Thank you so much NetGalley!! I do not know how to review this book other than saying it was so so good. I see where it is compared to Get Out and The devil wears Prada due to the woman in the workplace but my gosh. This book got my attention and I could not put it down. Thank you so much. I think giving detailed reviews spoil books and I can tell anyone that this is worth reading. When it comes out, read it..so good!

*ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This book was totally and completely unique. The writing and pacing was perfect, with each chapter as well as the letters adding additional intrigue while propelling the story forward in a way that was always clear, even when the reader was in the dark.

The subject matter was incredibly important, focusing on racism within the publishing industry, not just with representation in books themselves (though that is definitely touched on), but behind the scenes, in publishing and editing in particular. Nella, the main character, is the lone Black editing assistant at her publishing house, Wagner books, which she has worked at for ten years. That is, until a new Black assistant, Hazel, is hired, and almost immediately after this, Nella begins receiving threatening notes to leave Wagner. Nella desperately wants to trust Hazel, to have a work friend who understands the lack of racial diversity in their industry, who she can vent to and rely on to back her up, so why does her gut tell her that she can't trust Hazel?

The characters were well-developed and layered, making it extremely enjoyable to pick them and their actions apart in search of everyone's true motives. Each twist and reveal was shocking, some on the side of science fiction, but the book still felt very real and was definitely made better by the fact that, as stated in the acknowledgements, this book was largely based on the author's personal experiences.

I very much enjoyed the fact that the story took place at a publishing house, with the main character, Nella, being an assistant editor. It was a very interesting setting and very enjoyable to read about, especially knowing that Harris herself spent time in editing.

I very much enjoyed this book and think it is an absolutely wonderful debut that will speak to many people, and hopefully open up more dialogue about the importance of diversity in publishing. And if you're looking for a creepy book to keep you on the edge of your seat, The Other Black Girl will fill that need, too.

This book started out strong. We meet Nella Rogers who is the only black employee at the white-dominated publishing house, Wagner. Nella has been working at Wagner for two years and has been consistently trying to push for more diversity in her workplace. So, when another person of colour, Hazel, gets hired, Nella becomes very excited and the two hit it off right away. However, it’s not long before Nella starts receiving anonymous threatening messages that cause the plot to unfold from there.

I thought the micro aggressions and white fragility encounters were really realistic in this book. I was so frustrated at the audacity of some of the characters. Also, I enjoyed reading the sections that included Nella’s best friend and boyfriend; they were well-developed characters that seemed like real people, not just foil characters.

I enjoyed parts of this book, but on the whole I thought the pacing was inconsistent. It dragged on for awhile and then many things snowball towards the end of the novel. I also wasn’t expecting multiple POVs. At first I found it confusing, but they did help add another lens to the story.

With all that said, I will definitely pick up anything else the Zakiya Dalila Harris writes in the future.

Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and the author for an e-ARC of this book!!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley, having requested it following a Bloomsbury Night online event, where it was described as having 'elements of a thriller'. I think that was misleading.

2.5* rounded down. After a prologue set in 1983 where a woman is fleeing New York, most of the narrative is set in the present day of 2018 and concerns Nella, who works (as the only Black woman) at a publishing house called Wagner's. Then another Black woman (or girl), Hazel, is employed, and Nella assumes they will be allies, but that is not how things turn out. Most of the novel is very slow. There are chapters from the perspective of Shani which are initially completely mystifying, but gradually begin to make sense. That is to say they make sense in the context of the completely bonkers revelations in the last 80% of the story.

The author had interesting things to say, but the almost fable-like concluding chapters didn't work for me in a novel which had up to that point read as realism. A half star for the very ending, which was, if you buy into the author's premise, a little chilling...