Book synopsis

Award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert’s debut middle-grade novel about the only two black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past. 

Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only black girl in town for years. Alberta’s best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can’t understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black-and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her.

Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living.

When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie’s attic, they team up to figure out exactly who’s behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems.

Review below

WOW!!! Brandy Colbert has done it once again, this was absolutely beautiful, stunning, important, amazing and so on!!!

This was brandy Colbert’s debut into the realm of middle grade and wow was a rollercoaster of a ride this read was, it packed a hell of a lot of punch, with so many important topics and trying to find Your place in the world.

Alberta the main character was such a delight to read about, as we see her grow throughout this book from feeling like she doesn’t fit in, to growing up and dealing with the changes that are happening in her life with her school plus friends and family.

The friendship with the new girl in town Edie was just so beautiful to read about and Nothing could come between this dynamic duo!!! From the moment they met to where we left them at the end of the novel. Can we just get novels of them growing up through the years after because I would read it 🙂

Brandy Colbert never disappoints when it comes to her writing and the inclusivity she adds to her novels all the time and it’s just so wonderful to read about, Alberta’s two fathers are So wonderful aswell and how they always support Alberta in the best way they can and the family dynamic is just the best.

This novel was everything and more!!! From the first page to the last, here’s to hopefully many more middle grade novels by Brandy Colbert and for sure this will be a contender to be on my top ten of the year!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars