I’m listening to The Other Black Girl: A Novel on Everand. Check it out: https://www.everand.com/audiobook/665060550

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Tuesday December 19, 2023:

• The tension in this book is high. The prologue made me want to know more because it left me with many questions.
• I am in chapter five, and I don’t want to stop! I feel as if I’m tiptoeing around a house. That’s how tense I am. I feel like there’s a twist somewhere, and I don’t want it to catch me by surprise.
• Have you ever read something that hit you right in the feels? I just finished a book, and a particular phrase from chapter 8 struck a chord with me. The protagonist, Nella, ponders whether to stick her foot in the machine’s gears to stop it from happening. It reminded me of when I was in a similar situation, questioning whether to speak up or stay silent to avoid being belittled and demoralized. Reading books by diverse authors who share their lived experiences is such a powerful and inspiring thing. It helps me feel less alone in those vulnerable moments. We need more representation in literature to remind us that there is a place for us in every sphere of life. I genuinely believe that books like this catalyze positive change and encourage us to keep advocating for diverse literature.

Wednesday December 29, 2023:

• Hazel is trying to one-up Nella with the receptionist! The vibes in this book are so on point. They are so vivid. I’m getting this sense of dread as if something is lurking right around the corner as if the other shoe will drop any minute…
• Is Hazel paranoid? Some of her worries are logical, but it got me thinking: What are the chances? And who is the secret group pulling all these strings?
• I just read Hazel’s Day from hell. Everything went wrong, and oh, do I relate. Some days make me want to go back to bed and start over again, but work gets in the way.
• Oh, a mysterious woman approached Hazel. I’m thinking, after this, I’m going to know more. Here’s to hoping people!

Thursday December 21, 2023:

• I couldn’t sleep well yesterday, so I did what relaxes, and that is I listened to a story. In this case, I listened to The Other Black Girl. It seeped into my subconscious, and oh my…I had to stop it when I got to the climax because I didn’t want to spoil it for myself. But let me tell you, I thought this was going to be a Get Out situation where the erratic character has been scientifically changed, but it is not. Well, Hazel has been changed, but I don’t think it happened deliberately. I am not getting the vibe that this book falls in the theme of ‘not all kin folk are kin folk.’

Sunday, December 24, 2023:

• It’s Noche Buena, and I can’t stop reading this book! I had to restart it twice because I had to make sure I understood this twist. OMGEEEEE
• So OBG (Other Black Girl) is a term in the book to describe the Black Women who had to bend so much to appease white supremacy and thus thrive at work. That blew my mind because it is so ingenious that the author turned a cultural concept into a sci-fi-thriller-esque one.
• So there’s a formula that a scientist created that would have helped Black Women not to have the weight of the world on their shoulders. This formula became a hair grease but it is being used to…I want to say zombify, but it’s not that. The hair grease turns these Black Women’s personalities white. Thus they lose all their Blackness.
• So original!
• So fresh!
• I hate that Nella takes so long to realize what’s going on. I’m on chapter 30/32, and she just put it together. I think her dream of becoming an editor kept her there and pushed her to push away those bits of information that would have her thinking she needed to leave.