*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This book was both hilarious and heartbreaking. I actually ended up listening to the audiobook version of this which I highly recommend. Lacey’s been through a lot, and as unbelievable as these stories may seem, I’m also not a woman of color so I have never been a victim to the racism that she’s experienced. It’s definitely an eye-opener. You’ll want to pass along these stories to your friends and family just as much as Amber and Lacey do to theirs.

Amber and Lacey strike a pitch perfect tone, telling these hilariously awful stories in a frank and conversational manner. It's engaging and absorbing. I'm so glad I read it.

I am a huge fan of Amber Ruffin and her newly released show on Peacock and so I was immensely pleased to receive this ARC. It is both funny and thought-provoking and an excellent read (especially during Black History Month). I hope these two continue writing!

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC! 

‘You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey’ pretty much epitomizes the saying ‘you have to laugh to keep from crying.’ The book is a series of stories told by two sisters, and focuses on the experience being Black in the city of Omaha. The stories are absolutely terrible- but somehow Amber and Lacey make them hilarious. There are racist experiences from every part of their life (and some others in their family), and they’re right- it’s hard to believe. I mean, it’s not, but it should be. 

Their sisters dynamic is well translated to text, and you feel at times that you’re in the middle of a conversation with the two of them. My only problem with the book comes from just that- at times it’s so conversational as to become confusing. I had to go back and reread a couple of times to remember what the original train of thought was. 

Overall, though, I recommend this book. Unfortunately, I feel like the people who most need it won’t pick it up— but maybe enough people in their lives will, and they’ll finally acknowledge that racism didn’t disappear with the election of Obama.

This book is hilarious and horrifying and... hilariously horrifying? Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar bring you right into the thick of things. The stories are hilarious but heart wrenching in how ubiquitous they are. A must read for everyone.

3.5
Amber Ruffin is hilarious. I've always enjoy watching her on Seth Meyer's show and have loved the way she brings attention to racism through her comedy, but in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, when she recalled her own personal racist experiences, I cried.
 
This book will horrify you and make you laugh and if you're a racist you might recognize yourself, but then again I bet if you're a racist you won't be picking this one up. That's a shame because it might open your eyes. It opened mine up and made me laugh.

The title to this book exactly explains the subject of the book. It's an easy read, in the way it's put together/written....but the subject matter is not an easy read. At the end, the author says "Please take these stories and use them." It's a very serious subject, told in as easy/honest as manner as possible. Much of it takes place around a locale (Omaha, NE) I am somewhat familiar with, so that aspect was of interest.
I received an e-ARC of the book from Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley, having offered to read it & post my own fair & honest review.

Whew!  Thank goodness we got a new President yesterday and America isn’t racist anymore!  That was a close one there for a minute.  (<<<<If you don’t understand that was a joke then this probably isn’t the book for you.)  But if are still trying to become more “woke” and all of the other books that people have been sharing/shaming you to read here or on the ‘Gram are just making you want to stick you head in the oven, this might be the selection for you.

In case you aren’t aware from my oh-so-very-youthful-looking profile picture (I’m the one on the left), I am an old lady – and I work with even older old men who most definitely could have been used as like eleventy examples of things people say without even giving a fuck that they are just blatantly not okay.  My company like most others also tries to tout its inclusivity and diversity while having one black person in a not bottom-of-the-barrel staff type of position and also one Pacific Islander because yay that’s <i>super</i> diverse */sarcasm*.  These are the stories from a black person working in flyover country.  They are cringey and some are awful, but they are delivered with humor so you don’t feel like you just took a frying pan to your face over and over again while reading them.

As I said right above this, I am old (or at least old adjacent).  I cannot stay up late enough to watch Seth Meyers, but I did fall a little bit in love with Amber Ruffin during her many appearances on <i>Drunk History</I>.  I mean, my girl gets L.I.T.  And then Peacock became a thing so I could demand her very own show whenever I feel like it.  Now I love her even more.  She just spits truth.  And she fucking punked her sister for their press tour for this release.

As said at the end of the book . . . 

<b><i>We are not into trying to educate white America, but maybe we accidentally did.  Maybe white readers learned that just because your Black friends aren’t sitting you down, going over all their trauma with you, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!  Maybe your learned that racist stuff happens all the time.  Maybe you’ve become emboldened to speak up when you see someone being a racist piece of shit.  Maybe you’ve realized the racist piece of shit was you!</i></b>

Or maybe you’re still waiting to “Make America Great Again” . . . . 

If so, please kindly block me so I never see you again.  Thanks in advance!

<i>ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you, NetGalley!</I>

Ask any Black woman how many microaggressions she deals with daily and she’ll likely laugh at you and tell you there’s no way she could keep count because they happen so often. Is it tiring, yes. Does it make you want to pluck your eyelashes out one by one at times, yes. But occasionally you stop and think about the ridiculousness of it all and you have no other choice than to laugh. 

Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar have written a book that perfectly encapsulates the world that so many of us live in. However, Lacey seems to have a microaggression magnet on her forehead. You know how some people attract crazy? Lacey attracts polite, and sometimes not so polite, racists. Living in Omaha (or anywhere in the U.S.) can’t help, but I promise the stories she tells are relatable whether you’re in the midwest or the mid-atlantic region. Whether it’s a cashier asking if the Harriet Tubman image on your checks is actually you, being the only Black person at work, being told you’re safe as a Black woman because no one kidnaps Black women or the assumption that you’re from a single parent household even though you grew up with both parents in the house - being Black in perceived white spaces can be a lot. And yet, Lacey seems to find the humor in it all.

The stories are told with enough lightheartedness that I found myself cackling, and I can appreciate this somewhat strategic move to put white readers at ease as they slowly, but surely, start to think about which of the cringeworthy and downright offensive acts they’ve committed themselves. But this book isn’t meant just for white readers who are looking to learn how to be and do better, it’s also an affirmation for Black women who’ve questioned their sanity after a day in the life where their humanity is questioned simply for existing in a world that dares them to be in its space.

3.5 stars

I don't know how to review this. I didn't know of the author, a Black female comedy writer.  I picked it up because as an older white woman, I figure the more books dealing with racism I read, the more chance I will shed some of the racist ways that stick to us all in this society. I guess I was expecting humor, although looking back that seems naive.

This is a series of retold stories of the author and her sister's never-ending experiences with racism. The sisters have survived and thrived and are pretty honest in how they react to these experiences. My reaction was embarrassment, anger and shame that people can be so ignorant and so wrong-headed.  But the litany of wrongs is entirely too believable and real. Hats off to the authors for dealing with all this, particularly the daily workplace stuff, and being able to see any humor at all. And thank you for laying it out for the rest of us to see, even if it makes us all squirm.

Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Anyone who has ever watched anything that Amber Ruffin has done will hear her voice while reading this book. Her personality leaps off the page in the best way. The book is a collection of stories from her sister, Lacey, while living as a black woman in Omaha, Nebraska. It's a concept that could be depressing, but Amber and Lacey infuse the stories with humor and insight that makes it easy to laugh while you empathize with the absolute nonsense they live through on a day to day basis.

When I was visiting Cuba several years ago, just about every conversation with a Cuban started with
"It's complicated". That was my feeling about this book. First of all, thanks to the publishers and Net Galley for allowing me to read an ARC. These stories were supposed to be somewhat funny, and once in a while I would smile, but I saw them as much more tragic than comedic. That the setting was Omaha, not that far from where I live, made it much more heart breaking. It did change my mind about micro aggressions. I knew about these and thought they were horrible, but things could be much worse. I now believe that these so called "micro aggressions" are so numerous that over time they are as damaging as just about anything we have seen in the recent pass. Thanks to the authors for opening my eyes to this situation.

"Writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin writes with her sister Lacey Lamar with humor and heart to share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism.

Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal." But Amber's sister Lacey? She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey.

From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think "I can say whatever I want to this woman." And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity."

I also adore Amber.

This book is SO GOOD. Amber's voice specifically comes through SO VIVIDLY. And her sister Lacey too. This book was laugh out loud funny while also dealing with such a REAL, CURRENT problem. This is a book about not just outright racism, though it is, but also the more insidious problem of microagressions. The kinds of racism that white people don't even think of as racism because we've been taught that the KKK is the prototype of racism in America. But all the smaller, everyday racist things people say and do take their toll on Black and Brown people. And those things are important too. So, READ THIS BOOK, Y'ALL. And think twice before you say stupid shit.

I've heard so much buzz about this book in the first week of the year that I basically dropped everything and binged this book when I received it. Thank you to Grand Central Pub and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy. This book was so good and unlike anything I've ever read before. This book is truly shocking in so many ways and definitely worth picking up.

This book is a collection of stories about racism, experienced by two sisters (Lacey and Amber) in their predominantly white workplaces, their church, their hometown and well, sadly everywhere. It's filled with some truly horrible tales but also many comical moments. The book is super readable because the tone of the book is written such that you want to laugh along with them but you also finish each story with a bad taste in your mouth. Amber and Lacey do a great job of delivering these tales to a wide variety of readers while keep it real. I think anyone who reads this will learn a lot and be forced to take a walk in the shoes of the authors.

Some of the scenes that made me physically laugh out loud were the anecdotes about their mom's coat style being copied by Lacey's stalker, the side by side photo's that were inserted of Lacey, the sisterly banter and the donut shop owner stare down. These women are just so amazing and I would love to listen to an audiobook version of this book.

You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey is written by Late Night with Seth Meyers writer Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar. Mostly written by Amber, she describes it this way:

My sister Lacey is a lightening rod for hilarious racist stories.

And also:

When you hear these stories and think, None of these stories are okay, you are right. And when you hear these stories and think, Dang, that's hilarious, you are right. They're both.

You may have seen Amber on the segment Jokes Seth Can't Tell which is flipping hysterical. Or perhaps you've seen her show on the Peacock app, The Amber Ruffin Show. If you haven't then you definitely should. She's really funny. And whether you have seen these or you haven't, I highly recommend pulling up several segments on YouTube and watching them just to get her voice in your head. Her sweet tone of voice and sarcastic delivery will absolutely make the reading experience better for you.

The stories Amber and Lacey tell are unbelievable, by which I mean they are horribly believable. Who are these people that would treat someone this way? What is wrong with some people? How do people who treat others this way sleep at night? I really would like to know. Anyone else telling these stories would be depressing, but somehow Amber makes it hilarious.

I highly recommend this book. I've even added it to my "Required Reading" list. I can't wait to listen to the audio version because it is going to be ah-mazing!

I will be forcing this book onto anyone and everyone I can for the foreseeable future. It is horrifying yet hilarious, poignant yet approachable. I was laughing out loud and had a knot in my chest for the entire duration and I absolutely could not put it down. I hope Lacey & Amber write a dozen books together because I have the feeling that no matter what they put onto paper, I would buy it and read it. 5 stars and an enthusiastic "buy this damn book".

I do not want to say that a book about racism is GREAT but... maybe I'll just say that it's essential reading (really a "what not to do") for white people in the United States (and probably elsewhere). Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, Lacey has a lot of stories about racism. Subtle, overt, humourous, hurtful, scary, this book covers it all with stories about Lacey's actual life interspersed with a few stories or comments from Amber. I had to stop a few times because some of the stories are pretty intense, but that just goes to show that I have the privilege to read this, step away, and not live it every day. I cannot say enough good things about this, and hope to buy a few copies for family and friends. 

5/5 Stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Read this book..
Read this book..
Listen to me! Read this book!
I am white. I do not understand what it is like being anything other than white. But this book really opened my eyes to the sharp little (and big) racist digs that are perpetrated on a daily basis. 
I wish I could say I laughed at times. Maybe a smile or two - Amber and Lacey are funny. But for the most part it made me realize how oblivious and unaware I am. 
This book has made me be more self-reflective as well as opened my eyes to bigotry. 
Amber & Lacey did a great job getting the message across using humor and kindness. . 
Now it's our turn. 
And it starts with 
Read this book!

This is a must-read for all of us to understand how casual comments and micro-aggressions affect Black people. It’s written in a light, informal style, but the stores being told are deadly serious. Extremely important book.