I loved it, so heartwarming and I couldn’t put it down! Didn’t know how much I needed a jazz era book until this story came along.

Wild Women and the Blues is a dual-timeline historical fiction novel set in 1925 and present-day Chicago. We learn the story of a woman named Honoree, a dancer hoping to make it big in the Chicago nightclub scene. In the present day, a filmmaker named Sawyer is interviewing a 110-year-old Honoree as he works to complete his thesis.

I loved the 1925 storyline. The setting is really well-developed by the author and it was one I had never read about before. Honoree was such an interesting character, and I really liked her romance with Ezekiel. The stakes felt very high by the end of the story and I had to keep reading to find out what happened to every character!

The present-day storyline was not as interesting to me, and I didn't like getting pulled out of Honoree's story to see what Sawyer was up to. There was an interesting twist at the end, but overall these sections of the book just fell flat. That being said, I'm still glad I read this book because I liked the historical parts so much!

"Ordinary People meets Chicago the musical as played out in the city's Black Belt, Wild Women and the Blues is a mainstream historical fiction novel that weaves the stories of a grieving film student in 2015 and an ambitious chorus girl in 1925 in a tale of history, love, and secrets that only family can define.

In a stirring and impeccably researched novel of Jazz-age Chicago in all its vibrant life, two stories intertwine nearly a hundred years apart, as a chorus girl and a film student deal with loss, forgiveness, and love...in all its joy, sadness, and imperfections.

“Why would I talk to you about my life? I don't know you, and even if I did, I don't tell my story to just any boy with long hair, who probably smokes weed.You wanna hear about me. You gotta tell me something about you. To make this worth my while.”

1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Café is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper’s daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose.

2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he’s right - if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he’s expecting

Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It’s a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions. And as past meets present, for Honoree, it’s a final chance to be truly heard and seen before it’s too late. No matter the cost..."

I'm reading this because Jazz-age Chicago was my grandmother's playground when she should have been at school!

A Black woman in 1925 Chicago's story is told through flashbacks and her meeting a film student in 2015 in this historical novel.

Honoree is determined to make her life in Chicago, starting as a dancer at the Dreamland Cafe, where people like Louis Armstrong perform. Chicago is also full of gangsters and danger as well, as Honoree quickly finds out as she becomes a witness to something she didn't want to see. In 2015, Sawyer Hayes, a film student, gets a meeting with a 110 year old woman who he found pictured with legendary filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Maybe she has the key to helping with his thesis - but will he want to know her whole story? As Honoree's story is gradually unfolded, so will Sawyer's, and it's a story of ambition and the strength to fight for your place in life.

An intriguing historical novel of the jazz age, as seen through the eyes of a Black woman, this is one that will engross readers.

In this riveting and captivating historical fiction novel, debut author Denny S. Bryce expertly weaves two timelines together to build a mystery that grips you from the first page.

It’s 1925 and all Honoree Dalcour wants to do is dance. She knows landing a spot at the ritzy Dreamland Cafe is her best shot at making a name for herself beyond the chorus line but she isn’t the only young woman looking to leave her past behind in pursuit of stardom. Letting her ambition lead the way, Honoree navigates through a treacherous world of mobsters and bootleggers, hoping to come out a star on the other side.

In 2015, film student Sawyer Hayes is battling his own demons when he arrives at 110-year-old Honoree’s bedside, looking for confirmation of a story that could change the trajectory of his life. But Honoree isn’t too keen to dredge up a past she has long kept buried.

Through her lyrical writing and vivid descriptions of Chicago’s Black Belt, Bryce transports readers into the heart of Chicago’s speakeasies in the 1920s and delivers a suspense-filled story about love, friendship and ambition that I couldn’t put down. I highly recommend WILD WOMEN AND THE BLUES and look forward to reading whatever Bryce writes next.

Many thanks to Kensington Books for the advance reading copy.

This book releases next month, and it’s one to add to your TBR!

The book takes place in the 1920’s in a part of Chicago called “The Stroll”. It follows Honoree Dalcour, a young Black women trying to make it as a dancer. She is a rising star and got a job dancing at the popular Dreamland night club. While we’re getting Honoree’s story in 1925, we also get the perspective of a young man named Sawyer in the present. He is interviewing a 110 year old bed bound Dalcour for his thesis regarding a film he discovered which Dalcour was supposedly dancing in.

Most of the book takes place in 1925, and checks in to the present for more clarity on parts of Honoree’s story. This book has a lot of great 1920’s era language, Al Capone gangster stuff, and amazing costumes. Additionally, with the 1920’s there is of course overt, systemic, and casual racism, and segregation.

I liked:
I really loved reading about this era and reading about the story and the experience of being a Black women through the perspective of Honoree Dalcour. There was so much depth and richness to this story and to the characters overall.

This was historical fiction that centered the Black experience at that time. I don’t recall reading or watching many movies that centered the Black experience of the 1920’s, and I loved that this book does that.

Honestly, I wish I could have witnessed the Jazz Age in Chicago. Denny S. Bryce’s Wild Women and the Blues is set in Chicago circa 1925. Film student, Sawyer Hayes, is trying to discover the history of Honoree Dalcour and how she relates to the filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux. Sawyer has found a film in his grandmother’s attic that may have been made by Michaeux. He is hoping that Honoree can fill in the gaps.

Honoree was a chorus girl in 1925. She landed a gig dancing at the Dreamland Cafe. It was a step or two above the club that she had been working at before with many more opportunities. Honoree became friends with Lil Hardin Armstrong, who was married to Louis Armstrong. If you get a chance, look up the story of Lil Hardin Armstrong. She was a very talented musician and songwriter.

One night, Honoree witnessed a homicide at the Dreamland Cafe. She wasn’t sure if anyone saw her hiding. She tried to hide the truth about witnessing the crime for as long as possible. Her ex-boyfriend reappeared in her life around the same time. She still loves him because . . . she just does. Honoree just wants to know what happened to him? Why did he disappear? Can she trust him to help her out of this mess with witnessing a crime?

You guys, I loved this book. I never saw the twist at the end. The end was such a surprise. If this book becomes a movie or a Netflix series, I am going to be wherever I have to be to watch it. Wild Women and the Blues could be such a beautiful movie if it’s anything like the book. I always imagine that everyone is beautiful, except a few of the bad guys and one lady. Plus, the music and the dancing would be heavenly and maybe a little sinful.

This is Bryce's debut novel. I look forward to reading everything that she writes in the future. Bryce also enjoys the show Outlander and recaps episodes on Frolic Media. (Sorry Ms. Bryce. I'm just so excited that someone loves so many of the same things that I do.)

If you are interested in African-American historical fiction during the jazz age - including love, family, gangsters, mystery and so much more- then this book will be ready for you in March 2021.

Well, I suppose if you are closed-minded or intolerant of other people living their lives, then maybe you aren't ready to read about love yet. FYI: Here is a list of books about anti-racism: The Good Trade. Read a few and come back to this book because it is wonderful.
I received this ebook from NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Obviously.
There is an Amazon affiliate link included in this post.

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

I really wanted to love this book - African-american historical fiction and alternating past and present timelines!! Unfortunately the modern day story dragged from the beginning and the initially intriguing past storyline was overly long and convoluted. I struggled to finish this book. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Six degrees of separation comes to mind when I read this one. Wild Women and the Blues is a nice contrast of how music and musical entertainment played an important role in Chicago's culture since the middle of the nineteenth century. It's told from a Then and Now perspective.

Through vivid imagery, the author takes us back to Chicago during the roaring twenties when Jazz music became wildly popular and a time when they experienced economic growth and prosperity. She was able to capture what it was like on the streets of the Bronzeville area known as the Stroll; to complement the good music and dancing were the smoky nightclubs, brothels, moonshine, and policy writing. These are all things that contributed to that economic growth.

We get this story in dual timeframes. After being abandoned by the love of her life and mother, Honoree Delacour is fearless enough to follow her dreams and gives detailed accounts of the 1920s and her opportunity to work with musical icons like Louis Armstrong and Oscar Micheaux.

Current day in 2015, we see things from Sawyer's perspective, and we uncover a twist in the story. He uses a memorabilia box of his grandmother to track down Honoree Delacour🤔. He is a film student and determined she holds all the information that would perfect his thesis, based on Oscar Micheaux, a prominent filmmaker.

Wild Women and the Blues is a well-written story and the characters are front and center engaging readers as they tell their story. It was so easy to get caught up in this one and I recommend it for your reading list.

Could not more than 10% into the book due to the classist and colorist views of one of the main characters. While this may end up being a growth point for her later in the book - I wouldn't know because it was off-putting enough to keep me from moving forward.

An absorbing dual timeline hf novel set in 1925 and 2015. Film student Sawyer Hayes interviews 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, a sharecropper's daughter who worked hard for fame as a dancer in the hot jazz world of 1925’s Chicago. Through Honoree, we keenly feel what it was like to be a black woman in an era awash in booze, mobs, murder, the jazz of Armstrong, and the films of Oscar Micheaux. A skillfully executed novel that makes one long for the music, if not for the traumatic times.

4 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 30 Mar 2021
#WildWomenandtheBlues #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Outstanding! 5-Stars and well deserved

Loved this book! Wild Women and the Blues is set in Chicago during the wild days of Prohibition and speakeasies, chorus girls, and the seediness of the back alleys. .Ms. Bryce captures the mood of the era, and how hard the times were for the owners with Capone at the helm. The main character, Honoree Dalfour, is a beautiful dancer dead set on climbing her way out of the speakeasy known as Ms. Hattie's and away from the vicious owners. Honoree's goal is to dance at the club, Dreamland, where the likes of Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway are regulars and a step up on the ladder to success and Broadway.
Set in dual time frames, this story will take you into the depths of the 1920s and is a definite page-turner. Highly recommended! Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this wonderful book and provide my honest review.

Set in Chicago in a dual timeline we follow Honoree Delacour in the 1920's jazz age, and Sawyer Hayes in 2015 working on his thesis on the 20's jazz age after suffering the loss of his sister. Sawyer finds a connection to Honoree and his thesis and through his grandma's connections to her is able to meet with her to discuss her time with a notable filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.

On paper this had everything I wanted in a novel, Speakeasies, mystery, 1920's....
but something about it never clicked for me. The voices in each narrative were distinct and different which is good in theory. I never got lost in whose voice I was reading, but the dramatically different tone of them made me frequently feel like I was reading two different stories.

The Mystery also sounded promising but I felt it lost steam fairly quickly. It gets set up well and very dramatically and then it is mostly a non-issue for most of the novel. yes the characters think about it but there is not real pressure on the plot from it.

The 'big reveal' wasn't shocking (though.... to its credit I dont know that it was meant to be. This wasn't sold as a thriller with big surprises so its entirely possible that it being so easily guessed was intentional) and largely made me wonder what the point of the story actually was.

What I think were independently two great stories of Honoree's life in the 1920's, and Sawyer overcoming his grief and moving forward with this life, were bogged died by trying to tell one cohesive story. I wanted a lot more of Sawyer's grief and trauma and never got it because we were only got his story as it related to Honoree's.... he was largely a vessel to hear her story which made it feel mostly unimportant.

Overall I do think Bryce is a talented writer, and has amazing ideas but this story didn't work for me

Set in Chicago simultaneously in 1925 and 2015, Wild Women and the Blues sucks the reader into a narrative flush with glimpses of prohibition, chorus girls, segregation, and the mob in its first timeline and strained family relationships, grief, film studies, and the pressures of graduate school in its second.

Honoree Delacour is an impossibly beautiful 19-year-old with an incredible talent for both singing and dancing in chorus lines. She is ambitious and determined to embody everything about the New Negro movement. But every time she gets the break she has worked so hard for, something awful manages to interrupt her progress. "Like a field of dead dandelions popping up to ruin the view, the good and the bad, the back-and-forth kept slouching her way." Miss Honoree is a strong character who demands respect and her due from everyone she meets, most especially male callers. As she lands (and nails) an audition to dance at the Dreamland Cafe where none other than Lil Hardin Armstrong is watching her performance, she knows she is at a turning point.

In 2015, Sawyer Hayes is a young graduate student in film studies looking for the big break he needs to finish up his dissertation. He's a year behind due to a death in the family the previous year, but if the film reel he found in his grandmother's attic is what he thinks it is--a lost Oscar Micheaux film--his dissertation could be well worth the wait. And now he has caught an even bigger break: One of the dancers in the film, Honoree Delacour, is still alive and he just has to get an exclusive interview.

Honoree's story in her 1925 timeline was fascinating and enthralling. There was mystery and adventure around every corner and it was hard to put down. She is a well-developed character that I easily connected with and respected. She's stubborn and fierce and incredible. And if this book had just been Honoree's chapters, it would be an easy five stars for me.

Sawyer's narrative, on the other hand, I struggled to get into. It wasn't that I didn't like Sawyer as a character--he was funny, awkward, and also stubborn and determined. Plagued by a guilt that wasn't his fault, but that he couldn't shake. But his chapters always felt a bit forced and redundant and thin. He would go to see Honoree, she would be stubborn about answering his questions, he would play along until she agreed. Rinse and repeat tomorrow. There are teases of things I would have loved to see explored more in Sawyer's story--his relationship with his sister's ghost and his processing of his grief, more development with his relationship with Lula (or I could do without that piece altogether; it felt a bit out of the blue to me), more about his relationship with his dad and his dad's blaming of him for his sister's death and what notions of responsibility and respectability and success look like in his family dynamics. That all seems like it's there under the surface waiting to be explored, but the book never quite gets there.

There were some aspects of this novel that didn't quite rise to the level of loose ends for me, but definitely did not feel complete. For example, Honoree's claim that Maggie's family is cursed starting with her generation never gets explained. I felt that the main twist of the story fell a little flat because it seemed to me to be inconsistent with some of the earlier hints that were teased about it. The ending also left me with more questions than answers and I think I would have preferred the book without the last 2-3 chapters.

Overall, a very enjoyable read, but I would have strongly preferred to just see it set in 1925 and telling Honoree's story.

Much appreciation to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the eARC in exchange for the review.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Kensington
Pub. Date: April 2, 2021

I disagree with the title. The women were not wild, but rather they were living in wild times working as showgirls. It seems to me that the title is to attract certain readers. Bryce transports us to the1920s with vibrant scenes of the Chicago Jazz Age. She gives the reader a vivid feel of the real-life infamous black neighborhood known as the “Stroll,” which was peppered with nightclubs, pool halls, tattoo parlors, speakeasies, and vaudeville houses. She brings you directly inside the middle of it all. She does a stellar job of filling us in on the early days in the career of the great ‘Satchmo,’ Louis Armstrong. You will feel like a fly on the wall observing how he just loved people.

There is a dual timeline, the roaring twenties and in the recent past. Language and slang for both periods are spot on. In 2015, a male film student is researching Oscar Devereaux Micheaux. In the early 20th century, he was a real-life pioneering, African-American author and film director/producer. The student visits a nursing home to interview a 110-year-old (hard to swallow) woman who was a chorus girl in 1925 and danced in one of Micheaux’s films.

The novel began to lose my interest when the chorus girl witnesses a murder. This is easy to believe considering that the mob ran the club that she worked in. Right here the story morphs into a sort of crime thriller that is heavy on the sappy side. The feel goes from historical fiction to women’s fiction. It is clear from the novel that Bryce is a gifted writer. She has written reviews and articles for NPR. As much as I enjoyed the historical aspects, I do not enjoy romance novels, which “Wild Girls” borders on. If you do and you enjoy reading about the Jazz Age, you should enjoy the entire book.

Reminiscent of The Vanishing Half, I loved reading this historical debut.

While historical fiction is not my favorite genre, there are rare gems that I find every once in a while which I cherish — and Wild Women and the Blues is one of those gems.

Can’t wait to see what Bryce does in the future!

Chicago. The 1920’s. Jazz, gangsters, bootlegging, clubs, dancers and speakeasies blend together in a black neighborhood known as the “Stroll”. Denny S. Bryce transports the reader to the Dreamland Cafe where a young chorus girl Honoree Dalcour diligently dances her evenings with high hopes of climbing the ladder to success. She hobnobs with celebrities such as the young Louis Armstrong and the legendary filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.

Fast forward. 2015. Film student Sawyer Hayes prepares for his documentary thesis on Oscar Micheaux. His research steers him to Chicago and to the bedside of one hundred and ten year old Honoree Dalcour. Honoree is the only link that could help him to find the missing pieces of Oscar’s life. As Honoree will share shares her story bit by bit if Sawyer reveals something about his life. As stories are told and questions are answered, Sawyer will also learn about himself.

This is a great read with an exciting dual timeline. The sights, sounds and wonderful characters jump off the pages as they represent the excitement of the jazz days of Chicago.

I highly recommend this read. A great pick for book clubs as well.

My thanks to NetGalley, Denny S. Bryce and Kensington Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

I loved this! I was very excited to read it ever since I got the arc, and I loved a lot of aspects about it.

Mostly, I loved the characters. The main characters, Sawyer and Honoree, were both great and fleshed our characters. Honestly, I loved Sawyer from chapter one. I loved his awkwardness and bad attempts at flirting, and I really loved his sass. And Honoree... I loved everything about her. She could come across as rude to others, but I loved how she was willing to fight for herself and the things she wanted.

I also really loved the setting. I don’t know how to explain this, but it just felt like... jazz. The story takes place in New Orleans, and it’s historic fiction, so the atmosphere is really interesting, and it feels really authentic.

I cant wait for this book to be released so I can finally get the physical copy!

Wild Women and the Blues is a historical fiction novel set in the jazz-age of 1920s Chicago. This was the age of speakeasys, crime, bootlegging, and gangsters like Al Capone. Honoree Dalcour is a chorus girl dancer trying to make her way to bigger and better stages. Just when she thinks she is getting the big break that she has been looking for, she gets swept up into some drama involving some dangerous people. In 2015, Sawyer Hayes discovers some photos and film that seems to feature Honoree and he has to find answers for his doctoral project. He interviews Honoree, now 110 years old, to see if she can give him anything he can use for his project. This story has a dual timeline, jumping between Honoree's perspective in 1925 and Sawyer's perspective in 2015.

This was an entertaining read with lots of dramatic turns. There is romance, heartbreak, and family drama in this book. I haven't read many books set in this era and it was interesting to see that backdrop from the perspective of black woman. Denny S. Bryce's characters are vivid and full of life in this book. It's a slow-paced story for the first half of the book and the pace picks up in the second half.