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Among the Departed by Vicki Delany
Body on the Bayou by Ellen Byron
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A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett
Darling by K. Ancrum
Deadly Ever After by Eva Gates
Death by the Dozen by Jenn McKinlay
Dough Boys by Paula Chase
Flipped for Murder by Maddie Day
The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly
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A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle
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Killer Chardonnay by Kate Lansing
Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly
Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore
Much Ado About Muffin by Victoria Hamilton
One Way or Another by Kara McDowell
Ozma by Candace Robinson and Amber R. Duell
A Problematic Paradox by Eliot Sappingfield
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Read and Gone by Allison Brook
Some Places More Than Others by Renée Watson
Stargazer by Anne Hillerman
Tune It Out by Jamie Sumner
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Wicked Things by John Allison and Max Sarin (Illustrations)
Witches and Wedding Cake by Bailey Cates

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Dough Boys: 07/29/21

Dough Boys by Paula Chase

Dough Boys by Paul Chase is a companion piece to So Done (2019). It's a novel told in the alternating points of view of best friends Deotae "Simp" Wright and Roland "Rollie" Matthews. They play basketball together. They also run drugs for their coach.

For Simp, the money means he helps his mom and his siblings. It means a more comfortable living. For Rollie he's not sure the drug side gig is what he wants from life. He's in GATE. He has a future that involves higher education and music. He's got a chance to audition if he can just keep his life together long enough.

While I struggled a bit with following the alternating stories of Tai (Metai) and Mila (Jamila) in So Done, I found Dough Boys a fast and compelling read. It helped to have the neighborhood set up in the previous book. But the boys' voices also resonated with me in ways that the girls' didn't.

In terms of themes and tone Dough Boys is a good follow-up read for two of Angie Thomas's novels: On the Come Up (2019) and The Concrete Rose (2020).

There's a third book, Turning Point (2020)

Five stars

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