I was extremely excited for this book for its discussion of racism and what it’s like to be a Black woman in media, and that part of the book was excellent. There was a lot of really good commentary on misogynoir and self-doubt and burn out as well as fatphobia and being sapphic and how all of these intersect. This part of the book I greatly enjoyed. 

Where the book fell short for me was all of the relationship drama. Mickey’s firing having strong effects on her relationship with Lex made sense and while frustrating to read, was understandable. What felt unnecessary was all of the drama with Tee. If you know me, you’ll know I really hate love triangles, so I was really disappointed that this love triangle ended up taking up so much of the book. I also frankly didn’t understand why Mickey kept coming back to Tee again and again after she kept letting her down and her friends kept calling her out. (Shoutout to Jasmine and Scottie, definitely my favorite characters.)

I liked the ending, but I do wish is was expanded upon. I wish we got to hear everything Mickey got to say on The Early Show, especially as it was pretty much what the whole book was leading up to. I also wish that we were given more of a resolution with Lex. I’m happy about the implication that their relationship is salvageable and will work out, but they have a lot to work through, and with the amount of time the book spent on the issues in their relationship, I really would’ve liked to see them finally properly discussed.

Overall, this was a solid debut. It wasn’t perfect but Tembe Denton-Hurst is clearly a very talented writer who I will be reading more from in the future.