I got about 30% in and just wanted more? The birth mother letter chapters were the best part of the whole thing- I wasn’t super compelled to keep reading even though I wanted to know what would happen to Bluebell. A little slow overall.

What happens when a Black woman finds a baby left for her in the park? Most women would call the police or work to try and find their mother, but when you add in a complicated history of the woman having trauma from being raised in foster care herself, the plot thickens. Then we add in a troubled marriage, a woman trying to hide from her past and being confused about her future, which is what happens with Cinnamon.

A moving and heartfelt story about the love two women have for a baby and the courage it takes to fight for the ones you love.

Overall, it's beautifully written and Cinnamon is easy to root for and is richly characterized. But it seems to want to explore and say something about different complex and nuanced topics but I feel like it just scratches the surface, never really making the impact I was hoping for.

4/5 🌟

I really enjoyed this duo’s latest novel! They present a lot of food for thought as they tackle myriad issues relating to Cinnamon, a young Black woman hiding her past, finding 19 year old acquaintance Daisy’s baby (who happens to be white) - along with a not asking Cinnamon to care for the abandoned newborn. What unfolds shakes the foundation of Cinnamon’s carefully constructed life which is hiding her trauma-filled childhood. I appreciate all of the questions the authors pose, though at times it’s almost like they’re tackling too many issues - but the characters are fleshed out and real, the writing is lovely and it’s a nice summer read that’s on the lighter side but leaves you feeling enriched for experiencing it. Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I started reading the eARC but had trouble getting into the story. I borrowed the audiobook from my library shortly after pub date and was almost immediately hooked.

This book is an emotional rollercoaster from page one straight through to the epilogue.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

The most simple but yet also very complex theme of this book is love.
I thought Cinnamon was a terrific character. She had embellished her past to hide the pain, but gives her all for the little baby she finds.
The baby is white and Cinnamon is black, which creates conflict and tension.
Every child needs a parent and to be loved.
I liked Cinnamon’s persistence and devotion to the baby.
It’s a compelling read.

I loved We are Not Like Them, the first collab between these two writers, so I was thrilled to get a copy of this one from NetGalley. While the first novel featured a more hot-button topic (a white cop shooting a Black man), this one was a bit more subtle. A Black woman named Cinnamon finds the white baby on a park bench. The white mother, Daisy, has a bad family life, so she purposely left the baby there for Cinnamon to find and raise. But once the baby gets ill and Cinnamon's story becomes public (Cinnamon was also abandoned as a baby), she has to fight to keep the child.

This novel uses this topic to explore many nuances of race and motherhood. I really liked the main character, Cinnamon, who's as fragile as you'd expect considering her childhood, but still strong-willed at the moments where it's needed and absolutely grew by the end of the book. I love how fully fleshed out and real she was. Letters written by Daisy also help give her character a complete personality. It's a credit to Pride and Piazza that they're able to create two distinct characters through two different POV literary devices.

If you enjoyed their first collab and like books that explore societal issues and motherhood through compelling narratives, definitely give this one a try. I really enjoyed it. Also, major props to Laywan Kwan for the gorgeous cover photo. Some people complain because authors get a "brand" that makes their covers all look similar, but I love the treatment used for Pride/Piazza books. And I'm really looking forward to their next collab!

You Were Always Mine opens with a tough scene: a young woman, Daisy, is abandoning her newborn daughter in a park. The storyline then switches to Cinnamon Haynes, a slightly older young woman who had a difficult childhood but has fought and worked hard to get to a better place. Interspersed with her story are letters from Daisy to her baby.
Daisy and Cinnamon’s lives are, in some respects, very different, but alike in others, which makes for an interesting (although sometimes confusing) story as they’re gradually revealed.
I like that the writing duo continues to tackle important subjects by incorporating them into unique storylines. You Were Always Mine deals with a number of them: racism, abuse, homelessness, and foster care. I particularly appreciated their deep dive into the problems/challenges/misconceptions of the foster care system in the US.
It wasn’t as clean of a story as We Are Not Like Them, and there was a little meandering at times. I also would have liked to learn more about Cinnamon and Lucy’s lives as she grew up, and the challenges they faced. However.…overall an interesting book and I look forward to reading more by this dynamic writing duo.
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read You Were Always Mine in exchange for an honest review.

You Were Always Mine was an enjoyable read. Although a bit unbelievable (who finds a baby and doesn't immediately notify the authorities?!?) it does a good job of exploring inequities in the foster/adoption processes due to race. This would be a great book club read since this is a topic that would lead to a lot of discussion.

Making a hard decision, I did not finish this book. I liked the premise of a black woman finding and raising a white child. There was too much to wade through to get to the real story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

after absolutely loving these authors’ debut novel, I had such high hopes for this one! sadly, it missed the mark and fell victim to just scratching the surface of deep topics without really diving in 🥴

themes of friendship, growing into one’s skin, and culture were so strong all throughout this one - and I applaud both of these wonderful authors for all of their contributions! you can really tell that their personal feelings and experiences were reflected on the page.

the story revolves around cinnamon, a black woman who finds a white baby on the street and choose to take her in and raise her. what started as an intriguing and thought-provoking subject sadly didn’t add up to the conclusion I wanted.

I felt that the heavier topics of racism and mixed culture were shied away from a lot, choosing to focus more on the positives and the beauty in the world. and while I appreciate that, it felt out of place for a story such as this one.

I still think these authors’ writings are prose-worthy and I look forward to reading more by them in the future!

thank you to netgalley and atria books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: williamette valley rosé

I thought this was well written and propulsive. I love what Christine Pride and Jo Piazza do together as a writing duo. I enjoyed their previous novel more than this one, just because I think the character development was better. This felt a little choppy, and the only character who was fully developed was Cinnamon—yet even she had some holes. I thought the foster care insights were sensitive and well researched, and again, I couldn’t put the book down—I just think it was a bit uneven. I will continue to buy anything they write together!

Thank you for the advanced copies, @atriabooks and @netgalley.

What a beautiful book about what defines a mother. It’s not a common race, it’s not carrying the same genes, it’s not birthing a child. Motherhood is more than all that.

Both authors poured their hearts into this book to convey their message. Yet, it was not a 5 star read like their first book for me. The pacing of this book was very slow, the chapters long, and I often did not feel the pull to continue.

Empathy takes time and that was needed to fully understand Cinnamon’s background and reasons for refusal to turn the baby into the authorities. It made the epilogue worth the wait.

This is tough bc I LOVED their last book and there were many things about this that I did enjoy. However, this felt too much like a quick response to positive feedback from the first book. It wasn’t bad, and I do think there is so much interesting to unpack and discuss about the idea. But something about it felt thrown together quickly and again, I hate to say that bc I love these women, but this book just didn’t quite work for me the same way.
I thought the book brought up important ideas like who society “approves” of raising children of different race and what the foster system and CPS mean differently to children of different races. But I wanted a bit more depth bc these are complex issues worth diving deeper into and I kind of felt like there was perhaps a push by deadlines and publishers to get this out Vs truly tackling the issues. I could be wrong, but I felt like it would have been more developed with more time.
I love this collaboration and will always read anything these women do.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the authors for this ARC.

"We Are Not Like Them" is one of my all-time favorites, so I was eager to read Christine Pride & Jo Piazza's next collaboration. Once again, Pride & Piazza outdid themselves when it came to character development, sense of place, and capturing the nuance of systemic racism, motherhood & how we define care and family. Cannot wait for the world to experience this book's brilliance. Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advance copy for review!

I don't even know how to write this review. I simultaneously wanted to tear through the pages of this book and make sure it never ended. Pride & Piazza are TOP NOTCH at character development. I adored this book and they continue their status as automatic Must-Read authors for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the newest book from the writing team of Christine Pride and Jo Piazza --"You Were Always Mine". This book is the story of Cinnamon and Daisy and how they each find the strength to do what is needed for themselves and for Daisy's child. I liked the characters though there's the occasional too good to be true moments but seeing Cinnamon come into her own is an interesting journey. The book provides some good insight into the foster care system and shines a light on the racism that is built into the system.. The racial subtext is not heavy-handed but adds the needed note of realism.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. You Were Always Mine is available now.

So I thought the premises of this book had potential, how once authorities were not contacted after finding a baby...I was out. There just wasn't good reason for that and no matter what I couldn't wrap my head around it. Kind of ruined the whole thing for me.

Cinnamon is a Black woman who had a tough childhood but now has a good job and a husband. When she discovers a white baby in a park, she takes the baby home. This book was a bit of a mess for me. Even with her troubled past, some of the choices that Cinnamon made in her life because of lies or omissions were just too much for me. Many of the things that happened in the book just didn't seem plausible. An easy but ultimately unfulfilling book.

review. I wanted to love this book but I couldn't. I felt like the authors put too many mini plots in the book and it was distracting.

To be honest, I found myself skimming pages and not sitting and enjoying the story. There were moments when I thought it would turn around but it did not for me.

I love this writing duo and in their latest they flip the script a bit on the one race raising a child of another race when Cinnamon finds a white baby behind the park bench she frequents daily. Cinnamon wasn’t ever really sure she wanted to be a mom but she is fiercely protective of the little baby from the start. This would be a great book club boon with some tough questions and not so easy subject matters.