AG &#x1f98b;'s Updates en-US Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:37:06 -0700 60 AG &#x1f98b;'s Updates 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus11418600240 Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:37:06 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; is currently reading 'Indigo']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8967569472 Indigo by Beverly Jenkins AG &#x1f98b; is currently reading Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
]]> Review8965461584 Tue, 22 Sep 2026 02:16:02 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; added 'Seed']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8965461584 Seed by Kenya Moss-Dyme AG &#x1f98b; gave 3 stars to Seed (Hardcover) by Kenya Moss-Dyme
]]> ReadStatus11415284565 Mon, 21 Sep 2026 22:17:08 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; is currently reading 'Blood Rising']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8965219211 Blood Rising by Markus Redmond AG &#x1f98b; is currently reading Blood Rising by Markus Redmond
]]> Review8962720198 Mon, 21 Sep 2026 01:11:48 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; added 'Judge Stone']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8962720198 Judge Stone by Viola Davis AG &#x1f98b; gave 4 stars to Judge Stone (Hardcover) by Viola Davis
4.25 ]]> Review8962425545 Mon, 21 Sep 2026 01:09:11 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; added 'Keeper of Lost Children']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8962425545 Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson AG &#x1f98b; gave 5 stars to Keeper of Lost Children (Kindle Edition) by Sadeqa Johnson
]]> Review8959733573 Sat, 19 Sep 2026 23:00:24 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; added 'The Garden of Eden: A Romance Standalone']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8959733573 The Garden of Eden by Millie Belizaire AG &#x1f98b; gave 4 stars to The Garden of Eden: A Romance Standalone (Kindle Edition) by Millie Belizaire
]]> Review8865616190 Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:01:34 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; added 'In Black & White']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8865616190 In Black & White by Nia Forrester AG &#x1f98b; gave 3 stars to In Black & White (Kindle Edition) by Nia Forrester
This is the first time in a long time where I enjoyed 90% of the book (or at the very least was super intrigued and pulled into the storyline), then hated the ending so bad that it completely changed the trajectory of my rating. I'm going to get into my CAWPILE, and then more on this at the end.

Beware of minor spoilers, read at your own risk.

Characters: 2.5/5 First of all, Beckett... WTF? When characters like Beckett are written the way she was... with literally ZERO redeeming qualities, it makes the logic of the book go completely out of the window. Especially when the main character (Dana) was for all intensive purposes written as your average (but successful, intelligent) Black woman. Meaning, she had Black family, other friends (who were Black), Black experiences and upbringing... which means there would be NO reason for her to put up with all the shit she put up with from Beckett, from the racial microagressions.... to everything else that happened and still be so torn about this friendship. It's written as Beckett being the one "bridges" the two lifestyes of Dana and Noah... but honestly, considering Noah wasn't even Dana's type and she made that obvious, nothing about Noah (especially not his lack of backbone with his family and his gaslighting of Dana relating to Beckett) was "giving" enough for her to completely lose all common sense to be with him. Also, if the writer references his "golden blonde" hair one more time... it got cringe for me.

Tiffany and Trev are doing the HEAVIEST of lifting with this character rating to make it as high as it is. But they are so not-crucial to the storyline it honestly just made the story longer with the side-quests. Otherwise. I would give everyone a 1 because by the end of the book, none of their character arcs gave enough growth in a way that gave logical.

Atmosphere 4/5: The atmosphere gives tense, domestic, and for SURE triggering as a Black woman

Writing: 4/5 My main issue with the writing is in terms of the overall character arcs. By the end, it felt like a lot of Dana's choices were just because she felt guilted into it. No matter how intriguing the writing was, you just could not get me to buy into Dana was the problem.

Plot: 2.5/5 Again, this number was way higher before I got to the end of the book. More on why in a second.

Intrigue: 4/5 This is where this book shines. It grips you almost from the very beginning when Samiyah goes missing and pushes the pages turning with the intrigue of "Who took her?" The timeline jumps backward were also my favorite timelines in the book and made me more intrigued with the breakdown of Noah and Dana's marriage, that the missing child unfortunately got lost in sauce.

Logic: 1/5 Everything fell apart with the logic when the "big reveal" happened. No real explanation of WHY and entirely too much focus on Noah/the marriage. By the end, this felt more like a toxic ass romance book (that I definitely would have DNF'd if that was the genre and this was the plot/ending) than a thriller.

Ending: 1/5 I literally boo'd. Not even going to hold you. I was on the edge on my seat until the very end and when I got to that ending/epilogue I literally wanted to throw my book. This book was recommended to me as a domestic thriller, but it's written as a romance imo, especially with the forced HEA at the end... to a cheating ass white man no less. Eeeeeeyuck.

And I think that's what ended up being the biggest disconnect with the book. When I got to the end of the epilogue, I literally asked "Was that necessary?" How did that add to the plot or the character ARC? Especially after everything Noah KNEW Beckett had done to Dana AND he participated. What story does that ending tell? That Dana was "too sensitive" about racial things? She wasn't.

To get to the end of that book and the last 20 or so pages were *SPOILER******** essentially HER trying to fight for him? And her "wishing well" to his mistress? Like she somehow still won the prize because she had ANOTHER one of his kids. And lowkey framing it as a "one-up" on Beckett... which again Fuck Beckett, but still...Disgusted.

Pissed to the highest degree.

I actually wouldn't recommend this one to any of my friends simply because of how it ended. I wouldn't wish a Noah on ANY of my friends. Not even in reading experience. ]]> UserChallenge74138584 Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:54:02 -0700 <![CDATA[ AG &#x1f98b; has challenged herself to read 52 books in 2026. ]]> https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/76419373-ag-x1f98b 11680
She has read 45 books toward her goal of 52 books.
 
45 of 52 (87%)
Create your own 2026 Reading Challenge » ]]> Review8823203941 Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:51:33 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; added 'Black Girl Gone: A Twisty Psychological Thriller']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8823203941 Black Girl Gone by N'Dia Rae AG &#x1f98b; gave 4 stars to Black Girl Gone: A Twisty Psychological Thriller (Kindle Edition) by N'Dia Rae
3.85 — Rounding up for the audiobook performance.

CAWPILE SCORE:

CHARACTERS: 3
- I feel like 3 is a generous rating based solely on the authors ability to bring out my emotions regarding them. I didn’t like any of them and full on HATED Taylor and Chalene— which was the point, so kudos. However, by the time I got to the end of the story and their motivations are revealed, I was still left somewhat disillusioned because there just wasn’t enough on-page evidence that would support their disdain. It’s never explained just why Chalene treated Taylor so poorly so it feels like oh great… just a bitch? Ok, I guess lol And the redemption arc attempts for both Taylor and JD felt hollow to me.

Atmosphere: 5
- I feel like this was done well. Especially the “Baba” timeline. I recently read “Yesteryear” so it’s the only reason I’m making the comparison but it felt very much liked the Hebrew Israelite version of “trad wife” gone horrible wrong.

Writing: 5
- The writing itself was very straight forward and easy to follow, very quickly morphing into a page turner just because of the flow. It never felt like the book hit a “lull”

Plot: 4
- For me, the main thing that’s missing from the plot is the mother’s backstory, or really ANY development of her character other than her dialogue. Everything we learned from her was either through another character’s revelations or her direct conversations. For her choices to play a MAJOR part in the entire thing, this felt undone. She was TOO horrible to Taylor without enough backstory on why.

The plot has a lot of “red herrings” that are fun if you like a twisty story but they need depth. Not just making everyone say something suspicious or malicious and then moving on.

Intrigue: 5
- From the very beginning you know the FMC is hiding something, this pushes the intrigue factor a lot. That added with the fact that EVERYONE feels untrustworthy. You want to know WHO you’re right about.

LOGIC: 3
- this one is tricky for me because since the overall logic is that “the police/public don’t care as much (if at all) when a little Black girl goes missing” it HELPS some of the other things that feel illogical that’s revealed at the end. I found myself being like, “Why did this take 20 years?” — but then it’s because when nobody is REALLY looking, you can hide things in plain sight.

ENDING/ENTERTAINMENT: 3
- for me the quick reveals and character arc switches were a little too rushed for me since I mentioned there wasn’t much development of the backstories of some of the key players.

I wasn’t sold on JD, and I think I annotated “Fuck Taylor” at least 5x throughout this book just based on her attitude alone. ]]> Review8888656553 Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:49:05 -0700 <![CDATA[AG &#x1f98b; added 'A Box Full of Darkness']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8888656553 A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James AG &#x1f98b; gave 1 star to A Box Full of Darkness (Hardcover) by Simone St. James
I didn’t enjoy this at all. Especially the end where NOTHING was explained.

My third read from this author and I just believe they aren’t for me. The premises are always so promising and the execution always falls flat for me. ]]>