Review by Shillah A -- Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas

[MarcellaM]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Lena Manero Barzetti, at 72 years, meets 11 year old kalayla on the streets. Kalayla reminds her of her dead twins Jimmy and Mikie. Lena takes interest in Kalayla even before she finds out that she and her widowed mother just moved into her building. Kalayla thinks that the old lady is pretty unusual since she always dresses in black, has painted the whole of her house white and lives on the fifth floor of the building she owns that doesn't even have an elevator. Their meeting reveals a series of lies, secrets and family history that could have been buried in the past. Lena makes it her responsibility to fill in for Kalayla what she didn't do for her sons. Is it a possible mission? What does Lena and Kalayla uncover in their friendship that end up setting a new pace in their lives? Jeannie Nicholas explores all this aspects in her book, Kalayla.

What I liked about the book is that Jeannie Nicholas has kept the book engaging to the very last chapter. She has used unique names for all her characters who have both been well characterized and described. The introduction of the book is both captivating and glues the reader to read the whole book to the very end of the last chapter. The chapters have been highlighted with both the chapter title and the person who will be telling the story in the chapter. This explains every emotion and action from the person involved. The author also included real names original names of some of the cuisines. She also uses precise timelines for the Occurrences and also the weather patterns have been properly aligned with the episodes in the book.

There was nothing I disliked about the book. The author used her words in a manner which presented that she had a lot of ideas to present. Her characters were well build and she did not run out of description for her characters and each of them fit well in the book. The author also included several use of short forms of words making the book both interesting and appealing to the reader. The author also included humour in her writing making the book very enjoyable while reading.

There were no spelling errors in the book that I encountered nor did I come across anything that could have slowed down or distracted me from enjoying the book as it was a smooth read and captured all my attention all through to the very end. I would therefore rate this book 4 out of 4 stars since it was exceptionally well edited. The book also carries variety of proper and highly required mannerism for both young teen readers and adults.

I would recommend this book to lover of fiction and readers who love constructive and educational books that are built on giving constructive criticism to the community since the book contains a lot of positive lessons and constructive feedback. I am unlikely to recommend this book to children below the age of 16 years due to the high rate of sexual intensity used and also because the book contains a lot of profane language that might be unsuitable for children at a tender age.

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Kalayla
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[Dzejn_Crvena]

Like you, I picked the book due to the author's choice of characters with unique names.
Kalayla stood out as one of my first reads.
You described the contents of the book well.
Congratulations on your published review!

[MarcellaM]

Like you, I picked the book due to the author's choice of characters with unique names.
Kalayla stood out as one of my first reads.
You described the contents of the book well.
Congratulations on your published review!

Thank you.
It is indeed a good book.

[Joy C]

Indeed, I agree that Kalayla is a unique book with an engaging storyline. And your review dies justice to the key aspects of this book. Well done

[Janet Kimetto]

I'm currently reading this book and enjoying it! Your description is on point. Well done!