The Davenports by Krystal Marquis, is a sweeping look at a wealthy black family living in Chicago in the 1910's. Based on a real-life family, this book will delight fans of historical fiction, especially those looking for diversity in their characters. The book tells the story of sisters more interested in living than marrying, until they meet the right men and sparks fly. But romance is no simple task for the Davenport women as childhood friends also fall deeply in love with men not readily available. The intertwining points of view allow readers to empathize with each character, and the swoon-worthy scenes will keep readers interested in the long plot. If you are a fan of the balls and period fashions found in Bridgerton, give The Davenports a try! A complex book that packs several story lines into one narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Davenports by Krystal Marquis is a third person multi-POV romantic historical novel about an influential Black family in 1910s Chicago. Olivia and Helen Davenport are both of age to be married and starting to look more towards their futures while their brother, John, has taken an interest in a childhood friend and maid, Amy-Rose. Another childhood friend, Ruby, the daughter of a politician, is interested in attracting John’s attention until she starts falling for the man she was using to make John jealous.

My favorite POV was probably Helen’s. She loves engineering and is a fairly gifted mechanic, but her father refuses to entertain the idea of Helen being involved in the family carriage business. Mrs. Davenport hires an older woman to start minding Helen and teach her manners in an effort to make Helen conform to what society expects of her. In the midst of all this, she ends up falling for Jacob Lawrence, a young British man who originally pursued Olivia but the two don't really hit it in the way the Davenports were hoping.

Ruby's parents are controlling and determined to marry her off to John, the son of their long-term friends. Ruby is quite aware of what is expected of her to the point that she is initially fine with using Harrison, a biracial young man shunned by society, to fulfill what she knows her parents want (and she believed she wanted). It puts her in contrast with Amy-Rose, an orphan pursuing her dream of opening a salon celebrating Black beauty in Chicago. Like Harrison, Amy-Rose is biracial and aware that she is white-passing at times.

Olivia butts head with a Southern lawyer, Washington Dewitt, who challenges her to think past her privilege and give more to social justice causes. Mr. Davenport was a runaway enslaved man, something Olivia is aware of but it doesn't seem to click until she starts talking to Washington. He changes her worldview and makes her start thinking more about how she can help people who came from very little, like her father, and combat Jim Crow laws in the South from spreading to other states.

The Davenports is Bridgerton set in a Black community in 1910s Chicago, focused first and foremost on the romantic arcs but also highlighting the racial tensions of the time period. The Davenport family has a lot of power in high society and are involved in politics, but aren't shown throwing their weight around town to get what they want. Ruby's family, by comparison, has very little money but her father is running to become the mayor, which would be a historic first for Chicago.

Content warning for depictions of violence, depictions of racism and anti-mixed race sentiments

I would recommend this to fans of Bridgerton, readers of historicals with strong romance arcs, and readers of YA who want sweeter depictions of Black love.

𝚎𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠♡
3.5🌟
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The premise of this story, "𝐈𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟏𝟎, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞—𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨." &| the cover art is what drew me to this book.

This book was compared to being a "Black Bridgerton." Which I can honestly see that, and definitely get that vibes from these young ladies' lives, but the storyline fell a little flat to me. The middle and end started to drag a little, and the pace was a little slow to my liking. But it was a good read, and I will definitely read the second installment when it's released.

Highly recommend if you love historical fiction.
𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬:
•historical fiction
•romance
•black cast
𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎!
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Thank you, Netgalley, and Penguin Group for the eBook for my honest review.

This book was such a delightful and fun read. I loved the characters and as I love multipovs I was happy with the four intertwining PoV. I liked being in each character’s shoes and explored their exceptional dreams, societal expectations and drama filled experiences. Their shoes were not that much different they seemed to have also the same problems, same storyline in their relationship that I wished there was much freshness and much more complexity.

As I was reading I thought to myself this would make an amazing tv show with slightly more plot and more entertaining than it is portrayed here. I thought this could be “The Black Bridgerton” but obviously it would be named “The Davenports” which I love. So. Very. Much.
In terms of historical elements throughout the book was less the way it was described made me think there would be enough to balance the romance aspects but I appreciated learning about it and wished there was more as many people including me didn’t know much about that period of African American history.

The pacing was slow; I remember thinking oh my goodness are we not done yet? i was warned that this was not the final of editing so I will cut them some slack.
One fact about The Davenport I loved was that they were rich and one of the most powerful families in the 1910s. They owned a carriage company and it was wildly successful. Also I was very unsatisfied with the ending it. Their similarities became even more apparent and I hope in the next book there would be new material for each of them.
On that note bring my review to an end,
thank you netgalley for a copy of this book.

<I><b>She tried to imagine Harrison marrying someone else, giving another woman his last name and fathering her children. It put a sour taste in her mouth. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to live in a reality where she thought of him as in the past.</b></I>

<I><b> But she knew, this is where she wanted to be. On the side working for a better Chicago. Next to a man who valued her spirit more than her last name. </b></I>

"The Davenports delivers a totally escapist, swoon-worthy romance while offering a glimpse into a period of African American history often overlooked.

The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now it's 1910, and the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love - even where they're not supposed to.

There is Olivia, the beautiful elder Davenport daughter, ready to do her duty by getting married...until she meets the charismatic civil rights leader Washington DeWight and sparks fly. The younger daughter, Helen, is more interested in fixing cars than falling in love - unless it’s with her sister's suitor. Amy-Rose, the childhood friend turned maid to the Davenport sisters, dreams of opening her own business - and marrying the one man she could never be with, Olivia and Helen’s brother, John. But Olivia's best friend, Ruby, also has her sights set on John Davenport, though she can’t seem to keep his interest ... until family pressure has her scheming to win his heart, just as someone else wins hers.

Inspired by the real-life story of the Patterson family, The Davenports is the tale of four determined and passionate young Black women discovering the courage to steer their own path in life - and love."

For fans of The Guilded Age but showing the actual diversity that existed.

3 Stars
How the hell a book with Four Black Women, where the younger sister who wants to help build cars is going to fall for the older sister suitor, the best friend is trying to get the brother but is falling for the guy she using, the brother is falling for the " maid" who wants her own business, where the older sister wants to be civil rights activist and is falling for another civil rights activist set in the 1910’s be so damn boring?

How can all this drama wrapped up in an almost 400 page book be so damn boring?

Well that was the Davenports.

The Davenports is about four women Oliva and Helen Davenport, Ruby Tremaine and Amy-Rose Shepherd all trying to find love and themselves in 1910 Chicago.

Here are my thoughts about it.

1. This would be better with Two Major POVs (Oliva and Amy-Rose) being the focus instead of four and just have the other two being introduced and mentioned and then bring the two women ( Helen and Ruby) in the next book to be the main focus. Four Women Povs was too much jungle around which you really couldn’t get to really know with all four of them since all was fighting for page time.

2.I feel like Ruby got shafted because I can think of what the other three women wanted to do outside of their romance but I can't think of what Ruby wanted to do. Oliva is thinking about being a Civil Rights Activist, Helen wants to work on cars and help her brother, John with the family business and Amy-Rose wants to open up a Hair Salon. But what Ruby wants to do besides getting her parents off her back? It wasn't clear to me since most of her POV was trying to get John jealous by using the guy she actually fell in with to get her parents off her back dealing with getting a proposal from John.

3. The interactions between the girls were lacking to me. Oliva and Helen were supposed to be sisters but just had their first on page conversation together 124 pages into the book. I have seen conversations between Oliva/Ruby, Helen/Amy-Rose, Oliva/Helen and Oliva/ Amy-Rose but not all four girls together. I kept thinking that they all grew up together and supposed to be friends so they have some interaction together. We could have spent time on seeing some friendships between the four girls who are going through the same thing with their love lives along with the romance....

4. The romance feels like instalove because it is almost like they have like 3 interactions with each other before they feel like they are in love with this person. The main focus is romance and it’s the weakness of this book.

5. The four women main love interests are not really interesting and feel like cardboard cutouts. The only one that felt interesting was Washington Dewight and he got off my nerves a little on how he acted towards Oliva upbringing. Also he felt like a great value Martin Luther King with this set way better MLK JR was born.

6. I felt like Oliva should have been older than 18 because she felt older. I think instead of being her second season out this should have been on her fourth season while Helen would be debuting. The pressure for Oliva to find a husband would be really on her since she would be 20 years old. Which is almost out of the age eligible to find a husband and is considered an Old Maid during that time.

7. The strongest thing about this book was dealing with racism and the raising of the Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movement. I really do like the fact the author didn’t shy away from it since this was in 1910’s. Which slavery was abolished only 45 years ago and not even a half century has passed. I know reading the reviews this kind of turns people off since this is supposed to be historical romance but I think it wouldn’t feel right having something that was set only 45 years of the ending of slavery not to have a mention to the raising of Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement. You just can’t live in a bubble and act like it’s not happening even if it’s a historical fiction romance because it’s still history.

8. The best part was when they had the demonstration march from the community center to the courthouse. That part really showed the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement aka the struggle for equality. That part also got me a little peeved due to the fact that after the march went into chaos with the police breaking it up and chasing people, Olivia and Dewight kiss while hiding from the police in an alley. Most of yall probably don't know but I was born and raised in Selma, Alabama. So the Civil Rights Movement and the Marches are ingrained in my veins being born in one of the most important cities of the Movement and the Selma to Montgomery March. So having a romantic interlude between the main couple while people are being chased, beaten, hiding from the police and probably thrown into jail just didn't sit right with me.

9. The parents really got on my nerves trying to control everything and getting in the way. Especially Olivia and Ruby's mom who was pretty much saying " He's a good man Savannah. A Good Good Man." about their suitors..

10. The cast feels big and small at the same time for reasons.

11. Big: It’s big since like I said earlier you are juggling four main women plus their four love interests so that 8 people along with the parents and some side characters.

12. Small: It also feels small because it feels like The Davenports and The Tremaines were the only two Black Wealthy Families in Chicago. I understand it probably wouldn’t be that many since the time period but at least 10 to 15 wealthy black families make up Black Wealthy Elite in Chicago. It should have been more Black Woman around Oliva and Ruby’s age who are also trying to get a husband in the “Ton” season just like in Bridgeton and in Jane Austen books. It was more ladies than Elizabeth and Jane trying to find a husband in Pride and Prejudice. It was so many ladies trying to win the favor of Mr. Bingley to become their husband, not just Jane. Like it should have been more ladies trying to win the favor of John Davenport (Oliva and Helen's older brother) besides Ruby and Amy-Rose. All the parties where the black elite were supposed to have been there felt small. There should have been more families and ladies mentioned in passing.

It was really more to be desired with this book which just makes it ok to me.

I was pleasantly surprised by this. At first glance, I thought it was going to be cheesy and potentially a rip off of Bridgerton. I did get some vibes from Bridgerton, the balls, period focus and fashion, family duty and social manners. But I feel the similarities stop there.

I enjoyed seeing 4 different POVs throughout the book and that each character had their own personalities, struggles and role within the overall theme of the book. I also liked that 3/4 characters were POVs from slightly different backgrounds, but all lived and interacted with each other in the same orbit. I also enjoyed all the juicy drama and the will they won't they feeling with each of the characters.

However, I feel this book was more of a time period piece than a historical fiction and focused more of the drama than the historical part. I wished there was more history interwoven into the book, but don't worry I spent some time doing a google deep dive on the family it was based off afterwards. I also felt like a lot of the book was long-drawn and slow paced. I will say that the ending left me checking for more pages and saying "That can't be it, there has to be more, it can't leave me like this."

I think this book suffered a little from having so many storylines put in to just 380 pages. I found myself getting a bit confused about which one I was reading about. And it seemed like it took so long to build up each relationship that when the “problems” of each story happened, it was like dominos without a chance to process what happened before the next one hit. I would have preferred to have had a longer series with each love story separated so that the emotional impact would have hit better.

I loved reading The Davenports! Krystal Marquis has a beautiful way with words. The plot moves a little slowly but is balanced out with characters who are well developed, likeable and relatable, ones the reader wants to root for. I appreciated the author's note that let me know this story was loosely based on a family - I have several students in mind to share this book with! Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to preview #TheDavenports - I cannot WAIT for its sequel!!

Plot: I will admit that at times, I was more intrigued in the background happenings (Civil Rights discussions and character ambitions) than the romance. I love when romance novels have a strong plot to go along with the will/they wont/they narratives. I'd like to see more of it in book 2.

Romance: I loved Helen's story the most. She was my favorite character and deserves the world. I did feel that there could have been a greater diversity of romantic tropes. All 4 main characters basically had the same romantic storyline. It got to be a little monotonous at times. But also I get the idea - 4 characters from different backgrounds & with different ambitions struggling with the same types of feelings/choices.

I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and seeing how Marquis chooses to wrap up the core 4's stories.

I really enjoyed this debut from Krystal Marquis. There still isn’t a lot of historical romance that meters the experiences of Black Americans, and that’s even more true among YA histrom. I loved seeing characters and experiences from the Black upper class.

As other reviewers have noted, there is A LOT going on in this book, as the author is trying to set up a series. Most storylines are not resolved, because that’s coming in future books. But what I really appreciated about this book is that there are real stakes for the characters. This is a light read for younger readers, yes, but these characters have things to figure out. How can they be true to who they are and what they value while managing their parents’ expectations and the very real forces of sexism and racism? These are big questions the characters are trying to figure out, and the author wrests with them in ways that will interest younger readers—but not only younger readers. As the middle-aged parent of teens, I was completely engrossed while reading.