Review by Booklist Review
Amelia Vaux Tanner has lived an amazing life. Dubbed "The Witch of Wall Street" when she was one of the first Black women on the floor of the stock exchange, she married a prominent civil rights attorney and built her dream home on the bluffs of Martha's Vineyard. Now Ama, as she is affectionately known, is 71, and she's ready to pass along not only her beloved Vineyard home, Chateau Laveau, but also her secrets. Perry, Olivia, and Billie grew up as close as sisters under Ama's godmotherly guidance. Ama made sure they never lacked for anything, from education to job opportunities. Now grown into beautiful, successful, hard-working professionals, each woman wonders who will be gifted the house--and why, exactly, did Ama come into their lives in the first place? Lovingly rendered characters and beautiful depictions of Oak Bluffs, the exclusive Black community within the exclusive Martha's Vineyard, make this first book in a planned trilogy a great summer escape, even for readers who don't know Hostin (I Am These Truths, 2020) from her co-hosting duties on The View.HIGH DEMAND BACKSTORY: Come for the debut novel from an Emmy-winning cohost of The View, stay for the diverse cast of characters in an aspirational, beachy escape.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The entertaining but uneven first novel from The View cohost Hostin (after the memoir I Am These Truths) chronicles the relationship between Black power couple Omar and Ama Vaux Tanner and their goddaughters Perry Soto, Billie Hayden, and Olivia Jones, each of whom the Tanners began supporting as young children in New York City. In their late 20s, the three women continue to spend their summers at the Tanners' majestic house in Oak Bluffs, the affluent Black community of Martha's Vineyard. After Omar dies, Ama rekindles a connection with a former lover and plans to pass on the house to one of the goddaughters. Perry, who longs to have a baby, has a fling while she figures out whether to take back her often-absent doctor husband, who hangs out with his med-school party crowd. Olivia takes a chance on dating a white comedian. Biologist Billie debates whether to accept a job that would separate her from her girlfriend, Dulce. As Ama considers which goddaughter will receive the house, secrets are revealed about the Tanner marriage and how the couple came to take care of the three children. Some of the plot points hinge on avoidable misunderstandings, particularly between Billie and Dulce, but Hostin nicely captures the Vineyard's social nuances. This messy beach book packs plenty of drama. (May)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In this debut from Hostin, the Emmy Award-winning cohost of the ABC daytime show The View, Afro-Latinx lawyer Esperenza "Perry" Soto is looking forward to summering at Oak Bluffs, the exclusive Black beach community on Martha's Vineyard, where her godmother owns a house. But her godmother has invited all three of her goddaughters to stay and announces that she is giving one of them the house. With a 200,000-copy first printing.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A self-made Black millionaire invites her three goddaughters for a last Martha's Vineyard summer--at the end of which one will get the mansion. In the first volume of a planned trilogy, Terry McMillan meets Elin Hilderbrand: There are strong Black women in a lovingly detailed coastal Massachusetts location amid clothes, food, and long-kept secrets. Hostin's grande dame, New Orleans--born Amelia "Ama" Vaux, once known as the "Witch of Wall Street," has buried the other half of her long, seemingly perfect marriage. Power lawyer Omar Tanner, "a quiet man who looked good in suits"--almost every man in this book looks good in or out of suits and resembles Denzel Washington, Billy Dee Williams, Dev Patel, or Paul Newman's little brother--has collaborated with his wife on her fairy godmother project. Instead of having their own children, they chose young Perry, Olivia, and Billie, filling their plebeian lives with monied ease and Vineyard summers in the elite Black enclave of Oak Bluffs. Now Ama is ready to pass on Chateau Laveau to one of them while bestowing equal, but unnamed, gifts on the others. She arranges several months off for all three women, now a high-powered lawyer, financier, and marine biologist (she's a witch, all right), and flies them up for a summer that promises to end with not just the gifts, but with revelations. It takes a little too long to get there, though some may enjoy the leisurely setup and relentless name-checking--a concordance of the Black visual artists, musicians, authors, actors, designers, and celebrities mentioned here, along with the New York and Martha's Vineyard restaurants and bars, could be a valuable book in itself. Hostin's most serious weakness is substituting catalog copy for characterization--one character "look[s] fierce in a charcoal-gray Rachel Comey jumpsuit"; another "add[s] a pair of playful Sophia Webster sneakers"; Ama chooses a "chinoiserie pattern...as recherché and mysterious as her eldest goddaughter." Be patient--once the Le Creuset pot finally starts boiling, this book earns its place on the beach blanket. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
