I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories. Chunichi's tale about Nina, a "housewife" trapped in an abusive marriage, kept me interested until the very end. Williams' story about Diamond, an abused teenager, was a bit far-fetched and far too Push by Sapphire for me, but I found it remotely interesting nonetheless. The final story, "Paper Chase" was one I found myself really hating in the beginning; however, B.L.U.N.T. (or B.L.O.U.N.T. - it's spelled both ways in the novel, what the hell?) brought the story full circle for me and it was by far my favorite. I'd have to say that "Paper Chase" was the only true short story - it came with well-developed characters whose lives were intertwined, a well-thought out plot and a real deal conclusion. The stories by Chunichi and Williams seemed like segments of other stories, I mean they really could be developed into full length novellas. Around the Way Girls 6 received a very low ranking from me, I strongly considered not even giving the compilation 1 star, but this collection is much much better. I like the Around the Way Girls stories because you don't have to read them in order to get the gist of the tales. With each collection you get an interesting depiction of the lives of young urban teenage girls - I'm not saying that each collection is worth reading, but I have found some gems in this series - if you do not believe me, then pick up Around the Way Girls 7 and see the writing of 3 fairly decent urban novelists.

I recommend this book, it is definitely a must-read for those who enjoy urban novellas.