A roller coaster ride of emotions awaits the reader of this book, it tells the story of two families tied together with secrets, guilt and shame. It does contain incest, domestic violence and alcoholism scenes so be warned. What would you do to save a friend or yourself?

I couldn’t believe that this is Catherine West first book. I liked that she wrote from multiple perspectives but having the church as a character! Loved it.

WOW! It is hard to find the right words for this review! Very powerful story - it's young adult but it's an incredible read for all adults too. Relevant and timely - this story will stay with me for some time. This will be one I will recommend for my high school students. Adding this to y own office bookshelf for others to borrow!
Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars for this INCREDIBLE debut! I will be pressing this book into the hands of everyone I know. The themes of forgiveness, guilt, friendship, and love were all beautifully executed. Hurt people hurt people, but this book is a beautiful example that peace can be found.

This book was everything I was wanting it to be. It was raw, emotional, and complex. I loved Ruby and Layla and their respective roles within the book. I was fascinated with the dynamic they had and how different the girls were in many aspect. So many interesting conversations to be had within these pages and I really liked that.

The writing in this book was nothing short of astonishing. It was told from multiple POV’s with a nonlinear timeline that eventually collided. And the inclusion of the church building as an omniscient narrator? Pure genius. It added texture to an already rich book by also adding a backdrop of history.

I love a good multiple POV story because you are able to get into the heads of the characters. But this book did even more - it illustrated the cyclical nature of trauma, secrets, and abuse and the impacts on individuals. I don’t think I have ever seen it displayed so clearly in a fictional book before.

West is a master story teller. She tackled the tough subjects of abuse, assault, racism, police violence and ambivalence. And then she folded all that into a multi-generational story of families, friends, the Black church community, and the secrets kept within the wall of both homes and a church. This book was honest and deeply moving. Just be aware that some content could be very triggering.

I finished this a few nights ago and keep thinking about what to write and how to articulate it. This is such a nuanced novel that digs into so many different factors of race and socio-economical barriers. It is also about 2 families who are so intertwined that they go back a couple generations.

Ms. West explores societal issues and personal issues with aplomb. To say that she didn’t throw a curve ball in would be to deny the brilliance of the book. Ruby and Layla will stay with you for a long time after you’ve finished the book.

Saving Ruby King is part mystery part thriller as our family secrets never stay buried. This multiple POV debut novel, examines two families who are intertwined over years and in shocking ways. It's a story about escape, mistakes, and bravery. What starts out as a murder mystery about what happened to Alice, Ruby's mother, ends up uncovering a shocking and gripping past stretching back generations. We think we may know our family, and our past, but we have no idea.

We may begin by wondering who the guilty culprit is, but what happens is that we begin to realize that today's guilt stretches back years. The situations and circumstances of our childhood in new light. And the secrets we hold over each other's head, the ones we hold in our hearts, and the ones that never let go of us. Saving Ruby King is a story that allows the complex natures of people, and communities, to emerge. The good, the bad, and the bystanders. All merging into one, into figures who need to reconcile their pasts and the figures we respect.

Saving Ruby King is a beautiful, heartbreaking YA novel. Deeply rooted in the south side of Chicago's faith community, I found myself turning the pages to find out what happened. Ruby's mother is murdered, but the crime has been kind of dismissed as just another crime that has happened on the south side. Her mother's death rocks Ruby's world, and we see that aftermath. It's unlike most YA novels, and I think it's a must read.

I wanted to like this book. The material and subject is heavy, but it felt like an important read, especially for the year that we have all experienced. The narration and POV switch didn't work for me as a reader. I couldn't get invested in characters. I didn't feel like I knew them at all or what the conflict was and how it mattered to each of the characters and how they would change.

I was confused a lot of the time and had to re-read many chapters.

I do think that this book has a market and is a book that people will read and discuss in book clubs and among friends. If I were ordering this book for the library it would be a definite purchase. As reader preference, I couldn't get into the book and would go with books like Such a Fun Age or an American Marriage.

Saving Ruby King was one of the best debuts I have ever read. Ruby's mother Alice is murdered in her own home, maybe be Lebanon, her abusive husband, and Ruby's father. The police don't seem to have any leads nor do they make this case a priority. Alice King lived on the wrong side of town, the black side. Secrets from the past define who these characters have become, and with Alice gone, it is even possible to save Ruby?
Ruby's best friend Layla is the daughter of Pastor Jackson Potter. A good man, a man of God who has secrets of his own, and turned a blind eye to Lebanon's abuse of his wife and daughter. But why? What did Alice and Ruby do to deserve Lebanon's wrath? His childhood was anything but sunshine and puppies, but shouldn't that make him a better husband and father, or does the past just never let go. Many secrets and lies were revealed as incest, domestic violence, racism, a culture of silence, and even murder are woven throughout this multigenerational tale.
The author paints a vivid picture of two Chicago's, one black and one white. I don't want to convey this as only being a dark and heartbreaking tale, as some of these characters rise above the life they have been given and embrace love, friendship, and hope. I am almost certain the author did not have a crystal ball telling her when Saving Ruby King should be published, but this book is timely, relevant, and worthy of many discussions. An eye-opening read and one that will haunt me for quite a while.

Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for my digital copy of Saving Ruby King, in exchange for my honest review. This title published June 16, 2020.

What an incredible DEBUT!

A timely read given everything that has been going in the world on lately and a read so compelling I am certain this story with stick with me for a while.

Catherine Adel West does an impeccable job at bringing this story to life - a story about racial divide, domestic abuse and growing up in the Church - through her incredibly well-developed characters that felt so real to me as a reader, I got goosebumps while reading some passages.

The story is told in multiple POVs and the way West ties each of these characters' views together is magical,  peppering small clues throughout the story.  The big reveal behind the murder of Ruby's mother had my jaw drop and my heart ache at the same time.  The inner struggles of each of the characters will pull at your heart strings the entire length of this book.  Knowing that some of the struggles experienced by these characters is a reality for many is heart wrenching.

Although a tale of fiction, I understand that the author pulled from her own personal experiences growing up in Chicago and that made this story that much more compelling for me as a reader.  I think she did an exceptional job at bringing this story to life.

This was such a powerful and important story that I think everyone should read it. Do yourself a favour and READ THIS BOOK.

This initially caught my eye because it takes place in the South Side of Chicago, not too far away from where I grew up. When Ruby's mother gets murdered on the front porch of their home, it gets dismissed as just another act of violence in a Black neighborhood. But Ruby's best friend Layla knows just how devastating this loss is for her and refuses to let the mystery of how Rubys mom was killed go unsolved.
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This book is both violent and beautiful. It's a story with complicated family history, friendship, faith, and emotion. There are a lot of characters to keep track of (definitely hang on to the family tree in the front of the book), but once you get to know all of the players it's beautiful to watch it all come together. You'll root for them and be disappointed by them, but I think you'll walk away with a better understanding of generational trauma and the cycle of violence. It definitely all comes together and read very real. Chicago is a character herself, and I LOVED that. Hard to believe this is a debut!! This comes out on 6/16.

Catherine Adel West has written something truly special in SAVING RUBY KING. Not only are the characters deeply flawed and human, she's managed to make them sympathetic even when the reader should probably hate them. I wasn't expecting a twist near the end so it caught me offguard but helped me make sense of everything. There's so much depth to this writing about a number of important topics - Black trauma, the Black church, legacy, friendship, father-daughter relationships, and more. I can't wait to see what West writes next.

Wow. This book was incredible. Ruby and Layla's story will not be leaving me anytime soon. Ruby King grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and her mother is found murdered in their home. Of course, the police treat it as they do most violence in her Black Chicago neighborhood, but Ruby and her best friend Layla (who just happens to be the pastor's daughter) are determined to find out what happened to her. I was stunned by West's writing, filled with tenderness, wit, difficult questions and stark honesty. As a person living in the Chicago suburbs, this story felt literally close to home, and yet--so different from my white experience, it felt like a story that was begging to be told. This is a perfect book club choice for 2020, I'll be recommending it widely.

4.5 stars

This book was so deep. <b>Saving Ruby King</b> deals with generational trauma and how the sins of the past hurt us in the present. I thought it was clever of Adel West to include the church as a character in this novel as the church is the center of the Black community. In Saving Ruby King we get to see the hopes and dreams of the families as they arrive in Chicago during the Great Migration. We get to see them as there hopes are shattered through racist policy. We also get to see how the community comes together during these stressful times and how the church serves as their salvation for the meantime:
<blockquote><i>"These are people to who the indifference of the world felt many times over is too much to bear. Brown bodies will arrive through my doors, seeking an impossible solution to injustices not provided by the nation at large. But the relief they feel need not be complete, just enough so that they can return to their normal lives with strength to deal with the indignities large and small suffered because of skin color."</i></blockquote>

The book opens with a violent murder in the South side of Chicago. But Alice King is more than a statistic. The focus of <b>Saving Ruby King</b> is not so much on the mystery behind the murder, but on the open wounds within her family and community. You see - everyone in the church suspected that Alice was a victim of domestic violence. They saw the bruises. Witnessed her fear. Heard the lies. So when she ends up on the wrong side of a bullet they feel guilty and complicit in her murder. Had they addressed the signs of abuse earlier would she still be alive today? What if the church had pulled their errant son aside? Would that have stopped this tragedy from happening? And what of Ruby? Now she is left to fend for herself in the home of the man everyone believes is guilty of murdering her mother. It seems as if Ruby only has one good thing going for her and that is the devotion of her best friend Layla Potter.

The King and Potter families go back for generations. They are knit tightly enough to rely on each other as family. But they are so entangled by each generation's secrets that their past threatens the future of both families.

As each secret is revealed we get a better understanding of why the characters act the way they do. Personally, I did not find that this knowledge made them any more endearing. I still did not like Lebanon or Sara. But it was evidence of the impact that these secrets had on other people around them and on their descendants. The only way to break a generational curse is to first shed light on the secret. Be honest about your part in it and take responsibility for your actions. In order to heal we must not "look to others to save us" but save ourselves. And this salvation starts with the truth.

<i>Special thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin-Park Row and Catherine Adel West for access to this book.</i>

Even though I was invited to read this book by the publisher back in May, I let so much time go that I ended up downloading Saving Ruby King via Audible. With six narrators, I knew that I would have some very interesting hours ahead of me.

This #ownvoices debut novel was written long before the death of George Floyd, but recent events definitely flavored my intense interest in this book.

When twenty-four year old Ruby King’s mother is murdered in their home, Ruby's already tragic life takes a different turn. Even though detectives are assigned the case, it seems that it is just another death in a poor black neighborhood, Ruby still remains in the home of her violent and abusive father, Lebanon. Ruby’s best friend Layla wants her to get away. As if that isn’t enough to frustrate Layla, she is angry that her pastor father appears to stand by Lebanon.

And that is how this tragic story is delivered. From several different points of view: Ruby, Layla, Lebanon and Layla’s father, Jackson Potter. Even Calvary Hope Christian Church has a voice in this story.

I knew this book was going to be difficult. I knew that on May 18th when I received the email request from the publicist. Then with the obvious anger in the world right now, I didn’t know if I could read it. But I did, thus this review. While I can certainly provide facts about this book, conveying my emotions is entirely different.

For one thing we see how certain things, like hatred, were passed down by generations. Admittedly, that is not what I thought this book would be about, but that is something that came through the pages and viewpoints as I read. Another thing that this book did was to make me very, very sad. I felt for Ruby, for Alice, her mother, and for all the years she suffered abuse. I even got to understand Lebanon, although I never, ever liked him. Pastor Potter was a tormented soul, and so his story conveyed so much. Other characters were Potter's and Lebanon's mothers, and their shared past. All very, very telling.

When it comes to reading books from POC, I have a peculiar position. My ancestors simply are not black. Oh there was inter-marriage two generations ago, but even then, my bloodlines are so mixed that, along with the way that I was raised, that I never “sided” with issues of race. I simply was never equipped to. But especially now I often think if I should allow my brown skin to make me finally choose. So when it comes to #ownvoices books I will make a better attempt to seek them out, to support a people still suffering terribly from injustices happening for over 400 years. Should I walk out of my house at any given time, I am not going to viewed as anything but black, so it is probably high time for me to act like it.

Please let me give special thanks for the publisher for bringing this incredible timely debut novel to my attention. Quite naturally the circumstances in this book are fictional and do not correlate to the current situation, but it is timely nonetheless. And, considering that this book took place on the south side of Chicago, where I lived for over ten years, gave me an even deeper connection to this story.

Lastly, I feel Catherine Adel West deserves huge accolades for writing such a well-written debut novel. She truly touches on the pulse of how many black people feel. I feel impelled at this point to include a few poignant quotes from the book.

“There are things they both suffered. Things that don’t go away with love or prayer or good intentions.”

It’s okay to be my garbage man but not my neighbor. It’s okay to be my housekeeper but not my doctor.

Know your place. Stay in your place. As a result, much of our majesty and power remained invisible to us— lost, entombed, obscured, hidden among the rubble of the past; in demolished buildings and omitted paragraphs in history books.

If we saved ourselves, what could we become? They fear our skin and we fear our power. It’s a perfect storm for destruction. Our destruction.

From Layla - "This thought is insipid at the very least and most likely racist, but I allow myself these moments because I spend so many others feeling less than or proving why I am just as good as the next person by working twenty times as hard.

Many thanks to Park Row and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

I requested this because the description made it seem like it would be a murder mystery of sorts with a few complex themes to make a little deeper. But I was surprised to find that it was less thriller, and more of a study of love, loyalty, and friendship, with a dash of themes right out of a Toni Morrison novel.

Set in 21st-century Chicago, this book follows a small cast of characters following the death of Alice King, mother to Ruby, wife to Lebanon, friend to many. As the police investigate the murder, their number one suspect is Lebanon, who is known in the community as an abusive husband. While Ruby grapples with her mother's passing and being alone with her father, her best friend, Layla, tries to be there for her in any way possible.

This was a timely, but tough book. I requested this before the BLM movement exploded into protests and action across the country, so reading this was just another nod to the issues surrounding race and discrimination in this country, beyond just police brutality. Adel West describes the differences between North and South Chicago in a way that makes the city a character of sorts. The story is told through five points of view -- Jackson (Layla's father and the pastor of their church), Layla, Ruby, Lebanon, and the church itself. While I found the latter incredibly interesting and appreciate that I learned more about each character's inner conflicts, I felt like the number of points of view limited my appreciation of the story. Perhaps it was the e-book format, but some of the switches in POV were prefaced by dates in relation to Alice's death. When it swapped to another character's view, I wasn't sure if we were in that same timeline, or if we were jumping back to whenever "present" was supposed to be. I also found the eponymous character (Ruby) to be a little flat because of the limited time we spend with her POV. And while I didn't speed through this one, eager to find out what happens, on the edge of my seat in suspense, I'm going to chalk this up to just being a bit too close to home at the moment.

Overall, this book is well written and confronts many issues that are incredibly relevant today. Most of the characters are complex and well developed. And you'll enjoy how the characters and their back stories all come together at the end.

Rating: 4 thought-provoking stars

This debut book by Catherine Adel West pulled me in on the first pages, and did not let up much at all throughout the whole book. It’s window into the lives of three generations of African Americans living in Chicago. It is told from multiple perspectives. Even the solid old church that anchors this community has a voice in the goings on.

Based on the cover, I thought that this was a work of historical fiction set in the 1800’s. There is some historical fiction, but the earliest the story starts is in the late 1950’s. This is a book about family, and friendship. It is about abuse, and unjust police actions. It is about faith, and doing better than the generation that came before you. It is about the African American experience, and the inherent racism faced by Black in the United States.

The book changes narrators and timeframes frequently. I had to pay close attention as to who was speaking and what year it was in order to keep the story straight. However, my attention to detail paid off big time in my connection to the characters, and investment in the story. We watch as three generations of inter-linked character take actions that on the surface make no sense. As the story unfolds, the actions make sense in heart-breaking ways. The feelings are raw, the violence real. The sense of being stuck or trapped is claustrophobic.

The timing of this book’s publication is fortuitous. The horrific murder of George Floyd has finally awakened the larger consciousness of America. I hope that the racism that these characters struggled with are eased. This powerful work of fiction highlights those issues, and the unintended consequences the racist actions have on the Black community. As I white reader, I have not experienced this racism. Reading this book further educated me and gave more compassion about the effects of racism. The story is compelling and visceral. I recommend it to all readers.

‘Thank-You’ to NetGalley; the publisher, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Park Row; and the author, Catherine Adel West for providing a free e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One evening, Alice King is murdered. What happened to her unfolds through the interwoven families of the King's and the Potter's. Alice's daughter, Ruby. Ruby's father, Lebanon. Layla, Ruby's best friend. Layla's father, Reverend Jackson Potter Sr. And the place that binds everyone together, Calvary Hope Christian Church.

There is so much love poured into these pages. Catherine Adel West is such a great writer. Here: exploring the ways a father and daughter relationship can fall apart, and come together. The way friendships that have stood for many years can be filled with the beautiful ability to understand someone, to show up for them, to save them. The way abuse affects someone, and the person who wants to protect them from that pain. As well as the ways it can hold grief and fear. The way a black woman can be killed, and those in charge of her case are dismissive, harmful, searching to twist words around and create their own version of events.

What I enjoyed:


• Each character is given time to be understood, to be seen for all they are, why they are, who they will become. Who loves them, who has hurt them, who should have loved them but has failed them


• I love a good family tree in the beginning of a book!


• Calvary Hope Christian Church as a character, a narrator, and ever-present, entity of their own. I love when locations are characters in a book. I love that here, the church is so deeply important to the people within them that it becomes sentient. I love the compassion in which the church speaks


• Alice King, who is gone by the time this story starts, but it is not in any way missing. One little baby pet peeve of mine in mysteries is when the character who has been murdered/etc is not seen or heard from, they are only spoken about through those around them. We see Alice, we hear her through chapters that take place before she was killed


• "This air about (cops), not of authority. No, it's more of an air of invincibility, that must be tied to the gun they wear on their belt line. They know they won't be held accountable for their actions."

To the white cops assigned to her case, Alice is looked at as just another incident of a black woman being murdered. They are distant and detached, desensitized. They are present in this book in a very real way. Hardly physically there, barely doing the work they should be doing, quick to jump to conclusions or suspect, unnecessarily aggressive and authoritative when speaking. But their presence is felt intrusively


• Friends who believe one another when something terrible happens to them. No hesitancy. This is so important to me, and I always appreciate so much seeing it in books


• A discussion takes place here about turning away from people when they need you most. Why would these black women go to the police when they are in trouble? How can they be sure they would be believed, or assisted? What guilt is this father carrying that is so heavy he can hardly see past it to be there for his wife or children anymore?


I really like the way Catherine Adel West writes about this. The ways it affects those who did not do something when they had the chance, why they didn't or couldn't. That for black women, they may be silenced, shunned. That it can be sincerely dangerous, including when it involves someone who is looked to be a pillar of truth and good in the community. That for a parent, it can be a desperate attempt to protect family without realizing the way they are going about it is having the opposite affect.


• I love so many parts of this book. I love the way Layla and her father Reverend Jackson Sr. are written. Layla doesn't stop asking questions about what she knows to be wrong: why do people ignore the abuse from Lebanon, Ruby's father?


• A mystery (any book of any genre, really) that ends with a feeling of hope and love is my favorite kind of ending.

"A friend driving hours to pick up another friend, maybe that's God, too."

Overall:

I am so glad I read this book. I really really big big recommend it to anyone and everyone who feels they will enjoy it. I look forward to getting a physical copy, rereading it, and annotating it from first page to last. And I look very!! much!! forward!!! to Catherine Adel West's next book, which I absolutely will be reading.

Thank you tons to the publishers, Harlequin Trade Publishing,Park Row Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this book. This is certainly for me one of the best books of 2020.