Allegedly

OK I don’t even know what to say about this book because the last chapter is going to maybe haunt me forever? (TW: a baby is murdered, some violence). I had been asking you guys for recommendations for thrillers by Black authors and Tiffany D. Jackson kept getting suggested (I’ve ordered her other books too!). This did not disappoint. Mary Addison is a Black girl who (allegedly) killed a (White) baby when she was nine years old. After serving six years in baby jail, she goes to a group home where all the odds are stacked against her. She faces social workers who could care less about, her, intense bullying, and the women in charge of the group home turn a blind eye to it. She’s basically on her own with no support system (her churchgoing mother is untrustworthy), though she dreams of reopening the case against her… and taking the SAT’s to go to college. Now, she has her boyfriend Ted and has a baby on the way but as a ward of the state (and given her history), the state is threatening to take her baby away. I don’t want to ruin the plot for you but I will just say that this one has a Verity-like twist. It hit me over the head and SHOCKED me!