I am, as always, so grateful to the various publishers and Netgalley for giving me copies of these books early in exchange for my review. These three books are all out already so you can pick any of them up. I read my e-ARC of Harlem Rhapsody and also listened to a couple chapters here and there of it on audio using some of my Spotify time. I read Get Lost with You via my e-ARC and mostly my ALC and the same applies to On Her Terms. The good news is that means I can tell you about both formats! As far as my overall enjoyment of these books… Well, you’ll just have to read and find out!
Harlem Rhapsody
by Victoria Christopher Murray
Jessie Redmon Fauset is an absolutely fascinating writer and editor who is someone I didn’t learn about in school, and honestly, I’m not sure I learned much about the Harlem Renaissance in school in general. Which is to say, Harlem Rhapsody is set during the Harlem Renaissance and is about Jessie Redmon Fauset who became the literary editor of The Crisis, a magazine associated with the NAACP and Dr. W.E.B. DuBois. Throughout this novel, we see Jessie having an affair with Will and feeling bad about and unable to resist him. We (meaning me and her mom) have a lot of thoughts about said relationship, but Jessie does what she wants and I had to keep reminding myself that this book is a historical fiction and not a romance. Anyway, throughout the course of this book we meet Nella Larsen (author of Passing!!), Langston Hughes, and so many other famous Black writers who became well known during the Harlem Renaissance. The book spans years of time covering Jessie’s role at The Crisis in almost vignette style chapters checking in on what’s going on during particular dates.
Overall, my thoughts about this book are complicated. I didn’t enjoy my reading experience because I am, to my core, a romance reader and knowing I wasn’t going to get an HEA didn’t stop me from wanting one. I also felt like where the book left off was anticlimactic. It just sort of ended with a fizzle instead of a bang? Also, like reading The King’s Messenger, I found myself aghast that these leaders who are so esteemed could be so cavalier about other people’s feelings. I don’t know why because, honestly, that just seems like it tracks. But like, could you consider practicing ethical non-monogamy, Dr. DuBois?? And yet, I really loved the time period. I loved everything about the writing bits. (Like Jessie’s writing and her editing of other people.) I loved seeing her ambition on page. I liked meeting these writers from history on the pages of this book. So, basically, what I’m saying is, if you can turn off the part of your brain that wants to have a couple to cheer for, you may have much better luck with this book than I did, because it’s a good book!! It’s just probably not a book I should have picked up with my inability to turn off the part of me that is always searching for a romance to cheer for. Oops. But that said, I definitely don’t regret my time with Harlem Rhapsody because it was really well done! Also the Author’s Note about the history and all the research she did was fascinating. I learned so much just from that.
As for the narrator, I think this book is just fine on audio, but I wouldn’t say it particularly adds to the experience. But it doesn’t detract and that might be what matters the most.
Get Lost with You
by Sophie Sullivan
Jillian is a single mom after removing her jerk of an ex-husband from her and her daughter’s life. She’s now living in her hometown of Smile and helping run her brother’s resort. And then, suddenly, Levi Bright turns back up in Smile. Levi is probably best described as the one who go away, but it turns out that he would say the same about Jillian. He left for culinary school and she didn’t and their would have been slipped by. But anyway, essentially, immediately upon reconnecting the two realize that there’s still an attraction there. What they’re also dealing with, though, are issues in their personal lives. For Levi, he came back to Smile partially because he was ready to come back home and partially because his dad had surgery and he wants to be there for him. Except Levi and his dad aren’t actually getting along. At all. For Jillian, it’s a low level of anxiety and panic that keeps ratcheting up due to outside forces and an inability to accept that things are changing because of said anxiety and panic.
I found Jillian remarkably relatable because I too get overwhelmed and want to scream and shut down when too many things seem to be changing at the same time and I’m not in control. Unfortunately, this was one of those times where seeing yourself in the main character makes you fully aware that it’s unfair to be disliking them and yet finding yourself unable to stop. It’s just that Levi was so wonderful that her panicking and pushing him away felt so truly unfair! And yet, to be loved like that. You know? All I’m saying is that a man who cooks for you should be treasured. And I would like to try that s’mores cake.
I guess to try and make this review something that could help someone outside of past me, what I’m telling you is that this book is about a man who is down bad for this woman and the woman is unable to trust or believe him because men. And if you are feeling disillusioned about the world and would find that to be a comfort, pick this book up. But if that would make you want to scream for some reason, maybe try a different book. Hopefully that somehow helps you know if this is the one for you… Seems unlikely, but here’s hoping anyway.
I think that I would have enjoyed this book more had I read the full thing with my eyeballs, if I’m being honest, because although I adjusted to the narrator in this, her voice didn’t quite match what I would have imagined. That is, however, entirely personal preference. I guess I’m just saying, I would make sure that you try out a sample of the audiobook before fully committing to it.
On Her Terms
by Amy Spalding
Clementine broke up with her boyfriend of many, many years because she didn’t want the trappings of a conventional life and she could tell that Will (boyfriend) was changing his mind about having kids and was talking about going to talk to her dad to get permission to marry her. So Clementine chose to prioritize herself and ended things. She is now living on her own and kind of struggling in the way that living alone with ADHD results in lots of struggles to do things like, you know, continue doing the yoga she was used to doing every day, or meal prepping, or maintaining the same cleaning schedule. But what she is also doing is finally going to a local queer bar (Johnny’s for those familiar with the series) and along the way, she meets Chloe. Chloe sort of negs her for being a baby gay (in my opinion, I really didn’t like the way their friendship/relationship kicked off), but eventually the two wind up fake dating for their own reasons, but both of which are related to feeling like their friends aren’t taking them seriously.
My feelings about this book are pretty conflicted because while I didn’t dislike it, I really didn’t like or appreciate the baby gay concept that Chloe kept emphasizing. It’s just not my favorite thing to remind someone that they’ve not yet dated someone of the same gender. Ultimately, it wound up feeling like Chloe was engaged in some negging, which I really hate, especially since Chloe is otherwise really interested in Clementine. I think if it had been addressed in a more substantive way, it ultimately wouldn’t have bothered me so much, but it wasn’t so it did. That said, I think I’m currently extremely attuned to anything that even slightly rings of biphobia because I’ve just finished watching this season of Love is Blind and started season 1 and both seasons have some pretty intense biphobia that caught me super off guard. So, all that to say, aside from this quibble, I actually quite enjoyed the book. I always love Spalding’s writing and I enjoy the Hollywood adjacent jobs of many of her main characters. I loved the found family and the group of friends. I liked seeing the struggles in Clementine’s friendship group and how that ultimately resolved. And, of course, I loved Chloe’s friendship group because those are the cast of characters we’re familiar with and I loved getting to see them again. I loved so many of the “lessons” of this book and the sense of community in general. So all in all, I would still recommend! I just hope the baby gay concept doesn’t irk you the way it did me.
Oh, and the audiobook narration is solid. I don’t think it really added or detracted from my enjoyment of the book. So a great choice if you need something to put on while doing other things, but if you only have the space for your eyeballs to consume the text, you’re solid in that regard too.
Closing Thoughts
All in all, a fairly successful grouping of books for me from my February ARCs. Apologies for the delay in getting these reviews posted. But, with that being said, since you can access any and all of these books already, have you read any? Are any on your radar? Let me know your thoughts!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 