Queenie tells the story of Queenie a black woman in London who finds herself suddenly single trying to carve her mark. She doesn’t want to move on but simply fill the time before Tom; her ex-boyfriend, realises what he’s missing and puts an end to her break. Through it she is accompanied by her three gal pals: Darcy, Cassandra and Kyazike (pronounced Chess-keh which blew my mind), who I loved as they were all so different but brought together by their mutual love of Queenie. I also loved that they were not afraid to tell her the truth because that is absolutely me.

I feel like I instantly connected with Queenie, what girl hasn’t made a fool of herself texting a boy when he’s no longer interested? And clinging on to that hope that he’ll come back?

However, that’s where mine and Queenie’s similarities ended. One night stands, unprotected violent sex, office fling and endless promises to herself that she couldn’t keep.

I really enjoyed this book. But it’s not very often I read a book and am so frustrated by the protagonist’s choices. I was actually willing something bad to happen to her just so she learned a lesson almost. I did like the mental health twist to the story but feel like it definitely could’ve went further.

I bought this week a number of weeks ago after seeing it all over Bookstagram with so many great reviews and ratings so for that reason I bought it; you know how much I love an easy read rom com. However, as the Black Lives Matter movement has since moved into the spotlight this book has been promoted even more. It is eye opening the amount of ‘casual’ racism that Queenie encounters and I truly believe it is probably all from genuine real life experience. And I think as a white woman it is important to hear those stories. However, I felt that the black lives matter protest that Queenie attended was almost an obligatory edition to the story and not necessary. I, personally, was more interested in the daily challenge that she faced and would have preferred an exploration of her attempting to combat that.

Although I feel like I’ve given a lot of criticism, I genuinely did enjoy it and would give it 4/5 stars. It’s definitely a book I will be lending to anybody who will read it.