Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry By Joya Goffney

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I'm back with another review and this one is a 2021 release. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to listen to an audiobook arc of this book. Thank you, Harper Audio. In honor of this book's format I'd like to start with a list.

Reasons You Should Read Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry

1. Black Girl Lead navigating a predominant white school
2. Black Teen Enemies to Lovers Romance 
3. Black Girl Friendships
4. Complicated parent relationships
5. Journal Writing

Since my galley used a synthetic voice I can't speak to the narration of the audiobook but I found the story very easy to listen to. I liked how there were little lists throughout since the lead Quinn loves making lists in her journal.

So the premise of this story is that Quinn accidentally loses her journal after a session for a group project. She keeps lists of everything in her journal from her favorite music to her deepest darkest secrets. The journal falls into the wrong hands and she ends up receiving texts blackmailing her to completing seven of her greatest fears or they will reveal all her secrets. The most important one she's harboring is the fact that she did not get into Columbia University and has been faking acceptance for months to please her parents. Desperate to get her journal back she teams up with Carter Bennet, the last known person to have had it. Carter and Quinn don't exactly get along despite being two of the few Black people in their school thanks to some preconceived notions. Quinn comes from a wealthy and successful two-parent household and Carter comes from a lower class single-parent household .

I think this will be a very relatable book for Black teen girls navigating predominantly white high schools. Speaking from experience there were times I felt like Quinn. And I bonded with the Black kids who came from the same neighborhood as me and bussed into school. So I was more like Carter in that aspect. Black friends are amazing and do help you feel whole it's nice to see Quinn form friendships with Olivia and Carter despite their differences because they do have similarities navigating their place at school. One of the scenes I enjoyed was Olivia telling Quinn about how she used to go horseback riding and the Black cowboys of Texas.

Quinn also has to confront dropping racist friends and being the Black but not too Black person. There's the wondering if you should speak up about certain things or just let them slide to keep the peace.

Her father has some self-hating tendencies and they both have to confront the pre-conceived notions he has of Black people outside of their social class. She hasn't really been around Black people outside of her family so it's a new experience. We talk about people like Quinn's dad but we usually don't take the time to truly break down while they are the way they are. There's also an interesting dynamic in her parent's relationship as they are going through a rough patch and constantly fighting to the point where it seems like divorce is imminent. On top of that one of Quinn's fears is visiting her grandmother whose health is deteriorating.

If you're interested or you know a teen who is interested in a coming of age story about a Black girl who is navigating college decisions, learning to speak out against racism, conquering her fears, and falling in love; this is one to pick up.