Denny S. Bryce

In the Face of the Sun by Denny S Bryce
Diverse Historical fiction. Multiple time lines.
1928, Los Angeles: The Hotel Somerville is the hotspot for the city’s glittering African-American elite. Daisy Washington works at the hotel as a cleaning maid while secretly reporting behind the scene news and scandals to a newspaper reporter.
1968, Chicago: Frankie Saunders decides to leave her abusive husband finally since she’s pregnant. She asks her aunt to give her a ride to the bus station to go to Los Angeles. Complications end up with Frankie and Daisy driving Route 66 to LA.

Daisy will do whatever it takes to settle old scores and resolve the past. Frankie will face some hard choices as she learns about the past and current danger along the road to the future.
Two stories, one family, two different decades. Different race rules. Different times?

Poignant and real. Family tragedy over different decades but also showing the strength and resilience of women in difficult times.
I was routing for Frankie to be able to get away cleanly. Daisy was a surprise and made interesting reading. Overall it opened my eyes about a few things on the diversity scale and also reminded me of a few memories from my own childhood.… (mehr)

After her entire family is slaughtered, African Princess Aina is rescued from death by Captain Forbes and presented to Queen Victoria as a gift. Renamed Sarah and taught to be English, she initially lives with the loving Forbes family. She is introduced to Queen Victoria and begins a confusing journey between households. Living between two worlds, Sarah must decide who she is, and who she wants to become.

Overall this was a well written and engaging story. I enjoyed reading the passages about Africa, I've read very little about the continent. I felt for Sarah, at the same time seeing the advantages her connection with the royal family brought. Overall, well worth reading!… (mehr)

I first encountered Sarah Forbes Bonetta through Walter Dean Myers's brief biography, which I read as a child, and I was delighted to see this novelization of her life. Born into African royalty, she began life with the name Aina, but when her home and family were overrun in a war with a neighboring people, Aina was enslaved. She later came to the attention of a British captain, who asked for her as a "gift" for Queen Victoria. As Sarah Forbes Bonetta, she lived at the top of British society and received an excellence education. However, living like royalty had its drawbacks as well, as Sarah encountered a problem many princesses face: an arranged marriage. Overall, this novel made for a great read and I look forward to more novels from this author!… (mehr)

I really enjoyed reading this. The story and the spunkiness of Honoree grabbed me from the first few pages and never let me go. We got married too, by the way.

The history was rich and seamlessly weaved in. I thought the slang and 20's terminology was good though did they have the f-bomb back then, idk. In some stories, it can feel like they're infodumping the time-period's slang. I didn't feel that way here.

I also enjoyed all the main characters and their complexities. Even Trudy, who wasn't the typical mean girl. Eziekel annoyed me but had me rooting for him all at the same time.

If I have a nitpick, Sawyer's struggle with guilt and and depression seemed to magically disappear after a few talks with Honoree. But maybe he just needed to be true to himself. I don't know why Ms Kent liked him. I also always feel weird when the fictional characters meet real-life historical figures. How am I supposed to know if they're in character lol.

CW: colorist remarks, death, attempted sexual assault… (mehr)