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This Side of Home – Book Review

This Side of Home - Book Review

Plot:

Identical twins Nikki and Maya have been on the same page for everything—friends, school, boys and starting off their adult lives at a historically African-American college. But as their neighborhood goes from rough-and-tumble to up-and-coming, suddenly filled with pretty coffee shops and boutiques, Nikki is thrilled while Maya feels like their home is slipping away. Suddenly, the sisters who had always shared everything must confront their dissenting feelings on the importance of their ethnic and cultural identities and, in the process, learn to separate themselves from the long shadow of their identity as twins.

Review:

While I thought this book was a quick read and got through it pretty quickly, I wasn’t that thrilled with it. It wasn’t even anything wrong with the book itself, it just isn’t the type of book that I would normally pick out to read.

Sisters Maya and Nikki are from a neighborhood that has always been a little run down, but now a lot of new businesses are moving into town and fixing things up a bit, making the neighborhood into an “up and coming” one. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Maya thinks it is, as it starts to draw in more white families as it drives away other families who can’t afford to keep living in the area. Nikki, on the other hand, feels like it is a good step for the neighborhood and has no problem with all of the new changes.

This leads to tensions between the sisters, and they grow farther apart until they are able to understand one another’s perspectives and appreciate both the good and the bad of each of their opinions.

I give the book 4/5 stars.

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

By Bailey Riddle

Bailey Riddle is a 22-year-old college student studying Broadcast Electronic Communication Arts at San Francisco State University. She loves all things fandom, and can often be found with her nose in a book. When she isn’t busy with school and being a professional fangirl, she likes to cook food, read, and work on catching up on many hours of sleep.

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