Like A Sister by Kellye Garrett takes readers on a whirlwind ride to uncover the details about her half-sister’s sudden death.
In this book, Lena (Marlena) Scott learns that her sister, Desiree Pierce, was found dead in the Bronx. While Desiree had a troubled past, Lena knew instinctively that her sister did not commit suicide by overdosing.
Father Issues
The father in the book, Mel Pierce, gave real P. Diddy vibes. He was a record exec with a notorious background that turned mogul. Who else has the same background. Most importantly, the looming issues of “daddy issues” left both sisters, Desiree and Lena, feeling some kind of way. Mel cheated on Lena’s mother and then ended up with her best friend, then Desiree was born. Then, Mel didn’t show up to Lena’s high school graduation. Her father would toss around money as a means to remain present in his daughter’s life. From Lena’s perspective, she felt that Mel played more of a role in Desiree’s life. However, the relationship between Desiree and Mel was also strained. Strained so much that Desiree started sleeping with her father’s nemesis, Free. The underlying daddy issues resulted in behaviors that were in direct opposition of one another. Desiree chose the party life and Lena chose to excel in school.
Life is Short
One thing that this book highlighted is that life is too short. Lena had not spoken with her sister in over two years after she attempted to be sisterly. She tried to encourage her sister to watch her drinking after she was involved in a DUI accident (which we learn she was covering up for her boyfriend). In the two years that they didn’t speak, they both constantly thought of each other. In this situation, they should have just reached out to one another. Life is really short and the time between them is lost. My current rule, that is hard to follow but I try, is to reach out to someone if they cross my mind.
Going Nowhere
In many parts of the book, I thought that Erin was the killer. The author did a great job of setting it up to make it believe that Erin did it. She had a motive, being jealous of Desiree’s fame. She had the access to drugs to make it appear that it was an overdose. I just knew that it was her. As a Black woman, I am always leery of white people, but especially white women. When we met Erin, I had my suspicions. The author led us all the way down the rabbit hole of finding out her true identity of being a scammer. Although we still had a white to
No Care For Black Lives
Desiree takes the blame for her boyfriend’s DUI. She learns later that he was also involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident that took the life of a Black homeless person. In an audio recording, Desiree’s boyfriend says in an audio recording, paraphrasing, that no one would care about a Black life but especially not a homeless life. That was so infuriating to hear because there are truly people in this world that do not see homeless people as human beings. Ultimately, this audio recording is what led to Desiree’s death because she planned to take the recording to the police. I appreciated that the author included this in the book but I think it needed to be interrogated even more.
A New Genre – Hip Hop Mystery
It is clear that the author is a hip hop aficionado. There are hip hop references all throughout the book. I absolutely loved that her mantra was Biggie’s “It’s all good baby, baby”. I think there may be a new book genre on the horizon with hip hop themed mysteries. That would actually be a great idea!
My Review of Like A Sister
I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately there wasn’t much to the story. The story dragged somewhat because it did not lead to anything. Once we learned that the reporter was the killer that was the end of the book. I wish we uncovered more about the relationship between the reporter and the boyfriend. I just needed more of a conclusion.
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