This was definitely a heavy book. It was a Once Upon a Book Club Book. I feel like the twist was at the beginning of the book because I really didn't see it coming. One friend is black and she's a journalist. The other friend is white and she's married to a white cop, who then shoots an innocent black kid who was 14. This really brought up great topics and really got me thinking of things I may say or do, that I don't think are racist, but could be construed as being ignorant or just not realizing how it can sound. Like saying "I don't see color." But then it's really taking away their black skin and their heritage. Almost like when someone says "all lives matter" and taking away "black lives matter." The book is about family relationships, whether you're related or not, and how you can talk about things even when you don't know how. Very touching story. There were times I felt the story was a little slower, which is why I gave it 4 stars. But this book will definitely stay with me for quite some time. ( )

This was such a real take on two friends working through an impossible situation and saving their lifelong friendship. Lots of strong characters and not a lot of extra drama or parts that didn't move the story along. ( )

The premise of the book is simple. A white police officer shoots and kills an unarmed black teenager. The officer’s wife, Jen, is a life-long friend with Riley, the TV station reporter covering the story, who is black. This event tests their friendship, thus the book’s conflict. Jen is also pregnant. The story is told from alternating viewpoints of Jen and Riley.

There are many issues I have with the book. The story is interesting, but since it mostly focused on the relationship between Jen and Riley, it dragged at many points. There were times I just did not want to pick the book back up and read it. It was the same thing over and over, repeated so many times it became frustrating and annoying. Jen mad at Riley and Riley mad at Jen, ad nauseam.

Another issue I have with the book is the number of characters. I counted over 100 (107 to be exact) characters. That is ridiculous. It took me 4 pages of notes to keep track of all the characters. As the book is just over 300 pages long, that is a NEW character being introduced every three pages on average. Way too many. Most of the characters were mentioned once, never to return. It was not necessary to mention by name every minor character, especially those in the past lives of Jen and Riley.

I would have enjoyed the book more if I could have read it from more than two perspectives. I would love to have had chapters from Kevin, Jen’s husband and Tamara, the mother of the murdered teenager. Restricting the story to just that of Jen and Riley limited the potential of the book.

Probably the greatest issue I have with the book is the overt racism in the book. ALL the black characters hated white people and ALL the white character hated black people. That is not realistic. There were so many stereotypes in the book that are just not true to life. All the black characters wanted to talk about was race, and how downtrodden they are, and that white people put them down constantly. The use of the N-word was ubiquitous throughout the book and totally unnecessary. The black characters made comments like “white people gonna do what white folks do” and that ALL white people are privileged, which is not so. And the white characters were just as bad, characterizing ALL blacks as lazy, stupid, and criminals, which is not so. And after being accused of being a racist, Jen dropped the “My best friend is black” comment, which was just ridiculous. We could have done without all the racist comments in the book. There was more focus on what color a person’s skin is than on their character, which was disappointing. Dr. King’s dream of a person being judged on their character and not their skin color is set back decades by this book which judges people by their skin color.

There were a number of loose ends in the book. What eventually happened to Riley and Corey? We are not told. What happened to Jen and Kevin after they left town? We are not told.

Finally, the ending was ridiculous. Everybody comes together in a Kumbaya moment, everyone gets what they want, and we all live happily ever after. I was totally disappointed with the ending.

This book was a great disappointment. I had planned on reading the next book by these authors, but after reading this one, I have no desire to read anything else by these two authors. ( )

4.5 stars ( )

Riley has a decision to make that could change her life. She must choose between her best friend, Jen, and her culture. Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. They have been a part of each others families and shared each others lives. Jen's husband, Kevin, makes a life altering mistake one night that affects both Jen & Riley. Riley must choose to support Jen and Kevin or her family and culture. It's a hard decision to make, one, I'm sure, is made quite often nowadays. I loved this book. The suspense, family, relationships, current affairs, altogether it made a lasting impression. ( )