I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I had never read anything by Maika and Maritza Moulite before, but I was drawn to the premise of One of the Good Ones and its present-day relevance.

This book is multilayered, rich with Black history and how the cycle of racism repeats itself in the depictions of the lives of its contemporary protagonists, sisters, Kezi, Happi, and Genny, and friend Shaqueria, juxtaposed with the sisters’ grandmother during the Civil Rights era.

And while the “flow” of the story could have been troublesome, with the jerking back and forward in time and following multiple different people, I found this comparatively easy to follow compared to other books in a similar vein, and felt each character managed to bring a sense of their own experience of the shared racial trauma.

I think this book has a lot to say about what it means to be considered “one of the good ones,” and to have that determined based on skin color alone. If you’re looking for a YA book that unpacks our present moment that also has a bit of suspense to it (it’s being comped as “The Hate U Give meets Get Out”), I would strongly recommend this one.

One of the Good Ones by Maritza and Maia Moulite is such a well written book that teens and adults can enjoy. The characters were well-rounded, and at times I forgot they were even teenagers. The story centers around Kezi a young YouTube influencer, and activist who is killed while in police custody after a protest. The story flips between the present and past with highlights on Kezi’s grandparents and great-grandparents. After Kezi’s death her sisters Genny and Happi head out on a road trip in her honor along with her friends Ximenia and Derek. As the group takes the trip, and follows the route Kezi planned to take they discover things not only about themselves, but about Kezi as well. Happi is dealing with her guilt for the last things she said to Kezi, and Genny is just trying to hold it all together in Kezi’s honor. As the trip unfolds the group learns a lot abut their great-grandfathers death and the role it had in Kezi’s life and intentions. The group is detailing all of their travels on Kezi’s YouTube page, just as she would’ve, but the more they view her channel they see someone was sending weird messages to Kezi, and Happi wonders if the person sending the messages knows more about Kezi’s death than anyone would’ve even guessed. This book has a major plot twist and comes off as a really good mystery. I really enjoyed this book and the fact that it had such a great twist with strong Black leads to the story. This book covers family, loss, love, racism and social injustices, and really fits in with what we are dealing with presently in the US.
Thank you NetGalley and Inkyard Press for this ARC.

The Internet. Social Media. Youth. Racism. Woke! Heritage. Generations. Sisters. Parents. Friends. Loss. Love. What do you get when you put all those words together? An Oprah Book Club worthy novel! Oooh! My! God! Did I fall in love with these characters, story, and the whole nine! Where shall I begin?

A parent’s worst nightmare is the loss of a child, and to add insult to injury, when the loss of that child was due to a senseless act. Kezi Smith grew up in a God-fearing household with two parents who were pastors. It was one thing for her to have very religious parents, but she was also under the watchful eyes of two sisters, Genny and Happi. Kezi was the middle child and everyone knows what is usually said about the one in the middle, but Kezi played her role well and was the jewel in the family.

Kezi ran a successful YouTube channel and had hundreds of thousands of followers. Kezi was all the way woke when it came to African-American history and especially the history of her own family. So much so, that she began researching her family’s heritage. Her good friend Ximena’s grandmother possessed a copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book which is a book that was provided to black motorists back-in-the-day to navigate throughout the United States without getting themselves killed. Kezi thought it would be a wonderful journey to use the book to take a cross-country trip on the infamous Route 66. She researched this idea so well she put all the stops on her channel for her followers to tag along and learn a little something too.

While Kezi was getting her trip coordinated, a young black man was killed by a white police officer, yet again! Umph, this was nothing knew to Kezi and her family. They watched the news and could hear the whispers throughout the community about how police brutality was killing our people. Kezi decides that she cannot take it anymore. This time she was going to get up close and personal with racism and face it head on. When Kezi advised her family she planned to attend the protest, immediately she was met with resistance.

Her parents flat out denied her and put the brakes on such a notion. They did not want to be the next parents standing at a podium advising people not to get violent and cause chaos throughout the community. There wasn’t any way Kezi was going to that protest. Well, Kezi was 18-years old. She’s grown. She was gonna do what she wanted to do! Her followers expected this of her. She and her bestie, Ximena, head on down to the protest.

Needless to say, the young teens were excited to be out and among the people. Fists pumping in the air, police standing guard with riot gear on, protestors chanting—the energy was intoxicating! Kezi has her camera streaming live to her followers when she spots a white police officer and a black man getting ready to stand off with each other. She focuses in and while doing so, another white police office spots her filming the whole thing. And that, readers, is where our story takes off down the road!

My goodness, when I tell you I loved this story, that is truly an understatement. I was so impressed with the building of this story and the strong characters that inhibited the pages. Sisters Genny and Happi have to learn how to deal with the loss of their sister. I enjoyed their growth throughout the story. The lessons these young women learn about Kezi and themselves is truly remarkable. Again, I say, I’m not sure why this book isn’t on Oprah’s Book Club list? If it is and I’m not aware, my bad, but if it isn’t there, it most definitely should be! The Moulite authors did an amazing job showing each character’s interaction and backstory that eventually get woven into a huge comforter that you will take solace in its warmth and want to remain for eternity. This book was amazing!

There are some unavoidable ugly truths about this country beginning with the horrendous, biased and violent treatment of black men and women for hundreds of years. This book brings to the forefront the history behind that violence from the Jim Crow Laws, sundown towns and The Green Book, which was created to give safe passage to black people traveling around this country. Unfortunately, that violence is not in the far past and today we see new versions of this violence in police brutality, housing laws, inequities caused by decades of racism and the disappearances and violence against black women. This book ties together all those issues and the generational trauma that this violence inflicts as two sisters deal with the senseless death of the third sister and her friends and family try to find their voices and their hearts on this metaphorical and literal journey. Be prepared for your heart and soul to take a beating and for some of us (allies especially) to really analyze what it means to be “one of the good ones”.

This book was so amazing, heart wrenching, and moving. I was hooked right from the start. I loved the multi-POV and the time lapses. It was so cool to see so many different time periods.

The story was so well rounded. I loved the characters and I really felt Happi’s grief was so authentic. The way she moved through her grief and grew after Kezi’s death was so inspiring.

I feel like this story is just so important and raises a lot of questions about what it means to be “one of the good ones” and why it downright offensive. A human life being cut short senselessly is terrible no matter if they were “one of the good ones” or not.

This book is so perfect for the time we live in and I highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys social justice reads.

I absolutely adored this book. I would describe this book as painful, honest, brutal, and... unexpected. This is difficult to review because I don't want to give anything away, but, I HIGHLY recommend sticking this book out to the last third because Maika Moulite really shakes things up. This book is both a retelling of the real-life horrors of racist police brutality that we see in the news and on social media over and over and over and at the same time, it is COMPLETELY original. I have never read anything like it, and I could not recommend it more highly. It's The Hate You Give meets a Riley Sager novel. Get ready to hear me yelling about this in 2021!

This was a hard book to rate. I feel like I read two different books and I was waiting for a better way to link the two story arcs together. I feel like the first half was too long of a setup for the final act of the story.
I was invested in the characters and the story was compelling ( in two separate parts). I will reccomend to my patrons and I am excited to see what else the Moulite sisters write.

with the commentary on police brutality and the heartbreaking consequences of systemic racism, this book stands on its own merit, being compared to The Hate you give. Would recommend toYa readers.

I hope never to experience losing a friend or a family member to police brutality. One of the Good Ones is as close to that feeling I ever want to get. For this to be fictitious, the Moulite sisters did an excellent job conveying the emotion of experiencing just that. I don't think grieving involves being sad all the time. Sometimes people want to escape for a little while. While some people would find Kezi's little sister selfish, I understand that Happi wants things to be different. Happi wishes she can change how she treated her family before the fatal event, and she struggles to work out her feelings and emotions after Kezi's death. Between switching points of view from Kezi and Happi, we see how the family dynamic plays out before and after the demise.

With the build-up from the entire novel being so grand, I was disappointed in the anticlimactic ending. I was expecting raw emotion and an updated point of view from each narrator. What I got was an incomplete scenario that left me wondering what happened after? The last remaining questions will never be answered, which will bug me for the rest of my life.

Overall, this was a good read. It is "one of the good ones." Yes, I know it's corny, but I couldn't help it. I never imagined the Moultrie sisters could add an element of surprise in a story initially meant to highlight Black American problems in the country. That plot twist alone changed my expectations of this book. It took me by surprise, and I think it will do the same for you.

I picked up this book because the main characters go on a road trip inspired by the Green Book, a guide for Black individuals/families of safe places for them to stop when taking trips on America’s highways. It was widely used until the 1970s to find safe lodging, gas stations, restaurants, and car repair shops. I read the Overground Railroad by Candacy C. Taylor earlier this year and found it absolutely fascinating, and I was hoping that this book would talk more about the characters finding old places that were in the Green Book and what they looked like today. However, the actual stops in the Green Book sort of took a backseat to everything else that was going on around the Smith family.

Here is the super condensed version of the plot: It is ultimately about the three Smith sisters, Happi, Kezi, and Genny. Kezi has amassed a YouTube following by posting videos reacting to injustice she sees in her life and educating followers about race and social justice issues. She goes to a protest supporting a Black man who was recently slain by police, and when things go wrong and the worst happens, Kezi is arrested and presumed to have been killed. Before she left, she created a road trip for herself and her two best friends following their grandparent’s Green Book as a tribute and history lesson to her followers. Genny, a reluctant Happi, and Kezi’s two BFFs take the trip and record it for her YouTube page in her honor. There are carefree, frustrating, and poignant times on this trip that changes all their lives forever.

Overall, I liked this book. It was a good read. It touched on social issues that are so relevant and important to today’s teens, but it also had a sense of mystery/light thriller-type vibes which I was not expecting. This book has a lot of layers: it’s not a book about just police violence or grief or internet culture or respectability politics, it is all of those things and more without being too overwhelming.

The book is told from the perspective of different Smith family members throughout time, which I found a little confusing at times. I wasn’t a big fan of this mode of storytelling until the end when everything sort of came together, but it did ultimately make sense to me. This book is great for teenage readers, as it is educational about Black American history in the early/mid-1900s while still being entertaining and easy to read. There is a TON of plot and social commentary packed into this novel for sure, but I would recommend that my library purchase this novel as soon as it comes out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC!

In One of the Good Ones, Kezi Smith, a YouTube star, dies at a BLM-esque protests. Her sisters, Happi and Genny, and her best friends set off on the road trip Kezi had planned to take the summer after she graduated. Guided by the Greenbook for Negro Motorists, the group honors Kezi by posting on her channel on their trip.

This book was a touching tale of sisters grieving and searching for connection with their sister. These characters are fully-fleshed out teenagers - they have hopes, and fears, and frustrations. And top of that, they are exceptionally aware of the pressures put on them as Black girls in America.

Highly recommend!

How many times have we heard he/she was one of the good ones? More than I can count. It seems to make bad news worse because it wasn't supposed to happen them, right? It also adds pressure as though someone is exempt from bad behavior ever. It sets a very high level of obedience and expectations. It also casts a dark light on one of the "bad" ones as if they were born to disappoint. So when I saw the title of this new novel, One of the Good Ones, I was more than interested in reading an advance copy.

The description says, "The Hate U Give meets Get Out." I totally disagree and don't see the similarities. Sister-writer duo, Maika and Maritza Moulite, come together again to explore prejudice in a new novel. Teen social activist and history buff, Kezi Smith, is killed after attending a social justice rally. Her sister, Happi, narrates through her grief, road trips with family and questions the idealized way her sister is remembered.

Was she really one of the good ones? Why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed? Are those we lost automatically idealized and seen as the perfect angel? True points made by Maika and Maritza Moulite.

Sometimes YA books do too much; One of the Good Ones is an example. I almost lost the overall message while going back and forth with alternating points of view (Kezi leading up to the day of arrest and Happi in the aftermath). I think it may be too confusing to follow for some young adults.

Even I had to make lots of mental notes to chronicle the story for it to make sense. This took away from my actually enjoying it when I had to break out with sticky note tabs to create my own order of reading. Sorry I couldn't get into the person Kezi was and the person she shaped to be in her sister's memory. I appreciate the authors humanizing black people, just not in the writing style chosen. However, it may be a totally different experience for you so give it a try.

Happy Early Pub Day, Moulite sisters! One of the Good Ones will be available Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

LiteraryMarie

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book that I’ve read from these authors and I truly was intrigued with the storyline. The book follows the events leading up to the arrest and death of an 18 year old YouTuber and activist. For most of the book I was confused because it switched between three storylines. I was waiting for an explanation as to how the stories were related. At the end, it briefly tells how the stories correlate but it was really rushed and didn’t make the best sense. I loved what the storyline represented and I loved the characters but something was missing. The plot twist was unexpected and happens around the 70% mark.

I’m giving three stars because while I loved what the authors were trying to convey, I could not get passed the constant switching between the storylines. I finished this book. There are topics which include: LGBT, Black Lives Matter, and Racism

Isn’t being human enough?
Who are the “good” ones? What exactly makes one “good?” One of the Good Ones seeks to answer these questions. It’s a much needed, thrilling, emotional roller coaster ride, page turning, good read.

"To me, Brown v. Board of Education wasn't just some case. It was the rebuttal to Plessy v. Ferguson, the racist court decision that dictated the 'separate but equal' ideology. It was one of many nails in the giant coffin of Jim Crow laws and had ushered in the legacy of the Little Rock Nine."-Kezi

Thank you to NetGalley, Inkyard Press, Maika Moulite, and Maritza Moulite for the opportunity to not only read this book in exchange for an honest review, but to be a part of the Blog Tour as well.

This is a beautiful novel highlighting the importance of activism and using one's own voice to speak up for what is right. This novel is told from multiple perspectives, including Kezi, a middle sister who is dead from the beginning of the novel, an ancestor of the family, and even someone who seems like she is not involved directly and just trying to get by. The book is told from the time frame of hours, days, weeks, or even years before "the arrest," which is a major build-up in the book. The reader knows from the beginning that Kezi died, and the interest falls in seeing just what happened to her as the events of the novel unfold. 

Happi is just trying to make her way through life. She wants to get into acting. Just because she isn't exactly "one of the good ones" like her older sister doesn't mean she doesn't have dreams she wants to follow, despite the hardships her family endures. She doesn't quite get along with her older sister Genny, either. Even after the loss of their sister, there is a rift that cannot be crossed with the sisters, but perhaps they can gain a better understanding of each other through Kezi's visionary journey.

A nice cultural aspect of this book is the small snippets of the past showing some historical aspects of hardships that African-Americans faced in the past, as well as The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that holds great importance throughout the novel and was used for African-Americans to know the "safe" places they could get their vehicles worked on, as well as dine and stay if needed.

One interesting aspect is the twist about half-way through the book. This twist is interesting but also rubs me the wrong way as the reader. There is a man named Mark and everything about him and his part of the plot is just too coincidental; it took me out of the realism within the novel and just left a bit of a bitter after-taste. The rest of the layout, organization, and characterization is wonderful, well-done, and makes this book stunning and hard to put down!

This book really shouts out the importance of standing up for what is right, and the voices of the characters and the writing are exquisite. This is a beautiful novel that resonates with current issues African-American people still face today. This shouldn't be a problem, but as we all know, it is, and reading books like this is one more step to an awareness that our young people need.

Dynamic duo sister writing team here! Maika and Maritza Moulite have captured a family's worst nightmare on the page. Told in multiple points of view and across a few timelines, One of the Good Ones follows a family's devastating tragedy in the aftermath of an arrest and death. Distinct voices, real problems, and a twist you won't see coming will keep you turning pages. As the story unfolds, it grows more sinister, and you'll be shocked how it all connects.

One of the Good Ones asks the important question "Isn't being human enough?" and I hope more folks read this book and ask the same. A stellar YA read with tense plotting and purposeful language.

Wow! I loved this book! One of the Good Ones opens as Kezi, the middle sister in a trio of girls gets ready to attend a Black Lives Matter rally in honor of yet another victim of police brutality. Her parents are fearful of her attendance and won't allow her to go, but since the rally takes place on Kezi's 18th birthday, she goes and live streams some of the events for her social justice YouTube channel. As she is broadcasting, she is arrested. Within hours, she is dead. Her sisters, Genni and Happi, decide to honor her life by going ahead with a trip that Kezi had planned - driving from Chicago to California along Route 66, using the historic Negro Motorist Green Book to guide them. Along the way, they discover the truth about how deeply racism has affected their own family. The theme of what makes a person of color worthy is explored. What makes a person of color worthy of being treated fairly, worthy of being allowed to live their life in safety, and worthy of being remembered when their life ends? Why do they need to be "worthy" of these things in the first place? What makes someone "one of the good ones"? This book is well-written and has a fantastic plot twist. Fans of Tiffany D. Jackson may particularly enjoy it. This book is definitely "one of the good ones"! LGBTQ+ themes are present but are not the main theme of the book. I would say it's best suited for ages 13 and up due to some violence.

Keziah Smith, a young, up and coming YouTuber, who is a social justice crusader, dies in police custody after being arrested while attending a protest for an innocent Black man who was killed at the hands of the police. Her family speaks out about Kezi’s death, and her remaining sisters, Genny, Happi, and two closest friends, Ximena and Derek, embark on Kezi’s pre-planned road trip, using a gifted copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book, in her honor to commemorate her life and the work she was doing for social justice. Incorporating flash backs to the past, we learn about the Smith family, and how Black trauma has been passed down through generations in their family.

The title, “One of the Good Ones,” is a recurring theme in this book. The book discusses how Black people are deemed either “one of the good ones” or someone who doesn’t deserve anything. Damon Young called this phenomenon, “the magical negro.” What white people call and think of Black people who remain “neutral” on race, or those who don’t rock the boat about racism, pull the race card, or get in trouble with the law.

“I know that existing as a human being on this earth should be enough to deserve respect and justice. But it isn’t. Instead, we focus on those we deem worthy, for whom we allow ourselves to feel the weight of their loss.”

This book pulls on so many areas:
- Generational trauma in the Black community
- Missing Black people
- Police brutality
- Death in police custody
- Social justice
- Racism
- Familial ties/bonds
- Friendship
- LGBTQIA+
- Normalizing therapy for the Black family
- Birth Order & personality traits
- Humanizing Blackness

This book gave me all sorts of vibes. There are a host of acknowledgements to past atrocities done to members of the Black community in the recent past, and I felt the collective grief and palpable fear that Black people have when we see yet again senseless violence that impacts our community.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, as there is a crazy twist in the plot that keeps you moving throughout the book. Overall, the pace was good, the plot development was decent, the character development was good, but the ending felt a bit rushed, and I wished that some of the plot lines were flushed out completely prior to the end. However, this book is a book to watch for 2021. Definitely timely, and needed, as the BLM movement has gained momentum in recent events, with the passing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and a host of others who have not been forgotten, like Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Philando Castille, and Trayvon Martin.

This book is definitely a must read for young adults, and I would rate this book a solid 4.

Thank you to Net Galley, Maika Moulite, Maritza Moulite, and Inkyard Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

4.5 stars

I really liked this book. It explores the phrase “one of the good ones” and whether it matters if a victim of racial brutality was indeed a “good one”. The writing was top-notch; I couldn’t put it down. The story sucked me in from the very beginning. It’s told from four different points of view and each view is written very well. The characters were fleshed out and relatable. I saw a little bit of myself in all of them, but more so in Happi. She is the complete opposite of her name. She has so much baggage that she holds onto. Grief, guilt, sadness, and anger weigh her down until she can’t bear it on her own anymore. But as the story progresses, she begins to unload some of her pain. I loved her growth throughout the story.

I was captivated by the realness of the story. It tackles many themes: police brutality, racism, generational trauma, sexuality, religion, mental health, the criminal justice system. One of the Good Ones is not an easy book to read. The inclusion of black history was necessary. You can tell the authors did their research because even though this is a work of fiction, sadly the racism that black people had to, and still, endure is very real. We see much of it through the road trip that Happi and Genny take with Kezi’s two friends.

I have two gripes with this story: the twist and the ending. I didn’t see the twist coming. Though I thought it was a clever one, I didn’t think it was well thought out on the character’s part. I’m not sure if that was done on purpose or not, but I had so many questions. What, why, and how? I just couldn’t wrap my head totally around it. The ending was abrupt; too abrupt for my liking. Because I was blessed to receive an ARC, I thought a chunk of the story was missing. But sadly it was not. I was left wanting SO MUCH MORE. This book left an openness in my heart that let’s me know that I’ll be thinking about it long after I read it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

This book is difficult for me to review. So much happened...so much. I was a little overwhelmed. The book switches points of view from Happi, to her sister Kezi, to past relatives, to current brief acquaintances. Usually I love this multiple view scenario but this time, I was hopping.

At a memorial ceremony for Kezi, the family is together in Chicago when Kezi's sisters decide to fulfill her planned graduation road trip down Route 66. There was a scene in Chicago where Happi leaves her family and ends up at a pool party. I wanted that scene to play into the story, but I didn't see it. There are twists and turns throughout, but toward the end of the book, I didn't care about anything except getting to the end, so I was frustrated when some fluff chapters were thrown in.

It took me about 50% of the book to become engrossed and then 80% through my mind was spun and I couldn't quite put everything together neatly. Each story was important - but it was a lot to combine into one.

I still think it is important enough to keep and promote in the middle school library and touches on a lot of current issues. 3.5 stars