A suspense novel following Yolanda Vance, a rookie FBI agent sent undercover to infiltrate a group of teenagers focused on environmental and race issues in a San Francisco suburb. Yolanda is selected for this assignment not necessarily for her skills, but because of her race, age and background (as bluntly stated by her supervising officer). Yolanda succeeds in joining up with the group, but the further into the group and investigation she gets, the more she begins to question everything.

Aya crafts a wonderful story that shows Yolanda growing and changing throughout the book, looking back on her tumultuous childhood and the way it impacted her up to this point in her life. The story was captivating and exciting and I really enjoyed reading it, even the hard parts where the ugliness of the relationship between law enforcement and race was called out. I thought the writing was excellent and Aya pulled in several topical issues, including even a mention of COVID in passing.

This book relates well to a lot of the non-fiction reading I've been doing around race in America (I'm Still Here, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, White Fragility) and ties those issues into a fiction story. I don't think I would have appreciated the struggles and changes Yolanda went through as much as I did without that prior reading done this year. I'll definitely call out my privilege that I've gained this perspective through reading and learning and not through every day life; I won't pretend to have an ounce of the understanding of these feelings as someone who lives it every day.

All in all, I really enjoyed this read and give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐. Thank you to kensingtonbooks for the ARC of this one!

Yolanda Vance takes a job with the FBI after she refuses to shred some compromising paperwork and the law firm she works for gets indicted. While newly working for the FBI, Yolanda is sent to infiltrate Red, Black, and Green! (RBG), a political organization in Holloway, California for Black and environmental justice. A major corporation has been exploiting the community however the FBI insists this group is the real problem. As she gets further involved she starts to see that the world isn't quite as black and white as she thought.

The first half was slower and there was a lot of set up for the plot. I felt the second half did a better job intertwining Yolanda's backstory with current events which made for a stronger and faster paced read.

Yolanda is one of those Black people who believe that if you want better, you do better. She adopted that mantra after growing up with a mother who often dropped everything to chase after men which left them in worse situations then they started with. At a young age Yolanda learned time and time again that her mother was unreliable at best and damaging at worst. Even in present day when Yolanda reaches out to her mother during her time of need she only gets some hippie reply back instead of the assistance she needs.

Her very narrow view of Black people based off her experiences in small town Georgia and her cheating preacher father and her experiences in a rough neighborhood in Detroit that she worked hard academically to get out of. Being with this group is the first time she's been part of a Black community since she was a child and initially she holds some preconceived notions about the people particularly the teens in the group. In her mind racism can't stop you from working hard and making a name for yourself.

While a murder happens and there's a mystery surrounding how this member of the community was killed it's not a key focus. However it is the catalyst that causes Yolanda to open her eyes to the mysterious deaths and FBI coverups. She finally starts to question her superiors and if she's doing the right thing.

There is a romance that develops in this story and I've noticed it's very easier for authors to get caught up in selling the passionate sex scenes which I just find out of place in these types of stories. I didn't quite buy the emotional connection fully but I appreciated when Yolanda and Jimmy were open with each other about how past experiences left them jilted.

I felt this book shed a light on types like her who are educated about so many things but ignore the plight of their people and easily buy into propaganda. Yolanda may know the law but she is oblivious to how the law is actually applied to Black people until it starts to directly affect her.

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot.com/2020/12/a-spy-in-struggle-by-aya-de-leon.html

So here's the thing this book had a lot of potential. But Yolanda is having a bit of identity crisis while on this mission. We get flashbacks of her unstable life from high school (which was weird) and after her father's death. I'm sure that was supposed to give us context but it just added a weird tone to the timeline. Also I'm not sure how she could have not known the FBI took part or orchestrated chaos during the civil rights era. It's known. If I put thay aside and just focus on the identity crisis Yolanda is the type of character I would not like. I work hard, do the right things, so I'm a different type of Black girl. Ma'am your flashbacks should have helped you see other wise. But at any rate part 3 picked up and focused on the espionage a bit more. There were some twists and in the end the FBI were the feds of the past. The side murder plot was very anticlimactic but I think had to be wrapped up. So in the end it was decent but part 2 could have been trimmed down and the storyline overall could have been tightened up. The critique on blackness and police surveillance in Part 2 got lost with everything else going on.

The cover is still a winner in happy it was changed.

CW: manipulative parent (on page described as a charlaton), affair, police corruption, racism, microagressions, gun violence

I liked this book overall. It's important to amplify black characters' voices and give them a range of life experiences, but overall the book felt like it had unclear stakes. There wasn't enough investment in the murder mystery to make the big reveal a good enough payoff.

I happen to really, really like James Bond movies, which is totally unlike me. I’ve never been into spy novels, and was hoping this one would be my ticket in, but I’ve realized it’s not for me.

I was really into the beginning of this book, but I felt like it dragged on quite a bit. It was too long! I liked it more in theory than in practice. I had to force myself to finish, which is something I do not enjoy doing.

Will this be the last spy novel for me? I’m not sure. Do you have any recommendations for a feminist spy novel?
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Thank you Net Galley and Kensington Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
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Recommended song pairing: The Pretender by Foo Fighters

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A Spy in the Struggle was a wildcard pick primarily based on the blurb, and I had little idea what to expect. But I think I’ve found a new author to follow in Aya de León, who crafts an intriguing thriller infused with relevant social issues.

In fact, the way the social issues were handled was one of the first things that stood out to me. I loved the balance of really delving into issues like the Flint water crisis and the impacts of gentrification with seriousness, while also not being afraid to add a dose of humor. The organization’s name “Red, Black, and GREEN!” is one I imagine always being said with a chirpy emphasis on the “GREEN!,” and had to laugh when Yolanda commented on their acronym, RBG, asking if they meant Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While I’m fairly sure the book would likely have been completed (at least drafted?) prior to Ginsburg’s passing, it’s a fun pun that has deeper resonance now.

I did struggle at times with Yolanda as a protagonist, finding her a bit short sighted and judgmental. But I think her flaws only make for a great arc for growth as she begins to really question which side is really good or bad.

I appreciated the romance, even if it wasn’t the most impactful part of the book for me. It is well balanced with the rest, not feeling like too much for a primarily thriller book, while also not feeling forced.

This book was enjoyable overall, and I liked that it was engaging, while also making me think about social issues. If that sounds good to you, I think you’ll like this book.

What I liked about the book -
I liked how Aya de Leon incorporated Yolanda's back story and showed how she got to be the person she was as a woman and as a lawyer. This gave us insight into why she would later make the decisions that she did.

I liked the social/ecological justice angle with Red, Black and GREEN! Although the Flint water crisis has gained much press, most of these instances are underreported and go unnoticed by the nation at large. Most novels that depict corporate takeovers of low income areas focus on gentrification. Usually the aspect of community health and environmental impact on predominantly Black areas is not captured in books. I think that de Leon did a great job of expressing this conflict and making us want to fight alongside the teens.

What I did not like -
A problem for me was the romance. I'm not really a romance reader If you look at my TBR shelves you will see a lot of mystery, thriller suspense. Historical fiction is another big section as is poetry. What you will not see is a shelf dedicated to romance. If you find a romance on my shelf it was either a gift or a fluke. Of course, I think the book would have went quite well without having the romance in it. But I know for most people that is not a deal breaker. And since I do not read romance novels I cannot even compare it to say where it stacks up as a romance.

My thoughts on the book -
There was a part of me that just did not like Yolanda Vance in the beginning. At first I found her very short-sighted and judgmental. She really had a hard time relating to the teenagers. We know from her background that Yolanda has always struggled to fit in. That she has always felt "other" when in all Black or all White environments. Yet she approaches the teens with her own preconceived notions. Her character arc however shows growth and maturity. She becomes more empathetic towards others, learns more about herself and gains perspective on her relationships. Personally, I feel that part of her story is yet to be told and am especially intrigued in regards to Yolanda and her father. I am wondering if Aya de Leon is planning to build a series off of this character.


My Rating -
As a mystery I can tell you that A Spy in the Struggle has all of the right components
Intrigue - A woman is found dead in the alley with a needle in her arm but all signs point to foul play.
Conflict - Yolanda has been sent to spy on a community activist group. But is she working for the right side.
Suspense - Not all is what it first appears. Who can Yolanda trust? As the clock winds down on this mystery we know her life is in danger but we don't know who is coming for her.

I enjoyed this book, but felt it could have gone further. It painted a vivid picture of the characters and the places, and was compelling enough to keep me hooked on a long flight. I do feel like some of the points in the book were a bit forced, such as the impact of the pandemic (I was actually surprised that this was included). Overall, I would say that there was a ton of potential in the book that wasn't developed, but I still really enjoyed reading it.

I was not ready for this Novel, Yolanda Vance was something else. A very successful Lawyer goes undercover with FBI to spy on RBG. When I say everything isn't what it seem twist and turns I did not see come had me on edge of my sit. I love the chemistry between Yolanda and Jimmy was hot, Yolanda was a very strong especially after all that she has been through with her Mother who I didn't care for and that's put it lightly. I love this book because it is Irrelevant what's going on today in the real world with Racial Justice and the Pandemic.

A Spy in the Struggle by Aya de León follows in the path of Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching. Both novels examine what happens to black communities when white corporations move in and cause more harm and damage to the local community. A Spy in the Struggle follows the Yolanda Vance, an FBI attorney turned spy who is tasked with infiltrating a black youth activist organization. Unfortunately, Yolanda is sipping the FBI Kool-Aid, and her mentality is one of respectability politics. It is hard to like and sympathize with Yolanda’s character, and through most of the first half of the book, I was frustrated with homegirl. This book starts off a bit slow, but the action picks up in the last quarter of the book as Yolanda goes into full on spy mode. This book is a quick read, and there is even a bit of romance thrown in there, which I enjoyed, as it helped humanize Yolanda’s character. (3.5 stars)

There is a lot going on in this book. Yolanda, a lawyer who has been recruited as an FBI agent to infiltrate a black climate activist group is an extraordinarily strong protagonist. With her issues with the FBI, an unexplained death of a community member and a look at what living in a struggling black community is like, adding in another element of romance may seem like too much, but Aya de Leon is able to incorporate it into the story. The second half of the book went much more quickly for me that the first part but the resolution seemed incomplete to me.
Jan. 5

Read this for Yolanda but know that the underlying premise- that FBI would send an untrained new employee undercover into a domestic group to spy on it- is unrealistic and, well, just plain not gonna happen because some of this activity is illegal. Yolanda, a high achiever, is a pariah in the legal community when she provides evidence of wrongdoing by her firm. She applies to and is accepted by FBI and then is plucked from her job as an attorney in New Jersey to go undercover in California because she went to college there. She's asked to infiltrate RBG, an activist group funded in part by a larger green coalition, because RBG is believed to be trying to undermine a corporation with ties to the Pentagon. She places listening devices and spends time with the members- and then she falls in love with Jimmy, a professor who is one of the group's leaders. There's some steam there. The alleged overdose of a local woman who worked at the company galvanizes RBG. I wanted to like this more- and I kept reading because I liked Yolanda, whose troubled past spools out over the course of the book- but the strands don't tie together well. The individual characters are well written and it does zip along but it falls back on inaccurate tropes about FBI. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

When I sat down to read A Spy in the Struggle for the first time, I was gripped from the very first page. FBI agent Yolanda Vance is sent to infiltrate the Red, Black, and Green! (RBG), a political organization in Holloway, California for Black and environmental justice. The Randall corporation has been exploiting the marginalized communities in the area, but the FBI insists Yolanda that the RBG is the one doing harm. As she finds herself becoming close to RBG, and falling for one of its members (Olujimi; called Jimmy), she is torn between betraying either the organization or the FBI.

I don’t read enough thriller, mystery, or crime novels, so I can’t comment much on the genre conventions and or story execution. All I know is that I’m impressed with de León’s writing. Writing commercial fiction demands narrative drive. You have to maintain conflict and tension on every page, even during quiet scenes. But the author doesn’t only provide a compelling narrative and mystery; she has also done well with Yolanda’s character development. Readers are able to glimpse significant moments in her life (flashbacks) and how those events shape her present self. Readers are able to see how Yolanda reacts to certain events and incidents, including the mystery surrounding Anitra Jenkins’ death, RGB’s persistence for answers and justice, and her developing relationship with Olujimi.

Yolandra starts off with a strict attitude about the younger generation. As a child, she had moved from one state or town with her mother. Her father passed away when she was five and living in Georgia. She attended a prep school on her own merit, and her experiences have led her to believe that you have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps if you want to leave your current situation.

“Yolanda had been in a bad situation, too. She was poor as a kid. She went to a terrible school in Detroit. But what did she do? She worked hard and got a scholarship to a boarding school. And she bounced back from Van Dell, Meyers and Whitney. Bad situations didn’t have to define you. You want better, so you do better.”

However, her experiences with the leaders and members of RGB, especially the teens, opens her eyes to her bias and complicity. She realizes that it’s not as simple as getting yourself out of poverty without help, and that the FBI is using her to hurt her own people.

“Wasn’t that exactly where she was right now? The FBI had made a case for her to despise RBG, but then she had spent time with those people, and it became increasingly clear that the Bureau had painted a false picture. ‘Black Identity Extremists,’ is what the FBI had called them. But it was just a bunch of teenagers who wanted decent schools, safe air and water, and not to get shot by the police.”

The novel mentions COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program), which are illegal activities conducted by the FBI to disrupt and infiltrate political organizations and movements. The FBI started this in 1956, although the Bureau is still doing it today. In 1969, the FBI targeted leaders of the Black Panther Party. Agents manipulate the media (to smear movements and activists) and use listening/surveillance devices. De Leon interweaves this info to provide context for readers. Plus, through the characters we see the distrust RBG has with the FBI and police. Through the FBI agents that Yolanda interacts with, we see racial bias and the disdain for organizations and movements dedicated to racial justice and the advancement of Black people. One particular scene has Yolanda’s boss Rafferty insisting that the RBG, which he refers to HOLOGRAM, intends to radicalize its members for the worse:

“‘Operation HOLOGRAM stands for Holloway Green Amateurs. We can’t have these teenagers mucking around with our national security. The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed every complaint against Randell as having no merit. And the corporation paid for the cleanup of that one railroad yard issue. So this organization is not only radicalizing these kids, but it’s also teaching them to be victims, whiners, looking for someone to blame.’”

The story switches to other characters’ POV, but it doesn’t distract from the main narrative. Instead, it adds to the plot and suspense. The story eventually comes together at the end, and we find Yolanda having to make difficult choices along the way. De León knows how to write a story that keeps your eyes on the page.

thriller, multicultural, politics, social-issues, socioeconomics, dishonest-business-practices, self-worth-issues*****

A driven woman lawyer with a multicultural history and heritage winds up working for the FBI and gets transferred to the iffy neighborhood where she went to high school (before college and Harvard Law) on the FBI's agenda. She is there in her first (pretty much involuntary) undercover assignment with an aggressive but law minding group of Black students who want to get justice, especially from a dishonest pseudo-ecological business that does more than the usual amount of lying and fooling the public, government, and NGOs. Throughout this experience she comes to face and evaluate her past, her goals, and her personal identity. She also comes to a personal closeness with a man from her past. I don't want to go into more detail because I want you to READ IT.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Just not for me, sadly. The plot didn't really take off and I struggled with what felt like lackluster prose.

Where do I even begin? A Spy in the Struggle focuses on a FBI lawyer, Yolanda Vance, who goes undercover to infiltrate a "Black Extremist" organization. (Sound familiar? There were several references to the Black Panther Party.) Anyway, she never imagines falling in love (in more ways than one). Though this is a fictional story, I can only assume that there is significant truth to this story. Either way, this is one of the best books that I have read this year.

If you're looking for a book with commentary about how messed up the government agencies in the United States are and/or why the empowerment of youth (especially BIPOC youth) is crucial, this is the book for you. I enjoyed this title a lot more than I thought I was going to. It actually almost received a five-star rating from me, but I was left wanting more spy/secret agent action within the plot. Yolanda, the main character, joins the FBI as a lawyer. She is sent back to her college town as a spy to keep an eye on a "black extremist group" that is advocating for climate change and racial justice. However, the more time she spends with the group, Yolanda begins to realize that the FBI may have ulterior motives for keeping tabs on them. Overall, this story is a quick read and touches on some really important topics. I encourage you to pick this one up once it is published.

A Spy in the Struggle touches on many of the topics in our current climate: law enforcement corruption, gentrification, and climate change. Beneath these topics we find a young woman trying to find herself in the process. Yolanda Vance is a new FBI agent assigned to go undercover to infiltrate a black “extremist” group but soon realizes that her assignment isn’t what she thought it was.

I’ll admit the first half of this book I had to push through. I felt as though it was dragging, and the plot wasn’t really leading me anywhere. The transitions between the past and present gave me whiplash at times, but I saw it all come together halfway through. It reminded me of shows where the first few episodes are a drag, but it was necessary for the greater good of the story. We had to understand Yolanda’s experiences in the past to understand her thought process in the future.

I really enjoyed the spy elements of the story and find out “whodunnit”. But once again, the ending left a lot to be desired. You get a lot of information but a short incomplete resolution.

Overall, the Yolanda still felt underdeveloped to me in contrast to the development of the plot. The romance between Yolanda and Jimmy was cute, but I still felt his emotions more than hers. All the spy lingo and drama created a good page turner towards the end, but Yolanda’s story seems unfinished to me.

If you want a good spy story mixed with self-discovery and timely topics, check it out!

Do you want to read a thriller that also centers environmental justice, climate change, and the history of law enforcement? I love when the books I read also teach me, so I enjoyed this book.

After her first year as a corporate law associate came to an abrupt end, Yolanda goes to work for the FBI and starts on a case investigating Red, Black and GREEN!, a community youth empowerment organization purported to be radical.

From the beginning, I identified much more with the teens she was supposed to investigate than with Yolanda. But as the tale unfolds, it also goes back in time to tell Yolanda's history and how she became the adult she is.

I was taken aback when I came across a casual reference to when the pandemic started. This is the first book I have read that has referenced COVID-19, though I expect that will become commonplace. The reference worked well here, as it highlighted the racial disparities in who has jobs that allow work from home.

The mystery unraveled slowly. I was immersed enough in the story to not wish for a faster, twistier tale. I plan to read more from Aya de León.

I didn't expect to like A Spy in the Struggle as much as I did; I worried it'd be a bit cliche about a woman finding herself but there was so much more involved. There was a bit of romance and a lot of intrigue and mystery. I especially loved the emphasis on learning / social justice without being overly preachy about it.

At a time when we talk about the needs of The People, when we talk about gentrification or communities being left behind, or how drugs and violence can rip communities apart - I got so much out of reading A Spy in the Struggle.

I hated Yolanda a bit when I started the book, but the way in which flashbacks into her life were incorporated helped to understand how she became who she was. The younger characters were relatable and weren't written as overly cliched or childlike; their fears and hopes jumped off the page in an honest way.

Brava, Aya de León! I applaud you for this work, even if it did make me super homesick for the Bay Area.

(I received a free digital copy of A Spy in the Struggle from NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review.)