Review of Kalayla

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[Following is a volunteer review of "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Lena Manero Barzetti, Kalayla, and Maureen are three generations of women who have undergone different circumstances but in a similar timeline. They meet coincidentally and end up being the change they need in each other's life. Maureen, Kalayla's mother is disowned by her family when she decides to marry Jamal. Jamal later dies and she is forced to do chores to sustain herself and also Kalayla. When they move to a new neighbourhood they meet Lena, a 72-year-old lady who constantly dresses in black, lives on the fourth floor of a building with no elevator and is still haunted by the memories of her dead twins. Will they be able to overcome a terrible past and correct past mistakes? What impact will their meeting have on their lives?

Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas is a fiction book that explores many aspects of today's society. She talks about racism in a way that is censuring and enlightening society about such inhumane acts. She expresses the effects of racism through characters like uncle Clarence and how they end up being psychologically traumatised. The language used in the book is easier to grasp and also reader-friendly. The characters are authentic and also well developed. The characters were few and therefore easier to take in all the information. The book has also been written from each of the main characters points of view becoming more appealing as this creates a sense of identity.

I loved the cover illustration. It was both appealing and informative. The character's interests and emotions were well depicted and some of the characters like Kalayla presented most of the themes in the book. I did not find any aspect to dislike about this book as it was interesting and engaging to the very end. The author also provided some of the original cuisines in the book and this provides insight into the kind of region and environment where the events of the book take place.

I rate Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas 4 out of 4 stars. I found a few grammatical errors and it's ok to conclude that it was professionally edited. These errors were also just a few missing punctuation marks and wrong use of capital letters and did not affect my reading of the book. I did not give the book a lower rating as this was both an entertaining read and also educative.

I recommend this book to adults and mature teens who are interested in reading fiction stories. I will however warn readers who are sensitive to profane language as this text contains a lot of profane words.

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Kalayla
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