It's consistent. I really enjoy Watson's work. Here, she effortlessly weaves together a story of family and missed expectations with a loving celebration of African-American history. Love it!

I've never been to New York, but this feels like it.

I enjoyed Ava's character. As a kid/Amara's perspective, all you know is that Ava is prickly and always the contrarian. But as an adult, I see that Ava's just a little jealous, you know.

Brilliant. Loved Macy's narrative because you understand her logic despite how messed up it is.

The whole Macy stuff from the pills to her becoming a stripper/prostitute and half her siblings dying in a fire kind of went from 0 to 100, but it could happen, I guess.

Ehh, super confusing until it wasn't. It really goes with the thinking of how humans are afraid of the unknown.

I absolutely loved this from beginning to end! The plot-twists are so good, and I like the somewhat strained relationship between Saksia and her mother. That woman really loves her beneath the iciness. In addition, I enjoyed the tattoos with different meanings and bone abilities. Major spoiler:

and this book had the guts to kill off Saskia in the alternate timeline. whoa! it felt like a bad ending in a videogame. I'm impressed.

I'm eager for book 2!

A cute, wholesome look at different class relationships, i.e rich dude fancies a maid. It's really adorable how William is so absolutely aware of Emma. He was smitten at first glance, and the illustrations of

their first date

were so movie-like with the framing, the angles, and the building romantic tension. That was my favorite part. However, nitpick: William and Emma fell in love way too fast. When the other characters started referencing how they were in love, I was like whatttt?

But, of course, things aren't that easy despite how quickly they began to fall for each other. For that reason, I'm very interested to see where the next volume goes.

Really liked the indirect conversation on trying to appease and agree with everyone to stay friends and the author's experience with anxiety.