This book had been sitting on my kindle for a while, and I was in the mood for an edgier read. This was a compelling read and showed what someone would do for the family, even take the rap for murder. When Mary was nine years old, she and her mother were babysitting their neighbor's daughter, and the baby died. Mary was convicted and sentenced to prison life. Allegedly follows Mary's life through juvie to a female youth prison home. During her time, she has always stood by the fact that she didn't kill the child and that if she keeps her mouth shut, it will help her survive. During her time, she falls pregnant and now with her baby at risk of being taken away from her; she wants the truth after all these years to come out. Mary hires a lawyer who helps file motions and will begin a journey of unraveling the truth and facing her past, including parts that she has blanked out. Allegedly was quite a compelling and emotional read and also showed the aspects of racism between whites and blacks and the conviction rates. This is the perfect read for fans of Angie Thomas's THUG and those who are in the mood for a White Vs. Black type novel.

Love, love, love this book! I had heard a lot of wonderful things about Allegedly so decided to pick it up after the initial hype died down so I could form my own opinion and my gosh, was this book powerful. A painfully raw story that pulls at. your heartstrings throughout it's entirety, it absolutely is a must read.

“Hard to celebrate the day you were born when everybody seems to wish you were never born at all.”

This book made me cry so many times, it also made me feel sick and made me laugh - all within 400 pages. That’s why I’m giving it 5 stars.

It feels weird giving this kind of book 5 stars considering most of the characters were insufferable, the book is about a child being murdered, and Mary (who you can’t help but love) has had a terrible upbringing. But from the first page I didn’t want to stop reading and just before I got to the end of the book, more information was revealed which flipped the story around completely, leaving me bewildered.

If that doesn’t convince you to pick up the book I’m just going to leave you with a little quote I highlighted during my read. “I’d kill for something- anything-new to read. But I’d never say that out loud. I’m a killer after all; they’d probably think I’d really do it. Figures of speech are luxuries convicted murderers are not allowed to have.”

This book was an incredible read. It was disturbing, dark, fascinating, and incredibly emotional. By the end of it I felt exhausted because of the tumble of emotions that this book brought out. It's thought-provoking, and would lead to interesting discussions - a while after reading it I'm still thinking about it.

I'm not sure the book is for everyone - it's very dark - but I do think it is an important read, so I would recommend it to everyone! This book would be worthy of your time for sure.