Rating: 2.5/5
"Harlem, 1926. Young black girls like Louise Lloyd are ending up dead. Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. When a girl turns up dead in front of the café, Louise is forced to confront something she's been trying to ignore--several local black girls have been murdered over the past few weeks. Louise has no choice but to take the case and soon finds herself toe-to-toe with a murderous mastermind. She'll have to tackle her own fears and the prejudices of New York City society if she wants to catch a killer and save her own life in the process."
I was originally gonna give this book 3 stars because I feel like anything below 3 is harsh and needs valid justification. But now that I'm finally finished, I just... did. not. care. About the story, the characters, the mystery. I really wanted to like this book, it started off promising and had all the fixings for a story I would typically like. But it just never stuck for me. Finishing it was such a chore. After the 40% mark, I said "Well I wanna know who killed those girls and why so I'll keep going." But then by the 70% mark, I realized no, I actually don't give a damn. I'm tired. And bored. But I finished it anyway and honestly the last 20% is one big blank. I don't even remember what happened. Louise was a likable character, but nothing about her as an MC was memorable. The side characters felt one-dimensional as well. I picked up the audiobook to read along, but not even that could save the story. the narrator wasn't bad, but the dialogue along with the accents was a little cringe. I think this book should've kept the characters young and been YA, instead of jumping to Louise being 26. She never felt like a 26-year-old to me.
This was a debut book as well and looks like it will be part of a series. So I wish this author luck in her future endeavors. This novel wasn't terrible, but it wasn't for me. If you wanna try it out you can find it here on amazon.