Black Girls Must Have It All

I found this book to be interesting. Without having read the other two books in this I series this book was my first encounter with the main character, Tabby. Initially I felt a little lost because there wasn’t much backstory. I felt a bit rushed to catch up to Tabby at this point of her life and to understand the book from where it is. Once there I found her to be a woman with a lot going on but still a woman full of options. Options many women wished they had. I was please to see Tabby weigh her options and stand up for herself when necessary. Overall my opinion is in order to fully appreciate this book you should probably read the full series. Thank you Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

A satisfying end to this series featuring a strong Black woman trying to figure out how to juggle love, success at work and now new motherhood.

Picking up where the last book left off, we see Tabby feeling overwhelmed as a single mother, co-parenting with her daughter's father. They're managing to juggle schedules (and families) but new career opportunities have Tabby questioning what she wants out of life and whether she wants to give Marc a second chance.

I loved how the book ended with Tabby getting her own show while also showing how exhausting it is (for all women) to balance career ambitions with family/personal lives. Good on audio too narrated by Marcella Cox. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

(Bonus, this was another GORGEOUS cover!! I swear I'm obsessed with floral designs like this one!)

Many thanks to my friends at @harperperrenial and @tlcbooks for this #gifted copy.

The baby is here! We’ve journeyed with Tab through relationships, fertility, career… and now we get to meet the little bundle. The next generation of Black Girls has arrived.

This last installment of the series takes on a different style than the previous two. In the trenches of new motherhood, much of the storyline is an internal dialogue as Tabby finds her footing.

First time moms will find Tabatha’s struggles deeply relatable, especially ones grappling with an ever evolving career scene. Even ten years after the newborn timeframe, I was easily transported back in time, remembering the overwhelming love alongside the challenges and doubts. Walker well captures the nuances of being a first time mom.

While relatable, the new mother inner dialogue displaced some of the things I loved in the previous two books. The other two in the series read more like a slice of life… walking in Tabatha’s stilettos as she navigates girlfriends and community.

In my opinion, this book boiled her life back too far, and it made me long for the Tabitha I had come to know. I particularly missed the deep threads of sisterhood and comradery within her girl gang (Alexis and Laila) in this book. Where this book excelled at being inside Tabby’s head, it lacked in relationships and dialogue.

If you haven’t started this series yet, make sure to begin with book one. This series needs to be read in order for maximum enjoyment. Also, Granny Tab is not to be missed.

While this isn’t my favorite of the series, it’s definitely worth reading. I’ll be interested to see what Allen does next.

This made for a fun discussion and buddy read with my friend @wellred.bookclub.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. I was anxiously awaiting this release, so I was excited to receive a copy of this book to review a little early to get a head start.

While I think this was a solid book, the beginning of this book started off a little slow, and I was unsure the purpose of the storyline and where the author was going. I was also a little confused with Tabby and what it was that she wanted. As I continued to read the book I discovered that I was confused about what Tabby wanted because SHE was confused about what she wanted!

In the prior stories Tabby thought she knew who she was -- and what she wanted out of life. And basically, she would do anything to get what it was that she wanted. However, when she unexpectedly got what she wanted she didn't know what to do with it ; or if it was even what she wanted. Becoming a mother changed things for her, and everything that made sense before and everything she thought she had figured out was now a struggle for her. It was clear that she couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew this wasn't the life that she wanted and there was more for her out there.

Towards the end I got it -- and so did she.

It was a good read, and a good conclusion to this series of books.

In this book Tabitha finally has the baby she wants and a very supportive village including her child's father Marc, her best friends, and her mom. This was more about Tabitha’s journey through motherhood and learning to trust her own instincts. It was a nice ending to the trilogy, but it wasn’t my favorite of the three books. Check out the series for yourself!

the tale of tabby comes to an end, and while we have our conclusion to a tumultuous beginning, i don't feel nearly as fulfilled by the characters arc as i would like.

i enjoyed that tabitha finally had the one thing she wanted since the first book, being her beautiful baby girl and the chance at being a mother. i enjoyed listening to the realistic struggles of navigating motherhood and the many insecurities that plague a new mom who holds her heart outside of her body in the form of a newborn. as someone who has never had children and never intends to, while i might not be able to connect with her feelings, they felt poignant and real. tabitha's struggle for balance is also something that feels part of this

there are many other aspects of the story that i do have a harder time reconciling with, starting with the friendship between tabitha, laila, and alexis. the amount of judgement alexis has towards laila feels over-the-top throughout all 3 books and makes me wonder if she even truly considers her a friend. she lacks empathy for her plights simply because she doesn't conform to the same life plan as tabitha and alexis. even though they come together to help in her business venture, it rarely feels like something done from love as much as a duty. throughout it all, it never feels like tabitha uses her voice to combat it and even when she does, is verbally slapped down from it. the friendship that started off strong in the first book, feels like a shadow of it in this one and is one of the weakest aspects of her supportive village.

then, there's the back and forth with her relationship with marc. where clear boundaries should have been put down, as a reader, i felt as if the entire story was tabitha playing hot and cold with him up to the 90% mark of the book. considering it was clearly stated from book 1 that she felt she had outgrown the relationship after it dissolved from the picture she painted in her mind, to see her push and pull and play around with his feelings throughout was very aggravating, especially towards the end when he was dealt his own heavy blow. a heavy blow that was made even more frustrating when tabitha didn't take the same consideration for him as she would have wanted in book one with her own family turmoil. it truly blew my mind at how much her feet dragged and excuses came to the surface when it really dwindled down to career or family.

speaking of family, it felt as if her family was put on the back burner, the development that had happened over 2 books becoming fodder. granted, it would be difficult to fit everything into the final installment, but they were props in this one. from her half-sisters, to her stepmother, her father, her own mother... the time spent on these characters were minimal in comparison to the amount of time spent building marc's mother into such a judgemental entity that takes up nearly half of the book.

i won't even get into the one-off of tabitha suddenly wishing she had given the one that got away another chance, despite not feeling the chemistry and then becoming jealous when he shows interest in another. it felt ridiculously small in comparison to the rest of the story. her career that she fought for, felt like something that she was chained to rather than enjoyed. and when given an out, one that i felt as a reader she would have been far happier with and had more freedom with, she chose to stay with a workplace that undervalued her— as she reminded us from book one to this one.

this read just wasn't what i would have liked as an end and even if it's written as if she ends up with it all, it didn't feel like these characters would really still be in one another's life a year out, let alone from book one to now. which, if you've gotten this far, begs the question: how did it get 4 stars?

despite the messiness of it all coming together in the final installment, it is a messiness that speaks to someone and likely holds a mirror to many a reader's face to ask: don't you see yourself? your own biases. your own judgements. i feel like there's something there in the foundation of it all that's worthy of 4 stars. it just depends on what you choose to take from it.

This is the last book of the Black Girls Must trilogy, following Black Girls Must Die Exhausted and Black Girls Must Be Magic. The cover for this one is absolutely beautiful - and very similar to the gorgeous covers of the previous books! Thank you to Harper Perennial for sharing an eARC with me via NetGalley as an #oliveinfluencer in exchange for my honest opinion.
This was my first time reading an ebook from the series, as I've listened to both of the previous books. It’s been over a year since I finished book 2, but I was able to remember right where that one had ended! Picking right up where Black Girls Must Be Magic ends, Tabby has delivered baby Evie, and she is figuring out balancing life as a new mother on top of her previous identifiers. The reader sees Tabby struggle to interact with her almost-mother-in-law and Evie’s father, as well as her struggle to maintain her friendships and her situation at work. These struggles play out realistically, up until the ending.
I’ve enjoyed this series because it’s given me a chance to read and view life through the eyes of a protagonist who is culturally different from me. I had a difficult time connecting with the main character in this one because motherhood is one of the central themes, as it was in the previous books, and I am not a mother. I was also frustrated that Tabby was dealing with some of the same frustrations/feelings regarding Marc which I thought she’d figured out a few books back!
If you haven’t read this series, I think it’s worth checking out - and I think it’s almost mandatory to start reading from book 1 in order for everything to make sense. Let me know if you read it and want to discuss it!

Drum Roll Please… the final installment of Jayne Allen’s trilogy is here! I was so excited to read this one, I missed Tabby.

And let me just say this book did not disappoint. Tabitha “Tabby” Walker has grown in so many ways since the birth of her daughter Evie. Tabby now questions her future and what she really wants out of life. With the help of her support system Tabby is able to transition into motherhood ( despite the highs and lows), save her career at KVTV and learn how to balance everything in between. Ultimately deciding to live her life on her terms! I won’t spoil it for you but Tabby has a major victory in the end!
In addition, I loved that this book highlighted the importance of mental health (especially postpartum) mending relationships, and self-care.

Where to begin with this review?
This is the final book of the Black Girls Must.. series, and is the conclusion to Tabitha's journey.

This book picks up where the second one left off, right after Tabitha gives birth.
Tabitha's approach to motherhood was a bit dramatic and over the top (in my opinion.. being a mother and experiencing both natural and c-section births, it doesn't hurt to ask for help! Tabby trying to think she could do it all really gave an eye-roll from me) and her relationships after birth were a bit strained.

The dynamic between her and Marc was a bit blah.. but I did appreciate how Tabitha handled his mother.
I also really enjoyed the ending of the novel.

Overall, I give it about 3.5 stars because this was the best one out of all three novels.

Many thanks to @harperperennial for providing me with this e-ARC via @netgalley!

Now… let’s get into it. 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙸𝚝 𝙰𝚕𝚕 is the final installment in the 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝙳𝚒𝚎 𝙴𝚡𝚑𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 trilogy. And well, if I’m being completely honest…I’m very much so okay with that 😅 I was expecting a lot more maturity and growth from Miss Tabitha given that she’s now a whole mother but chiiiiile, she may be even worse than she was before.

Ya’ll, three books in and Tab still needs a knock upside the head! She stresses me out, lol! Everything is always the end of the world and she often lacks critical thinking skills when it matters the most. I had so much hope that she would blossom as a MC after 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝙱𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌 but instead there was a recurrence of the same childish ass behaviors.

And please don’t get me started on Marc! As my good sis @briisbooked pointed out “Why are we still talking about Marc in book 3?!” Honestly, let’s just discard the whole Brown family because I truly believe they were only in the story to piss me off 😭.

This book focuses on the difficulty of balancing motherhood, relationships, and work, while also reminding us that life is all about CHOICES. There was a lot going on in this one, which is 100% representative of the real world, but somehow the story still dragged?? I did enjoy how the topic of (Black) motherhood/parenthood was explored in a variety ways. I did NOT enjoy the ending…because WHY.

Rating: 👩🏽‍🍼👩🏽‍🍼👩🏽‍🍼/5

*All opinions in this review are 100% my own.*

This book is the third in the end of a series.
I found myself feeling like I HAD to read this one because it was the conclusion of the story.
But honestly, this whole series should have been one book .there was no need to drag it out. The pacing of this book was a bit slow for me.

That being said,the way this series explored bring mother, having a career and keeping your sanity through it all, was so well done.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In the end to this trilogy Tabby is back after giving birth to Evie. Tabby is trying to find the balance in motherhood, her relationship with Marc, and her career. I found this book my least favorite in the series because of pacing and flow. I had to read off and on the complete the whole book. I didn’t enjoy Marc’s mom at all. I still loved the friendship relationship with Tabby, Laila, and Lexi. I liked that Tabby and her mom did have a reconciliation. Overall I give this one 4/5 because of the pacing issues for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Perennial for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fine ending to this series but honestly we didn’t need three books. The actual plot could’ve easily fit into two books and while Tabitha has really grown on me over the course of this series, this really just wasn’t that memorable to me

This novel is a strong completion of a compelling trilogy. The tone is perfectly sarcastic. The exploration of motherhood, career, love, and personal sanity from a Black woman's lens has not been done this well in a long time. Motherhood as work is a strong parallel.

Tab's group of girlfriends keep her grounded and in check. They also have their lives that are tended to throughout the story by the author. The importance of friendship is reflected wonderfully. At some point, I had to remember to let Tab make her own choices. Her arc kept me on my toes.

Los Angeles is written well, given Tab's career working in news and living in View Park. As a Los Angeleno, I appreciated that it was not a glamorous, glossy ode to Los Angeles.

I am also here for the awful, nagging mother-in-law or mother-in-law adjacent trope.

Finally!
I have been waiting for this book so I could find out what happened between Tabitha and Marc. I cannot say that I am thrilled by the ending because it did not give the closure that I needed, but such is life. Even with that, I still thoroughly enjoyed the story and the journey that Allen has taken us on with this trilogy.
I feel like I need to read the first 2 books again soon and come back to this one, then hopefully I will feel better about the conclusion,
Allen has come a long way in her writing from book one til now, it seems more refined and her characters have more depth. I really appreciate the perspectives that she’s given for all of the characters because for me, it made them all more real.
I cannot wait to see what she will come up with next!

Tabitha and her dramatics are back!! In the final installment of Black Girls Must...once again root for Tabby once again. She has her baby girl and some sort of co parenting system with Mark, who honestly is so thirsty. Has he not realized that yet that he messed this girl up. She is still suffering over his previous decisions about her and marriage and family. And his mother is unbearable and he will never put Tabby first! In order of best to least, Book 2, Book 1 and Book 3. I feel like this was a great conclusion, but I am still interested in her girl Laila's story. Overall, still enjoyed Tabitha's journey and will continue to support Jayne Allen!

I was really excited about this one. Tabby is still one of my favorite characters in a series and I relate to her in so many ways. While at times she is over the top dramatic, this book captures the nuances of new motherhood in such a great way and I loved watching the growth that happened from beginning to end. Watching her connection with her mother mend throughout this book was great as well. I really liked how her friendship with Lisa has developed over the series but I kind of wish that when it came to her job she didn't feel like she needed to lean on her so much. It came off as a little white savior-ish. I feel like there could've been another way to get her to the finish line. Overall I really enjoyed the book and the series. Still hoping for a spinoff that focuses more on Laila's journey. She's definitely a character that I'm really interested in.

This book was my least favorite of the trilogy. I still would definitely recommend the books. I just thought this one drug on for a while. At the end I felt like it was just abrupt somehow. My main gripe was Marc and Tabby, like just cut him loose girl. The back and forth was exhausting.

Again, loved the first two book and still would say they are all worth a read.

At this point Jayne just doesn’t miss. I’ll read anything she writes. She makes the little black girl in me feel so seen and that is very rare in most literature that is being written lately.

Brilliant, poetic. Captivating? Loved every page. What a poignant series! ❤️ I recommend it to everyone!