The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

e-ARC, 304 pages
Release Date: July 7, 2020
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Read from: June 30-July 4, 2020
Stand-alone
Source: Edelweiss/Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss/Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.) 
TW: Voter Suppression
For fans of: Political YA, Romance, POC MC, POC on Cover, Stories told in a Day, Contemporary, Sparkly Covers, Diverse Authors, Own Voices, Realistic Fiction, Stand-alones, Tear-Jerkers

    From Stonewall Award-winning author Brandy Colbert comes an all-in-one-day love story perfect for fans of The Sun is Also A Star.
     Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She’s always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?
     Duke Crenshaw is do done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band’s first paying gig tonight.
     Only problem? Duke can’t vote.
     When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn’t spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right. And that’s how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva’s missing cat), it’s clear that there’s more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.
     Romantic and triumphant, The Voting Booth is proof that you can’t sit around waiting for the world to change?but some things are just meant to be.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I had another review all queued up and ready to go this morning, but once I finished this today, I knew I had to post this review today. It’s not out until the 7th, but the 4th of July is mentioned and I thought that was something that should be noted.

“You may be too young to vote, but you can still come along and see what it’s all about,” she says to Ida. “You’re never too young for democracy.”

2%

Marva has been ready to participate in an election since before she turned 18. It seems as if she was born for this day. And the day of the Presidential election, Marva is among one of the first to cast her vote. It’s at the polling place that she meets Duke, a guy just trying to vote where he runs into a roadblock. But Marva can’t just let him walk away. So together they find a way to help him make his voice heard, but of course, not without a couple obstacles along the way.

“I knew I had to start working to make sure things change or I’d never be able to forgive myself. I can’t just sit back and watch this world go to shit, you know?”

14%

The main thing I loved about this was the way it was “teachy but not preachy.” This books shows teens the importance of voting without trying to beat the message into their head. Now Marva IS kind of aggressive (ok so alot aggressive) about getting people to vote, but if you read it, that’s just her personality. She is intense and passionate and rightfully worried about what could happen if they don’t vote. I’m really glad these teens have something like this to get ready for November 3rd.

“He’s suddenly concerned about voting in a two-party system.” I snort, “White guy?” Marva’s eyes fly open. “How did you know?” “Because Black and Brown people don’t have that kind of luxury.”

18%

Listen, the way Brandy Colbert put voter suppression, Juneteenth, police encounters, the three fifths rule, and gun violence made me teary eyed. Colbert really did the damn thing with this one y’all. I figured some of this might appear in this, especially the voter suppression, but I was not expecting her to cover all of this. And man, this made me fall for this all the more. THIS is the power of #OwnVoices. Even the smaller things like at the beginning when Marva mentions she was untying her satin sleep scarf gave me chills because I was in the process of tying mine because I was getting ready to go read in bed. If I’d have had something like that happen while I was reading as a teen, I would have lost my shit. And then there was the bigger things, like the way she mentions the talks that every Black parent gives their child about the police and the world around them. Man, that one part about Duke being lucky towards the end BROKE ME. That’s literally something I worry about my husband on a daily basis. I reached that part at about 1 am and I broke down in bed. That’s a real fear for me.

“We’re either too Black or not Black enough.”

60%

The writing style was pretty cool as well. I’m usually not a huge fan of “told in one day” stories, (I think the last one I liked this much was The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon) but this one was so good. It gave the account of their day as well as some looks into the the background of the other characters. I loved getting that small look into them and the part that each of them played in the story.

“Dad told him that people would look at him as older, no matter his size. That, to a lot of people, Black boys never really get to be boys.”

90%

The main characters and their romance were what made this story for me though. As I stated, I’m not normally a fan of told in a day stories because I don’t like insta-love, but this one seemed ok to me. I was glad that Colbert acknowledged that they were moving fast and the fact that she still made it a slow-burn even though it was only over the course of a day. It was an interesting way to tell the story.

“Are you okay? He swallows, glancing at the Mexican restaurant beside us. The Volvo is a few feet from the entrance. “I keep wondering how many times I’ll be so lucky.”

90%

Politics and told in a day stories aren’t normally my favorite, but Brandy Colbert usually is, so I wasn’t surprised when I loved this one. I guess I’m not NOT a fan of books with politics, I just had to find the right one.

Overall, I give this

Do you have this on your TBR? Do you like books on politics? Do you like told in a day stories? Let me know in the comments!