Jordan Frazier charmingly narrates LeeSha McCoy's White Boyfriend. Nikki’s life is all about pleasing her parents and winning their approval. Hence the nearly perfect boyfriend, a great career, and a gorgeous apartment. But she’s missed out on living her own life while trying to be perfect, losing sight of herself and the life she wants to live. When her “perfect boyfriend” Bron dumps her, she’s left feeling like a failure with no idea who she is without the façade of her perfect—if boring, but comfortable—relationship. Her best friends encourage her to date and open herself to new experiences. Embarking on a journey of self-discovery, she goes with the flow. Then she meets Mike, a sweet, laid-back, white guy to whom she’s surprisingly attracted—a first for her— despite having nothing in common with him. Right, when they start dating, Bron wants a second chance. Can Nikki find the perfect man if she doesn’t know herself first?

Frazier’s lively, emotional narration perfectly complements McCoy’s humorous, sexy, and emotional novel of self-discovery and interracial dating. She brilliantly brings Nicola’s story to life with distinct voices for each character, capturing their personalities, moods, and emotions. I love Frazier’s narration for Nikki and her friends most, but she also does a great job with the male characters. Additionally, her skill with accents is superb.

McCoy’s description is colorful, and her characters are relatable and nicely developed. A workaholic planner who plays it safe, Nikki is a strong, independent, Black woman with a positive outlook on life. Unfortunately, because of her controlling, judgmental parents, Nikki’s also a people pleaser who rarely does things that make her happy or just for fun. I like Nikki and her friends. But I love her relationships with them and how they support her. Their relationships and conversations feel authentic. The scenes between Nikki and her friends and her scenes with Mike are excellently written. Free-spirited Mike, who lives only for today, teaches her about being in the moment, having fun, and not caring what people think. He’s a calming presence who balances and supports Nikki, encouraging her to take risks. I love Nikki and Mike’s friendship, outings, banter, conversations, and interactions before and after becoming romantically involved. They’re sweet, funny, intimate, and sexy. McCoy’s characters confront interracial dating issues and stereotypes head-on, which is cool. I didn’t love the ending, but I can see why it most suited Nikki’s evolution.

White Boyfriend is a funny, sweet, insightful, emotional, and engaging novel about a woman’s journey of discovering who she is and what she wants out of her life, free from others’ expectations and control.

Oh god, it's sucks when I dislike a book.
first of all I have to say one thing I really liked about this book was Nikkie's relationship with her friends and the support they gave her. Also loved the self developments Nikkie achieved during the story. It was powerful and inspiring.
but...
I think the title and the description is a bet misleading, this is not a rom-com, it's a women fiction about a woman in her journey of finding her self and enjoying life. I felt absolutely no chemistry between the main character and the male character, Mike. It felt weird and forced. and Mike himself... yeah I didn't like him.
one other thing that I had a kinda problem with was the constant discussion about sex and sex toys between the main character and her friends. It was odd and TOO much! on the other hand, on the sex scenes everything just faded and went black. I mean, balance! and I saw a few reviewers who had the same problem with it
also I didn't really like the ending. everything was aiming for a good ending and then, I just don't know what happened.

thanks to NetGallery for providing my copy.
this review will be published on NetGallery and Goodreads.

Nikki just got out of a long term relationship, and now along with the advice of her best friends, she is ready to find exactly who she really is and make her own path by creating new experiences and taking new chances.

I genuinely enjoyed this book. It was fun, well paced, an interesting story and for the first time in a while, I actually wanted to be reading it the whole way though. I really enjoyed the characters and reading about a group of strong girls from the start was actually pretty refreshing to me. I wish these girls were my friends, I learnt just enough about all of them to make me really like them all. I kind of wish there was a book about each one of them as well. I would be first in line to read that!

I will admit the slogan in the title is a little bit misleading as I don’t think it needs to lean into gaining the attention with the romance part of the story. It has so much substance and the story is more than exciting enough just being framed as a powerful woman’s fiction. But that’s my only criticism, which is in fact not a criticism about the book. It was a really enjoyable read. Would definitely recommend to contemporary fans who just like and easy girl supporting girls story

While I liked the idea of this book, a lot of it is messy - and I don't just mean the relationships.
The story is intended to be a celebration of a young woman discovering herself outside the bonds of romantic relationships and parental expectations. Main character Nikki does learn about what she enjoys and wants, but she can't seem to do it without the context of a relationship. The messages throughout the book are conflicting and not always healthy - her friends want her to spend time focusing on herself, but also want her to immediately jump into the dating pool. I appreciated the sex positivity of the story! but it also felt oddly sex focused for a story about self-discovery.
Unfortunately, the writing style doesn't help the story at all. It is all telling and no showing, very plainly written and overflowing with slang. Often the story feels like a self-help book masquerading as fiction - Nikki takes up yoga and meditation, spends time outdoors, and focuses on eating "good" food. While some of those things are great, they're very cliche hobbies for a character who is rediscovering herself.
There are wonderful parts of this book, and many of them are Nikki's friends. I love stories with people (especially women) supporting and loving one another. Their close relationships are obvious, from the group text threads to vacations together. They seem like so much fun!
Nikki's relationship with her parents is the best written relationship in the whole story. Her chafing under their expectations and fear of being honest with them felt very believable. Sometimes parents have a difficult time accepting that their children may make decisions they won't agree with, and that situation was depicted in all its awful reality. Though he didn't get much page time, I appreciated the small glimpse of Nikki's brother and the great relationship he and Nikki share.
Jordan Frazier has a lovely voice and gave an excellent performance for this audiobook. Listening to this one is a great choice if you have the option!
I could definitely see this book turning into a series, taking turns featuring the many people introduced in these pages.

I think I just read an audiobook in my personal best record. I was graciously given a copy of this book by Net Galley and Bookouture Audio the day before it was set to be archived. Yep, you heard it correctly. I listened to this book in less than 24 hours.

That being said, while I consumed this book really quickly, it was also written in a quick format. The writer didn't waste time developing a relationship with the past relationship of the MC as it was never intended for them to last. Some might find that difficult to grasp because they anticipate the ex will be the set up for the third breakup act. That would be the case if this were a romance. Hence my confusion. I'll be honest, I didn't read the description. *slaps forehead* This book women's fiction with romantic plotlines. AH HA! Well that makes all the difference. Don't get me wrong, as women's fiction it hits the mark but as a romance it misses. This is where reading is fundamental.

Now that I can wrap my mind around this being a women's fiction, I can fully lean into my fangirling of the friendship. This group of friends is what kept this book afloat for me. I absolutely adored them. There was so much spoken and unspoken support that leapt off the pages. They respected each others boundaries and the main character understood that her friends had lives of their own. So when someone couldn't make it to a yoga class or had to care for their children there was no drama. Her friends never feared to share their opinion but always did it with love and compassion. They helped her moved, took a vacation with her, recommended yoga and toys, they cared for her well being. Reading this during women's history month felt so right as it showcase the power and necessity of female friendships!

Another thing that truly worked in this book's favor was the narrator, Jordan Fraizer. Her voice soothed me and felt authentic as only a black woman's voice portraying a black female main character could. She juggled the different voices of the character rather well. Nic sounded different from Alicia, who sounded different from Chi who sound different from Kelly. I appreciated the authors navigation of familiar obligations and working for the satisfaction of others rather than yourself. Nicola's life is very relatable. Living your life on autopilot happens and falling into a semblance of complacency felt a little too familiar for me. I was a little triggered by the "independent" term.

Now I've mentioned how this book isn't truly a romance but uses the "romance" to build the themes of self discovery. However everything about her relationship with Mike worked to grind my gears. There was not an ounce of chemistry. I couldn't figure out why on earth she became so wrapped up in him just from looking at him when his looks were even played up. If she had focused on his physical attraction and said he looked like David Beckham or Bradley Cooper then I would understand. However I didn't picture this one bit. In addition, what sparked him to pursue her so heavily on the first day? The only thing I was left to think was he had a fetishization. I hate to say it but so there was so much focus on the town he was raised, his previous relationship with black women and his irritation at being quested about it. Something just didn't sit right with me about it.

Lastly, I feel that you should be warned as well. This book is fade to black. This can be a big frustration for adult readers. Don't build me up to let me down. This book introduced a lot of sexual concepts and pleasure only to be a tease. It was very upsetting as a person who reads romances and sees the value in healthy sexual relationships. However this again brings me back to this is more women's fiction rather than romance. Not to be misconstrued, spice is not necessary to be a romance and this story wasn't made for smut but with the discussion being so focused on "praying" there was no payoff.

I really enjoyed this book, which is an inspirational women's fiction/romance novel about a woman called Nikki, who has to find herself again after her boyfriend splits up with her. After being controlled by her parents, and other aspects of her life, she seeks to find her freedom, and to learn who she really is. Her friends help her to do this, as well as a lovely man called Mike. She has a lot of fun along the way, and I enjoyed reading about her adventure, especially that of her tarot reading, and her yoga and meditation journey.

The audiobook narrator was perfect for the book, and I found her easy to listen to. She had a nice voice, with a nice accent, which suited Nikki perfectly.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read. An over bearing dad, who wanted his daughter to get back with her boyfriend that dumbed her. She stands up for herself to her parents and may have a new man in her life

This is a book about a person with control over their life but not. This is the book where you fall in love and then hate and then comprehend the hate and finally do not know what to do with yourself

The author did a great job narrating a story so complete to let you know you can not take life for granted.

I hope and definitely need to have book 2 about Nikky. I beg to have this book 2. This heart of mine is broken but my womanhood is so proud.

For all the above said I am giving a five-star rating to the author for such a great job, and obviously a big thanks!

This ARC was granted to me through NetGalley and approved by Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

“White Boyfriend” is a first time by LeeSha McCoy, new author to this reader. My anticipation of listening to this story was set on high, however it was a medium enjoy. It had a good plot; however, I think the narration was a bit off for me. There were laughable moments and a few sub-characters that were nice additions to the story.

The story…Nikki breaks up with Bron who send her into an emotional rollercoaster. She tries to make sense of the breakup but have parents who can’t grasp what has happened and have their own expectations of what her life should be like, thus thinking they can fix everything. She has a group of friends that have mixed thoughts on her situation and talks her into taking a yoga class where she meets Mike, who is white. Her relationship with Mike takes a slow-burn kind of affect where she comes to terms with herself and finds love in the process. Is this a rom-com book…I should say not so much but it does introduce how you can re-discover yourself after a bad breakup. In addition, I couldn't get into the story ending this way as I was anticipating another direction. Fell a bit short at the end. Narration was done by Jordan Frazier was good but not great. I like this author and plan to re-read without the narration to see if my thoughts on the story would be different.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for this audio ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you for providing an ARC (audiobook) for me to review. I do want to say as an avid audiobook reader one of the most important things is the narration style. I got 3 minutes into this audiobook and had to turn it off because it was giving me a headache! If I tried to go on anything besides 1x the speed there would be a weird echo. The narrator sounded like she was holding a microphone far away. I will just have to wait to read this in hard copy because the audiobook is not for me

Giving two stars because I have to provide a star rating and it is unfair to review a book I have not fully read. For now I had to DNF the audiobook.

3 stars

Unfortunately, I wanted to like this one more than I actually did. It wasn’t terrible; it made me smile and chuckle a few times, which was nice. I was kind of back-and-forth on my feelings about the protagonist, and I didn’t care too much for either of her love interests. I did love her friends, though; they were a great mix of interesting side characters. In terms of the plot itself, it seems I keep picking up rom-coms with rather unconventional endings…in real life, I’m a big fan of people taking whatever time they need (months, years, whatever) to get to know and be happy with themselves, but honestly, if I pick up something that I think is going to be a rom-com, I really do want a traditional (read: romantic) happy ending. It wasn’t a bad conclusion, and the protagonist deserved better (or at least, different) than both of her in-story partners, but it just wasn’t what I wanted. Fun concept, some good writing, and generally good story, just not quite what I was hoping for or expecting here.

I don’t think it’s a secret to say I don’t read a lot of Romance novels, but i am working to fulfill the prompts for the 2022 PopSugar Reading Challenge and one of the prompts is to read a romance novel by a BIPOC author.

I was drawn into the story early on when the main characters boyfriend dumps her in unexpectedly. She goes on a journey to heal and discover who she is as a single woman. Then along comes a white guy she meets at yoga. They have chemistry and the book follows them as they get to know each other.

There is a lot of talking and joking about spicy topics, but the doors are closed when things get hot. This book is about friends who always have your back, features a strong sibling relationships, and also has parent drama galore! As indicated by the title, this book looks at race and how it can impact dating.

Overall, the book was enjoyable, but the ending was a little flat for me. I think it was maybe trying to do too many things at once.

I listened to this one on audio, and enjoyed the narrator. Thanks to an AudioARC provided to be by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to listen to this book in return for an honest review.
Synopsis
If you can’t love yourself, how are you going to love anybody else? A sweet, funny, feel-good page-turner about getting your groove back.

Nikki has it all—a great career, a gorgeous apartment and a boyfriend who is basically perfect. Okay, maybe things have grown a little too comfortable… but Nikki can handle it if it means keeping hot and wholesome Bron in her life.

Then the unthinkable happens and Bron walks out, leaving Nikki feeling like a total failure. They were supposed to have marriage and babies… but instead she’s got a guilty conscience, pissed-off parents who just want her to win him back and the realization that without “Nikki-and-Bron” to hide behind, she has no idea who she really is.

Desperate to pull her out of her slump, best friends Alicia and Chay embark on a mission to help Nikki find Nikki again… by tossing her straight back into the dating pool. There she meets Mike – sweet, laid-back and the first white guy she’s ever been with. There’s no doubt there’s some serious chemistry between them, but is becoming part of Mike’s world taking Nikki even further away from herself?

Then Bron unexpectedly comes knocking, just as things are getting serious with Mike, and the rule book goes right out the window…

This feel-good read about finding yourself is perfect for fans of How to Be Single, Just the Way I Am and Spoiler Alert.

We meet Nikki broken by a break up with Bron who’s really done quite a number on her emotionally and upped and left her alone and confused. Add in to the mix the complex relationship with her parents who have their expectations set high for Nikki, and are obviously disappointed and set on “fixing” her problems.
Luckily for Nikki she has a brilliant friendship group (the holiday scenes are hilarious) desperate to get her mojo back, they want to get her back into dating and talk her into yoga where she meets the lovely Mike, it’s a slow burn to say the least, but it looks like she’s found love and found herself.
I’d say this is a book, so much more about self discovery than romance or rom-com. But as the info suggests “if you don’t love yourself, how you gonna love somebody else. Really enjoyed this. Well written, and narrated brilliantly.

I was very pleased to get the ARC of White Boyfriend by author LeeSha McCoy on Netgalley because the cover and the summary were very cute. I didn't dislike the book, but I'm a bit annoyed that it was marketed incorrectly. Before I requested, I looked at the goodreads longer summary, and it says "Romantic Comedy," which is further supported by the trendy illustrated cover and the title. I was fully ready for a fun, possibly insightful look into interaccial dating. This was absolutely NOT a romance, no Happily Ever After = Not Romance.

This is Women's Fiction, a coming-of-age story of a woman being blindsided by a break-up and embarking on a journey of discovery, learning to stand up for herself... with little splash interracial dating. The title makes so little sense because it's barely about the white "boyfriend" at all. This is all about Nikki, who is literally in the middle of a metamorphosis, complete with yoga and self-help books.

And while I felt for Nikki and her struggle of being made to feel like a huge disappointment to highly demanding and judgemental god-fearing parents, I just wanted to shake her and tell her to grow a pair already! She had almost no backbone, and she doesn't really get any to the very last abrupt chapter. Seriously at 27 years old, she has been out of their home for so long. She is successful in her field, and she's allowing her father to treat her with such blatant disrespect?

I also found how sex was handled in this book to be so weird because she has this wonderful and sexually open group of friends (her crew is probably one of the best parts of the book). They discuss all nature of sexual acts, and you have a whole section of the book where she buys an array of toys. She even explicitly masturbates on page... But then when it comes down to it, her and the romantic lead, Mike (have almost no chemistry, btw), the nitty-gritty it is fade-to-black. It felt like a huge missed opportunity because you have the build-up of Nikki coming to terms with the weird religious shame and the restrictive nature of her sexual relationship with her ex... Then she's with the new guy, and we don't see it all come to fruition. I believe that not all romances need explicit sex and occasionally books could use less of it and more relationship/self-building. However, if a huge part of the book is sexual awakening and overcoming those hang ups, and you have been super explicit discussions of sex and self love then why the hell was there no actual sex with her boo?

I've read in the reviews that apparently this book has been changed and edited but it comes out next week and I'm sure this is the final iteration and to see it still listed as a rom-com is kind of annoying.