I loved The Mayor of Maxwell Street! The Gatsby-esque inspiration runs so strongly throughout the novel and the updated setting and story brings a fab fresh take on the modern classic. The slow burn romance / love triangle was also nicely done. I gasped a lot, especially at the cotillion chapter and aftermath and loved how fearless and inspirational Nelly was as a main character.

It's a debut novel, and I think the author shows a lot of promise. This book was just trying to do too much, and would have benefited from focusing on just a few elements. Instead we get a book about race, a piece of historical fiction, a story about a family, a love story, a mystery, a gangster novel. There's a lot going on and nothing gets done completely.

The twist was infuriating and came way too close to the end without sufficient time given to explaining it. Does it even hold water? I think a staple of the mystery twist is the "villain" revealing the steps of their deception, and explaining away any contradictions that seem to be presented. No such attempt was made here, and I closed the book asking myself what the f had happened at the end. If you're going to spend pages describing dresses, give at least that much time to explaining your resolution.

Again, I do think that the author has a lot of talent and I will definitely give their next book a chance.

This was a lovely historical fiction novel taking place in the 1920's surrounding a strong, inspiring black woman. As she navigates racism in Chicago, she becomes a likeable character that is fun to focus on. This novel was a little daunting and long, but I found the ending to be perfect. Overall, I enjoyed this and look forward to other books from this author. Romance, mystery, historical aspects, and dealing with racism!

For at least the first half of this book, I was very intrigued. The setting and the characters were definitely unique and interesting, and the premise of mystery also kept me engaged. However, as the pages went on the novel got a bit long and winding and ended up in a place that was somewhat expected at one time but then more so unexpected by that point in the novel. That being said, based on the first half of this novel alone, I would describe it as least a "good" book, albeit not the great one it might have been. Further, I wasn't really interested in this book for the promise of an "epic love story", but I would agree with other reviewers that I would never describe this novel in that way either. All told, I would recommend this book for its unique setting and characters, with the caveat that it can also feel a bit long.

This book is a contradiction for me. I think it suffers from a common debut issue- there's so many things the author wanted to include that it turned into a bit of a mess. Although I liked Nelly a lot, I thought the love story between her and Jay was slightly toxic and was rooting for Tomas from the beginning. If this had been either a love story OR a journalistic mystery, I would have enjoyed it more, but we really don't even start on the investigative piece until 150 pages in or so, and the pace takes several sideways turns, alternating fast and slow. A narrower focus may have helped, or editing down some of the long scenes that were really just interactions with secondary characters or descriptions of the setting could have done wonders to march the plot along.

However, I did love the setting, and the writing itself is fantastic. Cunningham obviously has a lot of talent, and I'm interested to see what she comes up with next.

Amazon and Barnes and Noble reviews live on release date.

A terrific, highly entertaining first novel about Chicago and its Black community during the Depression. Surprisingly engrossing, well written, and contains lessons snd themes that are still relevant today. Having grown up in Chicago in 70s and 80s (north-sider here) this novel contained multitudes of info I had not really known. Very recommended!
I received an ARC copy digitally in exchsnge for an honest review, thanks to NetGalley.

3.75 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I will say if I knew it was 500 pages I probably wouldn’t have requested it as I tend to find books that long a little daunting. That said, I did overall enjoy this book, it kept me engaged, not so much that I couldn’t put it down but I did look forward to reading it everyday. The author did an excellent job with the setting and atmosphere of the story and I really loved the main character Nelly. However, for the story being so long I would have loved to get to know some of the other characters a little better. There are also some parts of the story that I am confused about. Overall I would recommend the book to someone who interested in the 1920s.

Part of my issue with this book was that it dragged on in many different parts, there were too many characters and sometimes too much going on. I feel like to a certain degree, I am still trying to connect some of the dots. I truly enjoyed the historical aspect of this book - especially how it centered on a Black woman in a position of power during the 20s. A story about the dangerous underground world of Prohibition Chicago (and America) in 1921 and how a Black debutante works with a low-level speakeasy manager to find the leader of an underground crime group. The main characters were well developed and I enjoyed learning more about them and their interactions. I liked the story line and the dangers and descriptions of what was happening during that time. I wish that the book moved a little faster and there were less side stories which caused confusion at times.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

I received a temporary digital copy of The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham from NetGalley, Hyperion Avenue and the author in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Nelly Sawyer is the daughter of one of the wealthiest Black men in the country and wants freedom from the expectations that her parents have put on her, especially after the death of her brother. She is a reporter and in order to prove herself and get a published article with her own name, not her alias, she must find out who the Mayor of Maxwell Street is, no simple task as no one has ever seen him. It is also incredibly dangerous, men are willing to kill over just saying his title alone. With help from a new friend, Jay, Nelly must navigate through Chicago's society, Jim Crow, and the Prohibition to find the mysterious Mayor of Maxwell Street.

The Mayor of Maxwell Street is 3.5 rounded up for me. Unlike a lot of the other reviews, I didn't find the book to be too long and really enjoyed being in Nelly's world. Cunningham did an incredibly job of describing Chicago and its elite Black society. The first difficulty I had with The Mayor of Maxwell Street was Nelly's initial motivations; it rang false. She was willing to die to find this man in order to write an article with her name? She had no fear in deadly situations, such as while being tied to a chair and physically beaten? Later revelations give her search a much stronger motivation; however, that doesn't come until 3/4 of the way through the book. In addition, some things were so vague, I had to infer what happened, and I never enjoy when an author does that.

This was an ARC so I do understand there will sometimes be a few errors and formatting issues; however, this book had a lot and that always does distract me from the story. A lot of reviewers complained about the long dialog in Spanish and French. Thankfully, I was reading on my Kindle so I was able to translate the conversations; nevertheless, I can see how that would be extremely frustrating if I was reading in print or didn't know how to translate the passages.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
The books protagonist is Penelope “Nelly” Sawyer, daughter of the “richest Negro in America”. Nelly has come to Chicago in the 1920s because her brother Elder passed in a car accident and she is now the heir to her family’s fortune. While her family wants to present her to society so she can get married, Nelly has a secret life of a journalist. And her new big assignment now that she is in Chicago is finding out who the real Mayor of Maxwell Street is.

Nelly has to balance her double life - a rich society girl being courted by royalty and a as a journalist working with mysterious Jay Shorey who seems to be in with high society and also the underbelly of Chicago.

I did enjoy the writing however the first half of the book felt slow. Once it got to around 60% I flew through to the end. I loved the contrast of how fancy high society was; with the descriptions of the wealth and parties and a how Nelly would be treated as a black woman. Even though she was incredibly rich she also got mistaken as the help on more than one occasion. Nelly was a bad ass character and not afraid to go to crime infested places to work a lead. This has been described as an epic love story but the romance wasn’t that prominent in the book nor was it rooting for the couple.

📝
Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for a free digital copy on exchange for an honest review. This book will be published 30 JANUARY 2024.

A story of intrigue, danger and glamour in prohibition era Chicago . Penelope (Nelly) Sawyer is an heiress who after her beloved brother's death, has been brought north by her resilient and determined wealthy parents to find a husband and to be accepted into black high society. But 20 year old Nelly wants to expose the injustice she sees with the entrenched white American privilege and racism and is willing to take terrible risks and to expose herself to danger in order to write about corruption and a crime syndicate for a Chicago newspaper. A chance encounter with charismatic blue-eyed Jay makes her question whether she should ignore marriage to please her parents and her growing relationship with a powerful and rich man in favour of pursuing her dream of becoming a journalist. This atmospheric page-turner of a book kept me gripped until the end. A brilliant debut novel by Avery Cunningham

I enjoyed this book so much! The characters are memorable and well-developed. Nelly's story opens at her brother's funeral, where she encounters the Black Chicago elite, notably the intriguing Jay Shorey, marking the beginning of a captivating narrative. Unbeknownst to her parents, she has been contributing articles to a Chicago newspaper under a pseudonym, with her late brother's assistance. The racial undertones throughout the novel are a powerful element, almost like an additional character that shapes the world. It lays bare the challenges faced by the characters, even within the privileged 1%, in confronting the prevailing racial dynamics of the time. #NETGALLEY #THEMAYOROFMAXWELLSTREET

This book was sent as a pre publication galley to me from NetGalley.

This is a romance/mystery set in 1920s Chicago from the perspective of a young woman, Nelly Sawyer, from a very well off Kentucky horse breeding family that is now breaking into the top society of black Chicago society, and at the same time touching upon other ethnic groups, those of mixed heritage and the racist white society [both rich and poor].

Let's be clear, this book is written with a sensitive touch on the language of the day, but doesn't hold back on the racism and homophobia. The author chose to use the language of her protagonists, and as such Negro and Colored are terms used by black folk to describe themselves with pride, as indeed they did at that time. It's a fine line and walked well.

There is more than a touch of Jane Austen in this, the heroine drawn to Jay Southey aka "Jimmy Blue Eyes", mixed race mover and shaker who can 'pass' in white society; and also Tomás, the wealthy French-Mexican heir to a title and yet also the son of an indigenous Mexican Indian. It's a touch breathless, but never goes too far, who wasn't so at 20 odd?

Alongside this is the mystery of just who the Mayor of Maxwell Street is. Not wishing to make any spoilers, this plot line allows the author to develop the location that has most character: Maxwell Street, a blending pot of ethnicities, trade, crime, nightlife and poverty. Whilst it can feel a little naive of Nelly to get caught up in this, in some ways that is the point - she wants to be more than a daughter at a debutante ball or a little wife at art galleries [when the white folk allow them in].

Well written. The book has some anachronisms in this draft that detract from it.
This is a first novel and well worth a read if you are maybe a little younger than my advanced years, or just want to look at the Jazz Age from a different perspective.

Nelly is the only daughter of wealthy parents who have just cracked their way into Chicago’s upper crust. Recently arrived in Chicago after her older brother’s untimely death, Nelly’s parents want to make this her coming out season so that she can find an equally wealthy husband. They have no idea that Nelly wants to stay in Chicago for a completely different reason. Nelly is secretly an undercover investigative journalist writing under a pseudonym for an all-black newspaper in Chicago and her current assignment is to unmask the Mayor of Maxwell Street.
Nelly’s unlikely partner in her investigation is a speak-easy manager named Jay.

I was drawn to this title because of its Roaring 20s setting. There is plenty of glitz and glamor that one expects from that era as well as bootlegging and prohibition-era crime syndicates. The author did a wonderful job dropping clues and giving you just enough information that anyone that Nelly comes across could have been the Mayor of Maxwell Street.There was plenty of suspense and tension leading up to the big reveal at the end. I did feel a little let down by the ending as it felt like it wrapped up a little too neatly.

Being a white woman in modern day America I felt that I needed to read this and I am so glad I did. Racism is not something I take lightly and I try to be as enlightened as possible but because of my skin color that's not possible and I know that's not fair. This book was fun to read when it came to the mystery and the romance and I will for SURE be reading more of Cunningham's works in the future! Thank you for letting me expand the word of this wonderful book!

I received this book as an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

Avery Cunningham has written a fabulous debut novel. I am looking forward to more novels by this very talented author.

#TheMayorofMaxwellStreet
#NetGalley
#goodreads

I found our main character Nelly to be a wonderful guide through Prohibition-Era Chicago. With one foot in high society as she moves through her “debut” season, and the other in the city’s underground life of speakeasy’s and night markets, Nelly’s journalistic pursuits show us the delicate balance between these two worlds…and the repercussions that occur when they collide.

Nelly is surrounded by a unique cast of characters, from the beautiful and ruthless Sequoia, to the dashing Tomas Escalante y Roche , to the charming but mysterious Jay Shorey, and each character gives us a unique look at the time period. It shows Cunningham’s great skill in this genre to be able to implement so much history without distracting us from our heroine’s goal.

While I found the twists predictable as a reader and the story overall a bit too long, I enjoyed tagging along as Nelly followed the clues to so many different locales across the city. It also felt strange that the marketing for the book really promoted the romantic aspects, as the investigation into the Mayor’s identity was the true heart of the story. Be sure to come for the historical mystery (and stay for a sprinkle of romance)!

Overall, a great debut novel from Avery Cunningham— I can’t wait to see where her stories go from here!

This was a great historical fiction novel. I think it highlighted important perspectives from the main characters such as, advocating for yourself as a woman of color and also navigating a world where you give yourself opportunities in a new environment that you wouldn't have had access to before. The characters were fleshed out nicely and boy did they send me on an emotional rollercoaster.

Thank you to NetGalley to read this ARC in return for an honest review.

This book is set in the prohibition era centered around one of the richest Black families in the US and their introduction to high society. Nelly the main character is reeling from the tragic death of her brother and thrusted into Chicago elite society. At her brothers funeral she is introduced to many characters that spin her life in a new direction.

Although this was a fun story to read I felt the author was missing sections of the book. Scenes faded and jumped to a new scene, this left me with questions and a lot of confusion. I felt some of the characters decisions didn’t make sense and weren’t consistent but that’s my perspective.

I’d be excited to read future stories by this author as her style continues to develop.

After building a fortune in Kentucky breeding racehorses, Ambrose Sawyer and his wife Florence decide to spend the summer of 1921 in Chicago so that their 20-year-old daughter Nelly can enter its high society. The Sawyers, regarded as the richest Black family in America, seek the right social position for Nelly, which includes finding a suitable husband. Nelly is interested in social issues and becoming a full-fledged journalist. An opportunity to write under her own name is offered to her if she can submit an exposé of a mysterious criminal called the Mayor of Maxwell Street, who is running the local gangs. Nelly is befriended by Jay Shorey, a man she met at her brother's funeral. Jay, who is bi-racial and had a sad upbringing, manages a local speakeasy and seems to turn up wherever Nelly goes. Jay reluctantly agrees to help Nelly with her story. As the two get close to one another, Nelly finds herself the object of the affection of the perfect suitor - Tomás Escalante y Roche, a polo player whose father is a wealthy landowner in Mexico and has a French uncle with a royal title he will inherit. Nelly's interest in Chicago's criminal gangs and the man behind them is putting everyone around her in danger.

The Mayor of Maxwell Street is author Avery Cunningham's debut. And it's an impressive one. While the book is on the long side and was a bit slow at times, Cunningham's talent shines through with her vivid depiction of Prohibition-era, Jazz-age Chicago and the racial inequality of the time. With the exception of Tomás, the main characters are flawed and often not easy to like. Some of the plot developments felt a bit hard to fathom but I didn't let that get too much in the way. This was an engaging story and I look forward to what comes next from the author.