Wow. Just...wow.

Obviously, I will defer to own-voices reviewers first, but I found this to be a powerful book wonderfully told, and so much good going on here. Maika and Maritza Moulite balanced multiple perspectives with jumps in the timeline between them, have a strong voice, well-drawn characters, and holy cats, a BIG twist I didn't see coming.

(I know, I know - it blurbs an unexpected twist. Their twist went in a totally different direction, one that at one point I did say "wait a minute, and flipped back to an earlier scene, then thought "naw..."

I can't (won't) write any more about the twist because it's best if you find it yourself (so avoid any spoiler reviews), other than to say it takes the book in a bit of a different direction than you might think. I read some reviews that were disappointed by this, but I enjoyed it.

There's a lot of family dynamics at play here, and the Moulites depict and balance all the different parts and personalities really well.

But ultimately, the message here is about how society judges - no, measures - a person's worth. The juxtaposition of Kezi's story (told from both her viewpoint and her sister Happi's) and that of Shaqueria's illustrates it painfully well.

Says Shaqueria "So you think I'm 'one of the good ones'? The kids that aren't too messed up, that you can put on your government website?...No one thinks of me that way. No one thinks of me at all, really..."

Alternately painfully heartbreaking and hopeful, this was just an incredible story that reminded me that as a society, we need to do better, and be better. THE HATE YOU GIVE plus GET OUT is a great comp for this contemporary fiction with a dash of thriller. Five stars from me, who was wishing she'd gotten to this much sooner..

Many thanks to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy of this book.. All opinions are my own. ( )

ne of the Good Ones was such a good book, y’all.

I was a little hesitant as I didn’t love Dear Haiti, Love Alaine (although admittedly I read an ARC and I think it was a really early edition). I’m so glad I picked this one up because I think that Moulite & Moulite did a wonderful job telling this story. There was excellent balance between grief and joy. History lessons were woven in with things that are very present in today’s world and daily life.

I don’t feel like I’m the best person to judge the rep and experience. As a white woman, I cannot begin to understand the pain and fear Black people face every single day. I cannot understand the weight of history that a Black person bears. I really recommend checking out some OwnVoices reviews of this book to get the most authentic possible reaction to One of the Good Ones.

Reading this as a white person, I appreciated multiple perspectives that showed the different circumstances. I never felt like the story lost its way despite the one-time POV chapters. I think that the perspectives from the recognized, the forgotten, the grieving, and the trying-to-survive added such a level of depth to the stories the Moulites were telling. I liked them all, but I particularly appreciated Shaqueria’s POV.

There were twists in this book I did not expect, and there was a character that was… very interesting. Without giving a lot away, I think it was so good that the Moulites held up a mirror to some intentions and the depths of extremes. It felt like there was a lot of… honesty in One of the Good Ones. And I’m sure – I’m sure – there was a level of editing that happened here and made it so things were a bit watered down. But I did not feel as though the behaviors in this book were overly polished. There was so much honesty and realism in reactions. This is one of those rare books that didn’t feel overly staged in the way characters responded to things or the flow of the environment around them, and I really appreciated that.

From a very objective perspective, craft-wise, this book was also well-done. One of the Good Ones is very easy to read. It flows quickly and for me, the multiple POVs keep it extra interesting. The balance between the storytelling and history-sharing was very well-achieved. I found myself googling some of the snippets to learn more independently, but if you don’t have a good knowledge of Black history in the United States, this book will serve to broaden your horizons.

One of the Good Ones was a charming surprise for me. It wasn’t a book that left me feeling happy and good at the end, but it was really well-told with many rich characters. I cannot recommend it highly enough. ( )

RGG: A mish-mash of realistic fiction, #blm, Green Book historical fiction, and a mystery, suspense kidnapping, and it works! A good read. Reading Interest: YA.