Oof, I was thisclose to dnf'ing this one but so glad I didn't. I'm gonna need a palate cleanser after that tho. So dark, so hard, so heartbreaking. Altho a very different story, this novel and character voice reminds me of Shuggie Bain. Gorgeous, lyrical writing that you could almost smell.

I received an e-ARC through NetGalley.

Readers who liked The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, and Dear Martin, by Nic Stone, will appreciate this story. It is written with the same honesty and grit. The story will make readers uncomfortable - there were several times where I had to put the novel down to digest what I was reading, and return to it later. However, it is a story that I truly believe everyone should read. This is Leila Mottley’s first novel, and I cannot wait to see what she writes next. There will definitely be more from her.

This review will be posted on June 1, 2022 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

This author is one to watch! Kiara has too many burdens, too many responsibilities, too many pressures for a kid her age. And, that's what she is: a child. She's a child forced to act and think like a grownup. This is not a story to binge read. It demands time and attention. Parts are extremely difficult to read. Kiara's story unfolds slowly, unfolding layer by layer like a blooming flower. You are in her brain the whole time. You are seeing the world from her perspective. Like her, you're left questioning the abuse of police power and who is there to protect vulnerable Black, Brown, and trans women and girls - and those who exist and live at the intersection. The story ends with two moments of joy and love, which Kiara desperately needs and deserves. I know I'll be thinking about her and wondering if she's still experiencing joy and love for the rest of my life. #Nightcrawling Rating: 4.5 of 5 ⭐️
•
This book is scheduled for publication on June 7, 2022. Thank you @aaknopf for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warning: sexual assault and exploitation, police brutality.

This book knocked me over. The subject matter is very difficult. The story follows 17 year old Kiara as she struggles to take care of herself, her older brother, and her ten year old neighbor who has been abandoned by his mother. After failing to convince her brother to abandon his musical pursuits in favor of a steady job, Kiara tries to get a job at a strip club. She’s turned down because of her age but is served sympathy drinks by her friend who bartends there. A patron later pursues her and sexually assaults her, then pays her. With this experience she begins to work as a sex worker. She experiences horrific abuse from the police, culminating in a public scandal, all the while struggling to protect her brother and neighbor/surrogate little brother.

This book touches on so many important themes, most critically the adultification of Black children and the way young Black women are expected to sacrifice themselves to protect Black men. Also, of course, central to the book is the absolute absurdity of a system that criminalizes sex work and I’m so doing empowers cops to brutalize those who engage in it. The writing is fantastic, both lyrical and hauntingly blunt. Leila Mottley was seventeen when she started writing this book, which is absolutely mind blowing. I will read anything she ever publishes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. This is a pretty harrowing story about a family that is quickly disintegrating. Kiara is on the edge of eighteen when she’s violently brought into prostitution on the streets of Oakland. He mother is in a halfway house, her uncle has become a rapper in Los Angeles and avoids them and her brother is chasing the dream of being a rapper too, but is selling too many drugs to pay for studio time. This might be too grim if it weren’t for the amazing internal voice of Kiara’s that is our guide and we root for her in a twisted system that seems to only make her life worse, except for the few people she finds that truly love her.

I was halfway through this book before I read the introduction and realized the author was only 17 when she began writing it (!). Mottley is the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate, and I thought her poetic style came across in her descriptive writing. This is definitely not an easy read, subject-wise, but that should be obvious if you know anything at all about the plot. However, the novel was easy to read in that it was propulsive and kept me turning the pages, though I found the overall pacing to be a bit uneven. The second half of the book felt vastly different from the first. I am interested to see what Mottley writes next.

This is a stunning book that I just wasn't really expecting it to be! I was engrossed in the story the entire time and I cannot believe that this is the author's debut novel! I will definitely be recommending this to everyone to pick up a copy once it comes out. I cannot wait to read the next book that the author writes! Thanks so much for letting me read and review early!

Nightcrawling a Novel by Leila Mottley.

Wow! Leila Mottley hits it out of the park with her debut novel Nightcrawling. The writing is hard, profoundly honest, eye opening, and poetic. The emotions/thoughts of the main character are so exacting, it reads as a true story. Definitely a must read for fans of Angie Thomas and Tayari Jones. This book is definitely going to be an award winner. I already have this book listed on my favorites of 2022.

What can you do? How would your life be? How would you conquer the challenges in front of you if your father was dead, your mother in prison, your older brother playing pretend as he believes he’ll be the next rap star all the while your months behind on rent, the eviction notice flapping on the door alongside the notice of rent increase, you have little food, and not even a working lock on your front door?

Thank you to Netgalley & Knopf Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Urban life fiction is not my usual reads but Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley sounded too good to pass up. Based on true scandals and events, it most certainly proved to be an enlightening and compelling read. Not only was it different from my mostly easy reads with happily-ever-after this one was anything but an easy read or easy life for the main character Kiara.

Original voice telling a story that we all need to know. Well-written with painfully well-developed characters both good and despicable ones. Through Kiara we don’t just learn about life on the streets of Oakland, we experience it. Wouldn’t be a bit surprising if this becomes require college reading.

An ARC of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Kiara lives in a run down apartment in Oakland, CA. She's 17 and lives with her brother. This book is simply stunning. Gritty, jaw dropping and oh so well written. It is based on a true story, though Kiara is not a true character. Just shocking. I plan to tell anyone & everyone about this book. Thank you so much!

One of the most gorgeous books I think I've ever read.

This is the story of a young Black girl, Kiara, who does everything she can to survive a life stacked against her and to help those she loves. She's seventeen, living with a mostly absent older brother. They're both jobless and the rent is going up. Her neighbor's child is up to her to take care of if she wants to see him safe and loved. So she does the only thing she thinks she can to stay housed and fed. The decisions she makes quickly tow her under and threaten to drown her completely.

This book is more poetry than prose and it's beautifully done. The author has this way of making you feel every single thing the MC feels without always explicitly stating what's happening. It's atmospheric and moving and emotional. The complex relationships were beautiful, the ending was unbearably realistic. I wanted to be able to hold Kiara's hand every step of the way. Knowing this is based in truth, that situations like this must happen every day made everything all the worse.

I took this book slowly but it's not a slow read. It jumps right at you and when I set to finishing it, the story was over before I thought it could be. The tension is fraught throughout but nothing of the book felt overdone. I appreciated how vibrant the setting and each of the characters were. I loved the way the author gave us all the good and bad of each person.

I would recommend to those that have enjoyed books like My Dark Vanessa or Grown or the prose of Honey Girl.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

TW: sex-work, sexual assault (of a minor), addiction, police violence, child negligence, suicide attempt, death of a child, human trafficking

Kaila, a seventeen-year-old young lady is too young to be legitimately hired so she turns to the age-old profession of sex worker. She is dismissively assumed to be a druggie but as she tearfully tells her friend Ale, “I’m hungry.” Her father is dead and her mother is in prison so it falls to her to take care of her brother who is keeping bad company and Trevor, the 10-year-old boy she has known all her life. The basics of rent and food are hard to come by and she doesn’t want to work for a john so ends up being the “darling” of the Oakland police department. They weren’t reliable about paying her which would have gone a long way toward food and rent.

She ends up being tried in a grand jury trial as a sex worker. She is represented by a blonde blue eyed lawyer who took the pro bono case, looking to make a name for herself. Marsha wasn’t permitted to be present during the trial which I absolutely didn’t understand, so Kaila continues to be a teen fending for herself.

The DA demands to know why she didn’t tell the cops that she was a minor. She says, “Because they saw me. I was lying there and they looked me in my eyes and they knew. They knew and they kept them eyes open the whole time, staring at me while they had sex with me, like that only made it better. Because they looked at me and they saw how small I was. I was a child.”

Kiara Johnson is a 17-year-old high school dropout with no job prospects, a brother who’s more interested in chasing fame than helping out, the threat of rising rent and an abandoned 10-year-old boy she’s taken under her wing. With so much on her ill-equipped shoulders, she turns to the streets to make some money and falls headlong into the broken justice system.

This book is heavy. Mottley’s writing is lyrical and poetic, lulling you in with its cinematic visuals only to punch you in the gut. This book hurt my soul, but it was also so filled with beauty and humanity and small pockets of joy. It is astounding that Mottley began writing this at only 17 and I look forward to her long career of breaking our hearts.

The only family they can count on, Kiara and her brother, Marcus are trying to make ends meet in a neglected apartment in East Oakland. But with the rent doubling, the nine year old boy next door abandoned, and Marcus clinging to dreams of making it in the rap game, Kiara is struggling to support them all. With the walls closing in, Kiara stumbles into the world of nightcrawling and right into the path of officers of the OPD.

With everyday leading her further and further from the life and family she craves, Kiara must decide what and who is worth fighting for.

What this novel delves into: Misogyny, poverty, and disrespect. The criminalization and exploitation of Black children. The utter failure of the "justice" system. The GLARING lack of protection for Black girls and women.

NIGHTCRAWLING takes readers on an emotional ride as Kiara navigates taking ownership for present circumstances the best way she can while hoping for the security of love and family. None of this was new to me, but focused through the lens of Kiara's experience, NIGHTCRAWLING also showcases the vulnerability, love, determination, and devotion it takes a young Black girl to keep fighting. If you want a book that's going to make you feel some things, this is it.

The writing was interesting. The imagery and emotions were visceral. I liked it, but it seemed to fit more with poetry than narrative fiction. Kiara's inner monologue was so good and the metaphors and descriptions of scenes and interactions were almost lyrical, but sometimes that pulled away from what was actually happening in the story.

The story does slow down towards the end. I'm not interested in legal/court room drama, so this section dragged for me. But, overall NIGHTCRAWLING is a solid debut and I will definitely be checking out more from Mottley in the future.

For some people, the world is so tilted that there are few options for survival left, and they fall into situations because they have no choice. Kiara’s (and Trevor’s) story is so desperately sad, and as much as I wanted to put this book down at times, I was compelled to keep going. I think this book will stay with me for a while, and I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nightcrawling is Leila Mottley's debut book and she blew me away!
Her voice and the way she described her characters and the setting so poetically even during the most darkest of times really gut punched me. This wasn't a book that I could relate to the characters all that well, but the content was relevant and was eye opening. This is a book that pulls you in, is dark, real and raw and one in which you can really see what is happening and feel the emotions of the protagonist. It isn't a happy book, but one where it sheds light on what is happening right in front of you while you are turning a blind eye.

Kiara is a 17 year old young Black woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders. She lives with her older brother Marucs in a seedy part of Oakland. One where it is filled with drugs and parents that aren't around. Their father is dead, their mother is locked up in a halfway house and Marcus is trying to make it as a rapper. With no money coming in, Kiara feels it is her duty to make ends meet. AT 17!!!! Marcus may be the older brother and who she was left with, but she is the caretaker. Not only of her brother, but a young boy, Trevor that has been left on his own because his mother is addicted to drugs.

With no one to help them survive and make ends meet, Kiara keeps looking for work but with no experience, she turns to the streets. The streets that have raised her and taken away so much of her life. She sees it as an easy way to make money and one where she can just sell her body, but not her soul. Kiara ends up entangled in a world that should have been looking out for her and instead it takes and takes from her, abuses her and then changes her forever.

Nightcrawling was a deeply upsetting book that kept me turning the pages. Did I like what I read? Not particularly, but was it well done? 100% yes. Leila Mottley has a unique voice and captures a community with her storytelling. The story itself while fiction is based on real events and for that aspect alone makes this story even more disturbing. This will be a book that won't sit right with many, but I hope people take a chance on it. It is filled with pain, violence and brutal honestly, but also so much love and empathy. I cannot wait to see what else Ms Mottley writes in the future.

A young new talent, Leila Mottley pulls no punches in this portrait of a teenage girl in East Oakland struggling to keep herself, her brother, and others in her orbit safe and healthy in an inhospitable environment. Mottley doesn't flinch from the hard choices available to her protagonist, and vividly captures the world she is born into.

I did not expect this book to be so dark. A very painful read with lyrical prose and a heartbreaking theme. Just sad

3.5 stars

A heartbreaking story of a girl who finds herself let down by every around her. After doing everything in her power to secure a job and keep a roof over her head, Kiara finds herself on the streets to make money. With no one to rely on, she bounces from one dangerous situation to the next and ends up being abused by the very same people that should have protected her. It is a painful read and knowing that this book was based on a real story was crushing. But it is a necessary story that everyone should read if we truly hope to change the future.

Nightcrawling is a heart-wrenching book describing how the justice system fails to help quite a few people and directly leads to the destruction of so many lives. Kia is simply trying to survive and the police make it worse in her case. She is forced to walk the streets of Oakland due to extremely difficult circumstances but her encounters with police who should have protected this vulnerable girl in the first place spirals to brutality for her.

The writing keeps the readers hooked all the way. This was the kind which I initially thought too slow for me but suddenly I noticed I was up at 70% so I was surprised how quickly I was into the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Knopf for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.