4.9999999/5 bc apparently Ms Jenkins Reid was going for a

bury your gays world record. damn. not one of those bitches made it out alive

the story was captivating, the characters were well-rounded and complicated, and the dual timelines were well-executed. she managed to make me care for Monique even though we spent significantly less time in the present. i liked the way the husbands were split up into their own little segments and the little qualifiers before each of their names. 

i really really really liked it until the last maybe 100 pages—

bury your gays pops up to say hello

—when i started liking it marginally less. so if i’m being really really honest with myself it might be more like 4.5 or maybe even 4 stars. but the story and characters were so well-crafted that i feel compelled to give it a 5. i’ll def pick up another TJR book.