Don't You Dare: Uncovering Lost Love

Like the author in one of the first chapters, knowing that there were people like me expressing themselves despite history doing its best to suppress that has a profound effect. Even as a reader without the familial connection, learning about Grandma Ruby and the life she was able to live if only for a short time created some visceral reactions.

Alternating back and forth between the author's journey of discovery and the life she's uncovering, ‘Don't You Dare' hovers between memoir and retelling, a connecting of dots based on personal photos and research done by the author. There's almost two books here, one situated around Ruby's life, and the other describing the author's journey. While it does work very well for the most part, largely because of date tags at the beginning of most chapters, it's not done for all, especially toward the beginning of the novel. In addition, we're sometimes presented with information like it's new when it's actually more of a reiteration from an earlier chapter. This, the fact some of the chapters are so short in general, and a few linguistic choices affected understanding at points, but overall I found the book a very enjoyable read.

I haven't read anything like this before, but I would compare it to the TV series ‘A League of Their Own' on Prime.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.