BLURB:

Why would I talk to you about my life? I don’t know you, and even if I did, I don’t tell my story to just any boy with long hair, who probably smokes weed.You wanna hear about me. You gotta tell me something about you. To make this worth my while.”

1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Café is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper’s daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose.

2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he’s right—if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he’s expecting…

Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It’s a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions. And as past meets present, for Honoree, it’s a final chance to be truly heard and seen before it’s too late. No matter the cost…

MY THOUGHTS:

A buddy of mine hit up Barnes & Noble and sent me snaps of some books he found. One of the pics was Wild Women and The Blues. I quickly checked my library’s website and, lo and behold, they had it – they even had it on Hoopla, which was awesome! I snagged a copy on Hoopla and got stuck in. As I was reading, I had this moment of total confusion, not because the book was confusing, but because I hadn’t heard anyone talking about it. Let me tell you, the book is solid, like seriously awesome. It’s a real bummer that I hadn’t heard about it on BookTok. It’s like BookTok was so focused on The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo that they totally overlooked Wild Women and The Blues, and that really bums me out. I’m pretty let down about this because I ended up not finishing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. BookTok, we’re missing out by not getting into this book. What are we even doing here? What have we been reading? I’m almost ashamed to think about the books I read before this one because Wild Women and The Blues is a masterpiece and deserves just as much attention as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

I totally get why some people gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads. I mean, if you just look at the title “Wild Women and The Blues,” you might expect it to be all about women in the jazz era, right? But it’s actually way more than that. It’s about exploring Honoree’s life in 1925, and seeing things from the students’ perspective as they uncover Honoree’s story. That’s the real essence of the book. And of course, it dives into the big issue of race, ’cause let’s face it, race was a huge deal back in the 1920s. That’s just how it was.

I loved seeing all these cool historical figures in the book, like Lil Armstrong and Alberta Hunter. I was googling names left and right while I read it. You can really tell that Denny S. Bryce poured her heart into creating this story. I even looked up the name Honoree, and guess what? I found out there’s a street named ‘S Honore St’ in Chicago, Il, and an apartment complex called “Honore Properties”. It’s clear that the author, Denny S. Bryce, did some serious research for this book. Trust me, this book is worth reading, thinking about, and talking about. If you search for the names and places in this book, I’m sure you’ll find something new and interesting.

The plot twist in this book was insane! I mean, I totally saw it coming at some point, but it still managed to catch me off guard. It’s definitely a five-star read and has earned a top spot on my favorite books list, right behind James McBride’s The Color of Water. I’m sticking to my guns on this one – anyone who hasn’t read this book is seriously missing out. It’s the kind of book that sparks great conversations. If they released merch for it, I’d be the first in line to buy some.