Joya Goffney

Listen. Goffney is one of my favorite authors. Her characters always feel human, and she gets the big emotions teens have very well. The stories are refreshing and usually include a unique facet.

Here, we have a mother with very toxic parenting, but it’s not black and white. The mom, who is horrid no joke, isn’t a caricature. You see how some parts of her love her kids, but she’s very barbed and her relationships aren’t healthy.

The book also doesn't make excuses for her poor show more parenting either. It just acknowledges her as a fully dimensional character. In real life, there are problematic people that we still love. I liked how the book handles it. The resolution: Nikki decides to give her mom another chance after her mom tries to be emotionally vulnerable. But she hasn't forgiven her and knows she has Mal's family and her singing career as a back-up. How it goes now all hinges on the mama.

I loved Mal! I was concerned the book would have him lead on a girl, but that loose end is resolved quickly. He’s who the book boyfriend girlies should be looking at. You can see it wasn’t just physical, his connection to Nikki. He put his money, his words, and his heart with her. He STOOD ON BIDNESS this whole book. He's almost too good to be true. Also, The book doesn't go here nor did I want it to, honestly. But Mal likes to feel needed. I think he genuinely likes being able to take care of Nikki emotionally and financially.

In the future, when she gets on her feet and can take care of herself, I wonder if he'll feel unwanted and act out, especially when she's a big star. Or maybe he's mature and if they break up it ends amicably

Not that i'm wishing that on these very sweet fictional characters, but i've seen it in IRL"

Often a main character is a singer (or loves books/a writer), and it falls flat. But I truly believed in Nikki’s connection to music. I also enjoyed the sister relationship and the tense family dynamics.

5 STARS, BABY! show less

I honestly enjoyed this one a lot! Quinn is lovely with a tendency for list-making to soothe anxiety, remember memories, or spew out her innermost thoughts, sexual fantasies included. I love making lists and being super organized, so we were on the same wavelength there. The cast of characters are great, and the Texan setting is nice. This book is in the running for one of the best “MC’s best friend” characters too. Dialogue was fun and felt natural.

This story touches on self-imposing show more limitations on yourself, making unhealthy coping methods, experiences with questioning of Blackness (being the stereotype, defying the stereotype, just being yourself), and acknowledging assumptions are the lowest form of knowledge.

I also love the romance in here isn’t predictable and the importance of boundaries. I don’t know how I feel about the Destany redemption. Eh, that’s a “to each their own” type of thing. Some Black people are patient enough to walk nonblack people through microaggressions and racism, but not I said the cat. I personally don't have time for that, but, in the context of the story, I'm glad Quinn was able to make her own decision for closure.

Ending spoiler:Oh my gosh, her parents’ marriage got better! ;__; I was just waiting for their divorce and Quinn coming to accept it. BUT NAH! Again, this story wasn’t super predictable. I love that her parents put forth effort to make things work.

I’m excited to read more from this author. show less

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

Wow. What a very good/solid book. I laughed a few times and also had so much sympathy for the main character Monique, otherwise known as Mo. I think this is the first book I have read in a while that really resonated with my upbringing. I was raised in the Black Baptist church as is the fictional character. And boy I had some flashbacks to conversations I had with my parents about sex. I definitely show more recall the looks from my mom and grandmother gave me and my brothers for not paying attention in church. And I also recall willing with my entire body for our pastor to wrap stuff up after his 10th time dancing up and down the steps as he went about his sermon. Black churches are definitely a culture. I don't go to church anymore, because I honestly saw the way I was brought up as more harmful than good. Mo's character hits a lot of the high and low points about being in the church, an also as being a "goody-goody" another label I got called throughout school because I didn't do things other girls did. I think any young adult readers are going to love Mo, the secondary characters like Sasha and Reggie, as well as the ultimate message, know your body and it's okay to say no if you don't want to have sex. I do want to say upfront this is told in the first person point of view, I know some readers hate that style, but it never bothers me. Just wanted to mention it.

"Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl" follows 17 year old Monique. Monique and her family live in Texas. Her father is the pastor of their church, and her mother has Black church lady down pat. Monique wants to do what she can to make her parents proud of her, but she's worried because her boyfriend of two years, Dom, wants to have sex. They have tried 29 times (yes this gets repeated) and had to stop because Monique was in so much pain and didn't want to continue. After the last time though, Dom gets fed up and breaks up with Monique. Monique is determined to win him back and through the help of two people she never thought of as friends (Reggie and Sasha) she goes about trying to "cure" her issue.

There's so many layers to Monique, you find out right away why she is so devastated by Dom breaking up with her. He's been all she's had since her older sister left home. And Monique thinks if she can just have sex with him, everything will get better. But her listening to Sasha and Reggie as well as reading things, leads her down a path to discover her own body and to listen to her own wants and needs.

I honestly was ready to hate both of Monique's parents, I feel some kind of way about parents telling their kids sex is dirty and wrong and it somehow means you are less than what you are if you have sex before marriage. But the story delves deeper into both of her parents, and you gain another perspective. Still a messed up one, but one nonetheless. I loved another reader calling this book a showcase of religious trauma, and honestly with so much of the legislation getting passed on a daily basis in this country, I can see how that reader would feel this way. Telling teens if they have sex before marriage and or if they are gay, or trans, etc. that means they are somehow wrong/dirty/less than is so messed up and very frustrating when you see the fallout from being brought up and talked about in this manner. Can you imagine being a 12 year old and hearing from the pulpit every Sunday how if you have sex before marriage it means you have less value in the eyes of God? Can you imagine being told if you are gay that means you are going to hell?

I loved the writing an thought that Goffney really captures the Black Baptist church in all it's glory, warts and all. And she manages to still make certain thing funny. I laughed long and hard at the Target scene. The dialogue concerning Insecure and who should Issa pick had me cackling. FYI, I am still not happy about her choice.

The flow was excellent from beginning to end and thought the arc of Monique, her parents, her friends, were well done. I liked the place everyone got to in the end and I loved what Monique chose in the end. show less

Fieldnotes:
Austin, TX, Contemporary (p.2021)

1 Main Character Prone to "Ostriching"
1 Notebook Full of Secrets
1 To-Do List Before Graduation
Blackmail

3 Awesome New Friends
Important Conversations about Identity & Race
7 Tasks
2 College Visits
1 Trip to a Childhood Happy Place

1 Excellent Grandmother

The Short Version
I didn't think I'd like this in the early chapters. Quinn was a privileged, self-centred, judgmental mess who made very bad decisions. The enmity with Carter was rough - to the point show more where I didn't know if their relationship could be turned around.

But I persevered and as Quinn started being honest with herself and the reader and tried to deal with her messes, I became a ton more invested. The romantic stuff with Carter is fun and bantery, but I particularly loved her relationship with Livvy (as there is more to this book than just romance). And her inspiration from her grandmother Hattie is wonderful as well.

There are a lot of stressful things that Quinn was trying to bury rather than cope with, but as she comes out of her shell - thanks in part to the blackmailer threatening to reveal her secrets to the whole school - she grows up a lot. Plus we got to see a great scene when she does go to her parents for help and her lawyer Mom is a real badass.

I'd happily read more of Goffney's YA stories. show less