teamed up. And let me just say, Tinsley ass deserved it. I say that because I don’t think she would have learned as much as she did throughout the rest of the story if she hadn’t gone through the things she did. There’s no way she would have gotten it or appreciated it as much. But she wasn’t alone. Duchess learned a lot as well. She realized that the bare minimum isn’t enough and they shouldn’t stand for it.
This novel had so much growth in it. All the teens, all the adults, life was handing out lessons to everyone in this book. Including the victim. Which brings me to my next thing. All the characters in this were well fleshed out. They had to be because they were all interrogated throughout the entire book. Every time someone was introduced, they were shortly after interrogated or at the very least asked where they were at the time. Which made 100% sense because it was in a thriller.
The way the clues were dropped was crazy. It’s funny now, but I remember thinking back after I finished this book and thought about all the clues that should have told me whodunit while I was reading. But it was done so well, that even me, a seasoned thriller reader didn’t catch who did it, I only caught the why. And that was from a super small thing in the story. Gotta make sure you’re paying attention if you want to guess this one!
I DID think the way the police presence was handled in this one was not the greatest tho. It just wasn’t believable. At first where she sneaks in the office, yeah I get it. But the way she got the info at the end, naw. There’s no way she could’ve let that happen. I understand that was her dad, but still. I just didn’t see that happening.
And yes, a part of this book’s plot is social justice. Nova is the first Black Queen, but there’s also talk of a case that was happening where they are that sounds a lot like the Ahmaud Arbery case. This case doesn’t seem like it would be a prominent part of the story, but its used to help teach Tinsley a large part of her internal bias.
Lastly, the author is a journalist. I thought it was obvious because of the way he started spouting the facts for everything. It was like he was at the protests and the way he was telling what happened during them and what was happening during the case, etc. But even still, it didn’t make it seem like it was written with the news in mind of anything. I know I didn’t explain that right. He was very knowledgeable about the subject, but him explaining it didn’t seem like he was flaunting it.
This was one of my most anticipated book of 2023. I knew I was going to read this immediately. I’m just glad that it was everything I wanted and more. The cover, the book, just everything was really, really good and I really hope to see more from this debut author in the future!
Overall, I give this
