Brooklyn was amazing! Tracy Brown has been one of my favorites and I’m devastated by her passing.

This book had all the drama that you need in a book. Brooklyn has always felt like the black sheep in her family. Things come to a head when she finally lashes out.

Brooklyn has to navigate life, love, friendship, and loyalty and she doesn’t always rise to the occasion. This was another great read! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC.

I can’t even begin to tell yall how sad it makes me that this is the last book we’ll get from Tracy Brown. She’s such a talented writer who uses her gift to tackle issues the black community faces through her books. Brooklyn was no different. This book addressed issues like church trauma, childhood trauma, homophobia, family relationships, abortion, and so much more. Tracy had me from page one. Literally page one. There was so much drama in this book my jaw stayed on the ground. Brooklyn caught so many bad breaks in the beginning I felt so bad for her and was really rooting for her. In the end she was her own downfall. This book was a hard lesson on life and I really enjoyed it.

RIP to the great @tracybrownwrites

Tracy will FOREVER be my favorite author hands down. She was a phenomenal writer and knew how to get you invested in the characters she creates. Just like her other books Brooklyn is top tier it gives the urban street vibes we all look for money, drugs, sex, drama all that. She took us on a wild ride with Brooklyn cause this girl was a PROBLEM CHILD!!! I hate to say it but them preacher kids be wild’n.

I found myself sympathizing with Brooklyn a lot in the beginning then after a while she had me like now girl why the hell would you go and do that. She brought a lot of things on herself but life was really life-ing for Brooklyn it ate her ass up and spit her back out. This book was fast-paced, intense, emotional, and filled with so many memorable characters. That damn Sabrina is all I can say she got under my skin. We just gone say she’s a poor excuse for a mother.

Overall, just read the book I can’t say much without giving away all the goodies but it’s worth reading!!! My only downside is knowing this will be our last book from Tracy Brown and I’m still not okay. If y’all haven’t read her previous books definitely recommend you read them especially Hold You Down whew the heartache that book caused me LOL. Special thanks to the author @tracywrites (R.I.P) and @stmartinspress for my gifted copy!!!

Brooklyn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Brooklyn by Tracy Brown (RIP) is based on a young teenaged Brooklyn, her need for attention, self-centeredness and rapid downward spiral. I went into this thinking this was a coming of age story, but Brooklyn is a cautionary tale on how growing up too fast and bad decisions may cost you your life.

From the outside looking in Brooklyn the daughter of a well known pastor and picture perfect mother has a pretty good life. But all that glitters ain’t gold and the pastor and co are merely just keeping up appearances and scheming their way to the top. Brooklyns parents are the villains in her story and rightfully so, cause her Mama was trash and her daddy was easily manipulated by his wife’s words. I hated the mother in this book. But she was also relatable. Cause there are so many mothers out there who literally hate their daughters. This book was giving Coldest Winter Ever mixed with Greenleaf.

Brooklyn was selfish and a master manipulator and only cared about herself. Not once in this book did she stop and think how her actions would affect those close to her (Amir 😢). If woe is me was a person…it was Brooklyn. This child never took accountability for the things she did. Wherever Brooklyn went, she left a trail of chaos, broken hearts and a burned bridge behind her.

After chapter 12 the scenes start to feel rushed and the ending is abrupt. It’s almost like the book wasn’t finished. yes, I do understand the author passed away… but it just feels like something is missing. Like there should be maybe 4-5 more chapters to bring this story full circle. I also wanted to see more of certain characters like Alonzo; I just knew he was gone pop back up and cause chaos. But he just faded into the background. Also, more about Hope would’ve been nice, cause I know homegirl had her share of secrets they just were never brought to the forefront.

If you have read a Tracy Brown book before than you already know your emotions are about to be on a rollercoaster. Thank you @netgalley for this ARC.

The cover and title drew me to the novel and I loved it. It reminded me of classics like “The Coldest Winter Ever”. Brooklyn was truly an enigma of a character. She made you want to root for her only to leave you disappointed. I liked the take on church, family dynamics, and character flaws. Brooklyn as a character was really well written. I cried during the family argument scene and a few more that just really tugged at my heart strings.

The ending didn’t surprise me but I would have loved to see an Epilogue continuing from the killer’s perspective. I also would have liked to see more character development of Hope. I’m sure she had her secrets as well but it was never shared.

Overall I highly recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I am floored at this. Brooklyn did so many people dirty. I mean horrendous things. This was so well written. The killer was surprising. I mean she did terrible things but didn’t deserve to die. I think Hope should’ve just given her the money and let her leave. It was Hassan who I felt bad for. He was so good to her and loved her down bad. Then what she did to Angel???? After all Angel did for Brooklyn??? Hands down, 5 stars.

Description
Tracy Brown crafts a tale about a master manipulator and serial survivor, who will scorch earth to get what she wants. The question isn’t who murdered her; the question is who wouldn’t?

Brooklyn Melody James has finally gotten the punishment she deserves after leaving a web of lies, heartache, and betrayal behind her. As her life slips away, Brooklyn remembers the events that shaped her into the cold, calculating creature she became.

Brooklyn learned the art of hustling from her parents who used the church to get money. Idolizing her father and despising her mother, Brooklyn’s determined to be the type of woman who makes her own rules. When her back’s up against the wall, she sacrifices her family, takes the burnt offering that remains, and runs away. In NYC, young Brooklyn charms her way into the inner circle of hustlers and stick-up kids, learning tricks along the way. She catches the eye of a major player in the drug game, Hassan, and they have a breathless love affair. Brooklyn becomes integrated into his operation, earning the trust of Hassan and his associates. But when she gets the keys to the kingdom, driven by unfettered ambition and a ruthless desire to survive, Brooklyn snatches the pot of gold, leaving bitter retribution promises behind her.

From DC to Maryland, Brooklyn burns bridges and breaks hearts. What she doesn't realize is that someone is prepared to end her reign of terror. As she faces her killer and her fate, Brooklyn’s stunned that justice comes from the least likely place.

My Take:
Ever watch a soap opera during sweeps season? Normally a large event or a whodunnit begins to bring in viewers. This book feels exactly like that: we meet Brooklyn as she meets her demise and we see all of the players who would want her dead. Brooklyn was a piece of work and there were times when I thought that *I* was the one who did it: the book didn't read so much as a mystery and more of "this is why the end was inevitable." Having said that, as a Baltimore girl, I appreciated the references to Maryland, which helped me fill in blanks and entertain myself when things lagged a bit. All told, if you want a dramatic book with urban crime elements, this isn't a bad way to spend an afternoon. It would also make a good book to read with others: it may be fun to guess who met Brooklyn at the end. Rating 3.5, which I will round up to 4.

Wow! This book. Brooklyn lived fast and it all caught up to her. I so wanted Brooklyn to live her life and learn from her experience. I am ever the optimist. I know in real life we hear about young women like Brooklyn all the time. We just don't know their backstories. My heart ached for Brooklyn when her mother did not react the way you expect a mother to react. This book delivers on drama. It pulls at your heartstrings. Man, I felt for this girl. Then I was so over her. I wanted her to wise up and stop being so set on going down the path she chose. This was a great book. It pulls you in from page one and keeps you engaged. Great book. Wonderful entry from Tracy Brown. may she rest in peace.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

This story has so much depth and detail to it and I absolutely was interested from chapter one. This is Brooklyn James and Hassan story, and we follow her as she runaway and learns the cold hard truth about surviving the streets and hustling and the consequences of it all.

I found the book stereotypical of the downtrodden south, and with violence and triggers in the first few pages, I did not continue. DNF for me, although I'm sure some will read it and understand the purpose for the writing.

Publish Date: Feb.27,2024
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. i voluntarily give my honest review and all opinions expressed are mine,

This book takes you on a rollercoaster; although you find out the ending at the beginning, I had a love-hate relationship with Brooklyn. In the beginning, I thought she was just that church girl who just wanted to experience things that she was not able to do openly. Boy, was I wrong? Brooklyn will do anything she has to do for her selfish reasons. After what happened to Amir, one would think Brooklyn would’ve reconnected with her family. Instead, she hit the streets and never looked back. Is this saying “money is the root of all evil?” You be the judge.

I loved this book. It was tough, dark and emotionally compelling. It was gritty and hard but amazing writing from an author that will be greatly missed.

RIP (Tracy Brown) I love her work and when I saw Brooklyn I knew it was a must read. I hate that this will be the last book we get from her. Brooklyn burned every bridge she encountered. This was a shocking and highly entertaining. If you love Tracy’s books this one is another example of her beautiful storytelling. Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

I really hate that this is the last book we are going to get from Tracy. I have so many fond memories of so many of her books that this felt like a really unwanted ending. That’s said, while the story was interesting, and enjoyable, I did feel as though there were spaces where the timing did not make sense, and that the situation warranted a bit more development, perhaps. It had all the makings of a Tracy Brown book that make it exciting; jilted, relationships, complicated love, and fast paced street drama. So those parts I enjoyed, I just feel like it was a bit rushed and a bit more development would’ve helped evolve the story even more. Nevertheless, I am so glad that I read it and so sad that she is gone.

Oh my goodness! Brooklyn was a book that had my attention from the very beginning. Brooklyn was the name of the lead character, and she had a brother, Amir and a sister, Hope. Her father was the pastor of a church called Promised Land. Her parents were very strict. It was evident that her mother didn't like her, but she was a daddy's girl. The family had their secrets. Her mother was cruel and evil, her father was a womanizer and her brother was gay.

Brooklyn was a high school student in Staten Island and she would cut classes to go to Manhattan. Well there, she hooked up with Alonzo who was the son of one of the churches prominent members. He was also a drug dealer. She was sleeping with him and she started running drugs for him. During those runs she met Stacy. She started spending time with her and they became friends. Before long, Brooklyn found herself pregnant. Alonzo paid for her to go to planned Parenthood to have an abortion, and while there she was given birth control pills. She hid all of the gifts that Alonzo gave her along with the paperwork from the abortion and the birth control pills in her closet.

It wasn't long after the abortion that Brooklyn's best friend, Erica, who was Alonzo's cousin, told her that Alonzo was engaged to be married. Erica had warned Brooklyn to stay away from Alonzo, that he wasn't good for her, but Brooklyn paid her no mind. So the day Brooklyn found out about the engagement, she went to Alonzo's apartment and he was there with his fiancée. The fiancée came to the door and Brooklyn lit into her. The fight was unevenly matched and Brooklyn took a beating. Alonso broke up the fight and Brooklyn fled.

While she was walking down the street, Alonzo pulled up beside her and his car. He offered her a ride home. Right then the police pulled Alonso over. They pulled them out of the car and in their search they found drugs, so they arrested him. Brooklyn put up a fight
making a scene in the middle of the street. About that time, a woman named Miss Nancy from the church drove by and saw Brooklyn. She convinced her to get in the car and she took her to the church where her mother and father were. Brooklyn had told Miss Nancy that she got in a fight with a girl at school and that was the story she told Brooklyn's mother, who, when she saw Brooklyn she went ballistic. Her father came out of the church and saw her and he was none too pleased. Her mother took her to her car and they went home with her father following them in his car. When they got to the house her father took her for a ride hoping to get the story from her. She told him the same story about getting into a fight with a girl at school.

While they were gone, her mother went into her closet and dug out all of her treasures, including the paperwork for the abortion and the birth control pills. When they got back her mother went off on her calling her all kinds of filthy names. Eventually she ended up telling them about Alonzo. Of course her mother was furious because she knew he was a drug dealer. During all of this, Hope and Amir were in the room. Brooklyn and Amir we're very close. They had told each other their secrets. While the fight was going on. Brooklyn expected her brother to stand up for her but he didn't. So she blabbed to her parents that he was gay. Her father was infuriated and began beating him up. Then he kicked him out of the house. He left and went to his boyfriend, Jordan's house. Brooklyn's mother had threatened to send Brooklyn to a group home, so that night she packed up her bag and ran away from home. At first she didn't know where she was going but then she remembers Stacy and gave her a call to which Stacy told her to come on over. But before Brooklyn went to Stacy's, she had stolen the keys to the church and she went to the church and stole many thousands of dollars from her father. She left the keys to the church on her father's desk. When Brooklyn got to Stacy's house she phoned her friend Erica who told her that her brother had committed suicide. Brooklyn took the blame for that.

Now Stacy, too, was a drug dealer. Brooklyn had more than $10,000 and she decided to take $10,000 and pull it with Stacy's money and was going into business with her. So she started running drugs for Stacy. On the side, she started a relationship with one of Stacy's men, Hassan.

The main place she went to was Baltimore. It was there that she met and befriended Angel who was a beautician and who became her best friend. Brooklyn has studied cosmetology and had gotten her license. She had decided that she wanted to get out of the game and wanted to open her own salon and barber shop and she wanted to do that in Baltimore.

On one of her runs to Baltimore she was dealing with a man named Chance who she had dealt with many times before. He told her that Stacy's prices were too high and that he was not going to do anymore business with her. She couldn't afford to lose the money so she lowered the price. When she got back to Harlem, Stacy had already found out about it and was so angry with Brooklyn. She couldn't see straight. Hassan was there and Stacy kicked Brooklyn out of the family. At this point Brooklyn was living with Hassan and he took her home. It was there that she told him about her plan to open the beauty salon. He wasn't ready to move to Baltimore and she had said that if he didn't go with her she would do it on her own. He told her he was going out for a while and she decided to pack up all her things and leave. In her packing, she stole his watches, some of his other jewelry and some of his drugs. She knew she had to get out before he got back so she ran out and started loading her car with all of her luggage and her trusty backpack that had all of his things.

She left and locked the door and just as she was getting into her car Hassan pulled up with Roscoe, Stacy's brother. He dragged her out of the car and asked her what she thought she was doing. It was then that Roscoe looked into the car and saw the backpack which was open and He saw Hassan's things. He also called Stacy and told her to get over there because Hassan and Brooklyn were fighting. No sooner had. Stacy shown up that Roscoe alerted Hassan to the fact that Brooklyn had stolen his things. Hassan hit the roof. Stacy told Roscoe to open the trunk and unload all of Brooklyn's things which included all of her designer clothes and expensive jewelry and all of her money. Stacy told Roscoe to take all of her things into Hassan's house and she told Brooklyn that if she didn't leave right then that she would beat her down. Stacy didn't want her to take the car because Hassan had bought it for her but Hassan told her to take the Mercedes and go. All she had to her name was $4,800.

While she was on the road she phoned Angel and told her she had no where to go and Angel invited her to her home. Angel was engaged to marry Josiah. When she got there Angel gave her a guest room. All Brooklyn had with her was a backpack with a few clothes. Brooklyn told her that she would stay for only a little while, but Angel told her she could stay as long as she wanted until she got on her feet.

Angel went to visit her parents and Josiah, being a chef, was catering a wedding so Brooklyn was glad she had the house all to herself. But then Josiah came downstairs and told her that the wedding had been canceled. Brooklyn have been drinking a lot and Josiah made a drink for himself. They sat and talked the night away. Eventually he told her he was going upstairs to bed. She went upstairs to her room and took off all her clothes and got in bed. She was incredibly drunk. Before she knew it she was out of bed and in Josiah's room. She seduced him and fell asleep. She woke up to Angel screaming. Josiah had told her that the wedding had canceled and she decided to leave her parents house and come home early to surprise him. Needless to say, Angel kicked Brooklyn out of the house.

She got a cheap motel room where she phoned her friend Erica. Erica told her that her father had passed away after experiencing a debilitating stroke. She also told her that her father had left her some money. She encouraged her to go home, which she did. When she arrived home it was a Sunday and church was in session. She went straight to the church and she was welcomed with open arms. Her mother had become the pastor and she went to her daughter and threw her arms around her proclaiming that God was good. After church when all of the parishioners had left there was Brooklyn, her sister Hope, her mother, her friend Erica and Jordan. Her mother told her that if she was coming home to receive her inheritance she could forget about it, that there was no way she was going to give it to her. It was clear to Brooklyn that her mother hadn't changed a bit.

Everyone went to Hope's house except their mother. Hope asked Brooklyn where she had been and Brooklyn went through everything and told her the truth about what she had been doing. From what they all could see in the church, it look like Brooklyn had really changed, but in the course of conversation Brooklyn told Hope that all she wanted was her inheritance and then she would go. Clearly, she was the same selfish person she'd always been.

I really loved this book. The author did a marvelous job weaving Brooklyn through the various aspects of her life. And the character development was exceptional. I will definitely read this book again. I gave it five stars. I only wish I could have given it. 10.

This was an interesting book for me. On the one hand, I didn't really like it because I didn't feel sympathetic towards most of the characters (except for two or three), and I was looking forward to an ending with more resolution (and maybe reconciliation). On the other hand, this book captivated me once I sat down and really focused on it. There was so much drama and build-up that I was engaged throughout. I did like the flow of the writing and I found the church dynamics interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tracy Brown always leaves me crying. Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this amazing book. Tracey has always been one of my favorite authors and I was so hurt to learn of her passing. I’m grateful I was given the opportunity read and review this book.

Minor spoilers:
Okay, Brooklyn frustrated me so much! I want to say she was just a lost young girl but I feel she had some undiagnosed mental health issues. This is based on her inability to connect and care for others along with her black and white thinking. Once you did something that she felt went against her, there was no coming back. She was always out for herself and couldn’t see the error in her ways.

I usually hate books where I dislike the main character but the book was beautifully written and took me through so many emotions,

I chose this book based solely on the cover, and it didn't disappoint. The book starts off with the murder of our protagonist, Brooklyn James, then quickly goes back in time so readers can live her life through her eyes and understand how and why her life was cut short.

As a white, middle-class, suburban mom, who was raised next door to our pastor and his family, our upbringings weren't that visibly different on the outside, though a traumatic experience early on makes her very unrelatable and that path continues as she enters the world of drugs. Hers was a struggle for wealth and power while battling the burning desire to get out of the lifestyle. Brooklyn was selfish and evil and completely likable, as was this book. I enjoyed reading it and rooting for her, even though she wasn't the best person.

Tracy Brown crafts a tale about a master manipulator and serial survivor, who will scorch earth to get what she wants. The question isn’t who murdered her; the question is who wouldn’t?

The main character is very hard to root for but in the best way. Excellently written. It was an emotionally devastating book. Not a romance read. Not a HEA. Strictly emotional, urban fiction.



Thank you net galley for the opportunity to read this arc..

This book took me on a ride. I am not sure if that's good or bad. Because I definitely felt Brooklyn was a product of her circumstances. Let's start with those dysfunctional parents of hers. Especially the hyper-hypocritical Sabrina. She was the root of the evil in that family. She did not help her daughter after the dirty step-uncle did what he did. At that point, I knew Sabrina's measure and she was the reason her daughter went off the rails. She was willing to abandon her daughter and save her son. Then they all blamed Brooklyn for what happened to Amir. I felt for Brooklyn, I just didn't like what she did to Angel. Angel did not deserve that and Brooklyn was dead wrong. But as for the rest, the hypocrites at the church, Alonzo's aunt, Jordan, and what he did at the end was despicable. Brooklyn did not deserve to die! I thought the author was going to take the plot in redemption direction for the entire family. I guess not, because Sabrina was still on her Bull ish.. As a born-and-bred NYC gal who was born in Brooklyn, it was fun to see the story take place in my city. But other than that, it was too much for one person to go through and no one looked at the family of origin. There was a lot to unpack with that family that was not addressed. And for people to feel relief that she was killed was a bit much.