Wow!! What a read. I listening in Libby while i followed along in the book. This to me was a really amazing book with two povs. Both ladies going through some really tough things with some loving people. Also with some people that don’t care about them as well as turning their noses up at them. The way the author wrote this was not only educational but also emotional. The book just took me in from the very beginning. Check tw/cw and be kind to yourself. 

Some quotes:

“potential without focus and full commitment bears no fruit.”

“Can’t let nobody steal your joy, sweetness, or you gon’ live a miserable life.”

“Stay poor like the rest of us, or climb, scratch and claw like hell to get out.”

-Loved the authors note. 

-I loved me aunt Marie. 

-The ending put a smile on my face. 

-William had me ready to fight him. However, that damn mother of his, smh. A lot of y’all boy moms are like her. 

-Never heard of the Hogben test until i read this book and that was crazy. 

-It’s sad that some “heavy in the church life” people have not changed over the years. 

-Love how Eleanor did let herself just be pushed around by William’s mother and associates. She still wanted a life of her own. 

-Ruby’s mom is a bum. Ruby wanted more with her. 

-Ruby by any means didn’t have it easy. There was a lot on her that could have stopped her but she wanted better. She worked for it. 

-The stories of those young ladies just heart breaking. Nobody was protecting them.