Review of Kalayla
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Review of Kalayla
[Following is a volunteer review of "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.]
Witty, gritty, independent, and audacious sums up Kalaylas’s personality. Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas features three characters: a young girl, her widowed mother, and an old rich woman. Sexuality, family and marital abuse are portrayed in the book though are not the main focus but build the characters. With the help of each other, they come to the realization that family doesn’t need to be blood but people who are there for you. The author shows love, patience, forgiveness, and redemption through the characters ofkalayla.
Kalayla is a bi-racial, witty eleven-year-old loner who speaks out her mind without thinking of the repercussions. What happens when she finds out her parents had lied to her about her mother’s family’s whole life through the internet? She implodes and her mother suffers the results of her daughter’s curiosity. Maureen, kalaylas’s mother buries herself in art to cope with her family’s rejection after disagreeing with her choices. She’s later thrown a curveball in the form of her husband’s death and she has to adjust being a single mom to a rebellious child. She doubts her ability to nurture her daughter. Lena, the old rich woman who ends up being the landlady of the apartments Maureen and her daughter reside in, finds herself looking out for Kalayla to prevent her from ending up with the wrong crowd. She wears only black clothes and lives on the fourth floor of a building with no elevators. She faces her demons in the form of her dead twins, her abusive husband, and her two sons who she isn’t as close to as she would have liked.
I love how the book shows how gradually the characters transform into better versions of themselves through the small changes. Throughout the book, there is a sequence in which the author provides a timeline that helps in keeping tabs on their growth. It also shows how no man is an island for you to strive you need a community of people who build you up and not tear you down. The characters in the book have exquisite personalities which are unique, layered, and fun mostly Lena, Carlotta, and Kalayla’s banter makes the book humorous which is worth a good laugh. I loved how there is a moral to the story from forgiveness, redemption, and patience.
It contains a thought-provoking backstory that includes race and sexuality. There was nothing I disliked in this book.
Due to the progressiveness, character development of the characters and how funny the witty remarks of the characters are I would rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars.
I would recommend it for mature teens and adults.
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Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Witty, gritty, independent, and audacious sums up Kalaylas’s personality. Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas features three characters: a young girl, her widowed mother, and an old rich woman. Sexuality, family and marital abuse are portrayed in the book though are not the main focus but build the characters. With the help of each other, they come to the realization that family doesn’t need to be blood but people who are there for you. The author shows love, patience, forgiveness, and redemption through the characters ofkalayla.
Kalayla is a bi-racial, witty eleven-year-old loner who speaks out her mind without thinking of the repercussions. What happens when she finds out her parents had lied to her about her mother’s family’s whole life through the internet? She implodes and her mother suffers the results of her daughter’s curiosity. Maureen, kalaylas’s mother buries herself in art to cope with her family’s rejection after disagreeing with her choices. She’s later thrown a curveball in the form of her husband’s death and she has to adjust being a single mom to a rebellious child. She doubts her ability to nurture her daughter. Lena, the old rich woman who ends up being the landlady of the apartments Maureen and her daughter reside in, finds herself looking out for Kalayla to prevent her from ending up with the wrong crowd. She wears only black clothes and lives on the fourth floor of a building with no elevators. She faces her demons in the form of her dead twins, her abusive husband, and her two sons who she isn’t as close to as she would have liked.
I love how the book shows how gradually the characters transform into better versions of themselves through the small changes. Throughout the book, there is a sequence in which the author provides a timeline that helps in keeping tabs on their growth. It also shows how no man is an island for you to strive you need a community of people who build you up and not tear you down. The characters in the book have exquisite personalities which are unique, layered, and fun mostly Lena, Carlotta, and Kalayla’s banter makes the book humorous which is worth a good laugh. I loved how there is a moral to the story from forgiveness, redemption, and patience.
It contains a thought-provoking backstory that includes race and sexuality. There was nothing I disliked in this book.
Due to the progressiveness, character development of the characters and how funny the witty remarks of the characters are I would rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars.
I would recommend it for mature teens and adults.
******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Seventh Spark - Knights of the Trinity by J.B. Lion
