Debbie Rigaud

DNF pg 192
I think I just couldn’t get into the writing style. This book would be great for people who eat up Hallmark movies like eggs and bacon.

Truly Madly Royally is light-hearted, diverse, and cute with some lines that are eyeroll-worthy (cringy and corny). Zora’s in da house and her edges be looking tight? You don’t say? Listen, I like AAVE in stories, but the way it was integrated here felt cheesy. Anyway, it’s cool that Zora’s super-ambitious and involved with her community. show more She takes grant-writing and community outreach classes (which is actually what I’m planning to do in a semester or two). She’s also interested in African-American history, so a cool reference to the Harlem Renaissance, civil rights movement, and other notable events are mentioned here and there.

Concerning the romance, I think Zora fell for him awfully quick. I get the appeal of a prince, but, after the cellphone mix-up, she was already feeling him. But you know what? Crushes don’t always have a rhyme or reason. SN: Be prepared for a bunch of Prince Harry/ Duchess Megan references and allusions.

Something that isn’t outrightly stated that I enjoyed was that Zora overthinks a lot. She’ll be contemplating the potential rude stares from his aristocratic friends at their wedding when Owen and she are just talking casually. Girl, it’s not that serious UNTIL it gets that serious.
Zora definitely just liked him a lot because she laughs every 5 seconds, and, I promise you, Owen doesn’t say anything that funny.

Owen is bland as dirt. His whole character can be summed into polite, witty, and vaguely British love interest. (And, of course, Owen is soooo woke he reads Black Women in History.)

Overall, romance is present but not the sole focus. The side characters feel a bit underused, but this seems more plot-driven than character-driven. I don’t have a favorite character, but collectively I thought Zora’s family was interesting. I might read another story from this author later. For now, I recommend this to MG readers who want a modern, clean story with sprinkles of romance. show less

Fieldnotes:
Teawood, NJ, 2009

1 Driven Volleyball Star
1 Handsome Photographer
1 Fashionista Best Friend
1 Player Ex-Boyfriend

1 Modelling Competition
1 Arch Frenemy
3 Judges (of Varying Levels of Disapproval)
3 Eliminations by Internet
1 After-Game Smoothie

The Short Version:
A fun romcom featuring POC leads - the pop culture references are dated/foreign enough to be pretty well incomprehensible to me, but the underlying story was cute. Volleyball star London Abrams has to raise money if she wants to show more attend a prestigious volleyball skills camp, but she gets side-tracked from her weekend job when a cute photographer comes in to buy supplies. When she happens to run into him again with her fashionista best friend and he happens to be helping manage the line of hopefuls for a modeling competition run by a local celebrity for her boutique...well...the form includes contact information, right?

So London signs up for the competition hoping to spend more time with a cute boy, but finds herself chosen - along with her frenemy from her time on the child modeling circuit, Kelly. And while her mom is psyched that London is trying out modeling again, she herself has to sort out some feelings she has over her mom's lack of support for her volleyball games. Not to mention her jerk of an ex-boyfriend keeps trying to sabotage any time she spends with Brent (the cute photography intern).

This was a fun one-and-done for me. London is very relatable and I really liked her driven best friend with the local fashion blog. Plus I enjoyed the ANTM nods, but there wasn't enough of that (or of the volleyball games) for me to want to keep this around long-term. show less

I’ve received an Advance Reader’s Copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating in any way.

In A Girl’s Guide To Love and Magic, we follow Cicely, her best friend Renee, her crush Kwame, and her possessed, Vodou-practicing aunt Mimose as they go on a scavenger hunt to exorcise the spirit Ezru from Mimose during an event called Carnival.

The story was very fast-paced once I got into it, and it flew by quickly. Some of the items they needed show more were found surprisingly easily and effortlessly, making what I thought was going to be a huge adventure a mediocre walk about town- It made this story feel rushed.

I loved all four of the main characters at first, but as the story went on I realized that all Renee cared about was not being seen by anyone she knows as he hung out with the group, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I had a bad feeling that Renee would abandon or betray the group throughout the story. Mostly, though, I loved the bond between Cicely and Mimose. I really enjoyed reading about how much the two care for each other, and the unconditional love between them definitely drove this story.

The amount of Marvel references- specifically Black Panther references, were really fun since I’m a Marvel fan. And I’m sure that the “Allons-y” at the beginning was not a Doctor Who reference, but I’ll take it.

The reveal that Ezru was Cicely’s Grandma Rose was so sweet. I didn’t even predict that this would be the outcome early on, so this was definitely a good twist. It made the ending much better than I thought it would be.

Overall, this was a very short and sweet story about family, faith, and Carnival celebrations. My only complaint is that I wish this had been slightly longer to have the story not feel rushed. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good, short read. show less

I enjoyed reading this a lot. Only nitpick: I wanted a bit more development with Ben. I had a hunch he already liked her, so he didn't mind helping out. Also, I loved that Gavin didn't turn out to be a jerk. YA is getting better male leads, y'all.