Black Girls Must Have It All

August 1, 2022

In Allen's wrap-up to the "Black Girls Must Die Exhausted" trilogy, Tabitha Walker balances new motherhood, new job possibilities, new friendship issues, and an ultimatum from boyfriend Marc about their relationship, and she's beginning to wonder if she really believes that Black Girls Must Have It All (75,000-copy paperback and 20,000-copy hardcover first printing). In Central Places, a debut from journalist Cai, Audrey Zhou left Hickory Grove, IL, for a big-deal job in Manhattan but is returning home to introduce star-worthy fianc� Ben to her hectoring parents and ignored friends; she also reconnects with laidback Kyle, the only person who ever understood her. DeFino moves from The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses) to Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story, which features a widow whose mother and daughter conspire to get her dating again (50,000-copy first printing). In the New York Times best-selling Harper's Back in a Spell, puissant witch Nineve Blackmoore has been abandoned at the altar by her fianc�e and ends up on an awkward and ultimately antagonistic first date with nonbinary townie Morty Gutierrez (angry that her family wants to buy out his pub); then Morty unexpectedly starts acquiring magical powers. In Lipman's genre-blending Ms. Demeanor, big-deal lawyer Jane Morgan loses both career and social life after a busybody neighbor reports her for having hot sex on the rooftop of her New York apartment building, then faces more trouble when the neighbor winds up poisoned and leaves a note implicating Jane (100,000-copy first printing). From Pen/Faulkner finalist Salesses, The Sense of Wonder stars Won Lee, the first Asian American in the NBA, whose seven-game winning streak wins him the moniker "The Wonder"--all witnessed by sportswriter Robert Sung and studio producer Carrie Kang, with whom Won launches a relationship (50,000-copy first printing). In debuter Shroff's The Bandit Queens, a young Indian woman named Geeta is suspected of killing her long-vanished husband, which proves beneficial--no one wants to cross her--and then uncomfortable as other women push her for advice on getting rid of their husbands. After surviving his car's plunge off a cliff in Normandy, Charles Vincent, Steel's latest protagonist, is nursed back to health by a kind woman he stumbles across in a nearby cabin and realizes that he could vanish from his unhappy life Without a Trace. In Zigman's Small World, Joyce invites sister Lydia to move into her Cambridge apartment (if only temporarily) when Lydia returns east from California, but the two divorcees find their relationship disrupted by memories of their deceased sister (60,000-copy first printing).

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2023
In the final installment of Allen's Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series, Tabitha Walker embarks on a journey of motherhood, friendship, and self-confidence. It's been three weeks since Tabitha welcomed little Tabitha Evelyn Walker Brown into the world, and motherhood is fixing to be her most daunting job yet. She's spent the better part of a month cleaning up diaper blowouts and soaking in precious moments with Evie while on maternity leave from her weekend anchor gig at Los Angeles' KVTV news station. Tabby left the station in a bit of uproar after conducting an unsanctioned live segment, and she's worried that her job may be on the line. That's not the only thing worrying her: Three weeks have passed since she refused a marriage proposal from Evie's father, Marc Brown. Tabby knows he wants to provide for her and their child, but she can't help having a few reservations about him. Even worse, Marc invited his judgmental mother to stay for a few weeks without consulting Tabby. Luckily, Tabitha's friends Alexis and Laila always have her back, although Laila's new business has made her go MIA lately. While Tabby is juggling a newborn, breastfeeding issues, one pushy mother-in-law, a BFF crisis, and a looming engagement, one more giant serving is heaped onto her plate: There's an opening at the news station for a prime-time slot. Tabitha begins to wonder if it's possible for her to really have it all or if she will crumble under the pressure. In the last book about Tabitha's journey, she's introduced to several stressors that would make anyone sweat, much less the mother of a newborn. Yet Tabitha is surrounded by positive reinforcement and remarkable women, both of which help make Allen's trilogy a must-read. It's refreshing to see Tabitha gain confidence over the course of the novel as she navigates being a mother, a friend, a daughter, and a career woman who's faced with life-changing decisions, and while it's not seamless, it sure is powerful. An inspiring finale about the strength of women and the bonds of sisterhood.

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