Editorial assistant Nella is the only Black woman at her New York publishing firm--until rising star Hazel comes along and starts outshining her in every way. When Nella starts getting threatening notes telling her to leave, it's hard to believe that Hazel is the culprit--until she starts throwing Nella under the bus at work. Full of commentary on microaggressions, liberal racism, and the very real diversity issues in publishing, TOBG winds the real issues that young Black women face in the professional arts world in with a fraught, tension-building thriller.

It's almost impossible to review The Other Black Girl without giving away key points in the plot; even just nailing down the genre is something of a spoiler. Broadly based around racial diversity (or the lack thereof) in mainstream publishing, Zakiya Dalila Harris has created something like a thriller but with wildly imaginative themes and social critiques, joining the ranks of strange, sharp-tongued speculative fiction by the likes of Margaret Atwood and Ira Levin. For its flaws--the pacing was a little off, and the simultaneous narratives with other characters sometimes felt like they needed a little more context--TOBG is a fun and original premise and an ideal one-day summer read.

This is a great book about microaggressions, racism and being the only black female in a work environment. Until another black female arrives....This is where this book takes a mysterious turn and gets bizarre. I was expecting a much more wow of an ending because of the tension filled build up but it sorely disappointed. Overall it is an interesting read but the ending was meh.

*Thanks to Simon & Shuster Canada & NetGalley for this Ebook in exchange for my honest review

THE OTHER BLACK GIRL pulled me in right away with its publishing world setting and office politics. I was intrigued with the GET OUT reference, being a huge Jordan Peele fan, and this book delivered.

It was both thrilling and riveting. It is a slow burn read but worth it in the end.

An editorial assistant at Wagner Books, Nella is the only Black woman in the office where she’s endured racism and micro-aggressions during her two years at Wagner, but in comes Hazel, a new Black editorial assistant. Nella and Hazel strike up a quick kinship but it soon turns sour as Nella begins to feel undermined by Hazel.
Hazel makes quick work of becoming a favorite of both Nella’s boss and the owner of Wagner books.
Nella, feeling left in the dust becomes suspicious of Hazel’s motives and begins investigating Hazel, what she finds is a chilling and sinister truth not only about Hazel but about Wagner Books as well. Will she become part of this dark and sinister world or will she fight against it? You will have to read to find out!

Thank you to Zakiya Dalila Harris for this very timely book and for the jaw-dropping ending that had me screaming “Noooooo!”

This book is both brilliant and inventive. The characters are interesting and the book is extremely well-written. Pick this one up when it releases on June 1st 2021.

Thank you to @simonschusterca for the ARC.

Nella Rogers is an Editorial Assistant at a major publishing company. After two years of being the only black employee in an all-white establishment, Nella is thrilled to be joined by new fellow EA, Hazel McCall. They bond over Zora Neale Hurston mugs, hairstyle advice on locking and scarves, and other perspectives of being the only two "black girls" at Wagner Books.

But, as much as they share in the friction and micro aggressions of navigating in a conventionally non-diverse working environment, no two Black Female Experiences are the same. With the sudden arrival of three short words on an unsigned note card, a wedge begins to form between Nella and Hazel. Maybe sharing the same skin colour isn't enough to cement a sisterhood. Sometimes women really are each other's worst enemies, in spite of (perhaps, especially if) they face the same adversities.

Yes, themes of racial prejudice, generational inequalities, feminine competition, and maintaining of the status quo are explored within. However, midway into the book, the genre seems to switch from contemporary commentary to horror thriller. Nella and Hazel are pawns inside a much greater struggle between good vs. evil, Resistance vs. Establishment, natural instinct vs. Mad Science.

As confusing as this shift and the accompanying introduction of new characters was to absorb, I really liked the clever twist and premise of the overall story. Yet, there were definitely stretches of the book that lagged and made me want to skim ahead. There were parts of the plot that were, ironically, driven by what the protagonists themselves refer to as the "Dumb Fool Playbook". And, lastly, I was disappointed that there was a lack of closure regarding some of the shadow players that were lurking in the background. I think this is a really good debut novel. I would recommend it to readers who are interested in social commentary and office politics, enjoy a sweet plot twist, and have patience for the build up.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC copy.

I must admit I was drawn into the hype and praise for Zakiya Dalila Harris novel The Other Black Girl. After all it was compared to The Devil Wears Prada so fun and Get Out so OMG thrilling! Imagine my disappointment while reading this I discover that this book is not exactly that! The pacing for me was very slow and a few unnecessary chapters. The best part is the last quarter!! I did enjoy the POV aspect of the book and its concept, a solid debut novel.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved this book! Aside from the obvious comparisons to Get Out, it reminded me of another new release, Mateo Askaripour’s Black Buck. Both authors use satire and nearly outlandish plot lines to make deeper and very real comments on race in the workplace. Really entertaining read with lots of twists and turns.

What started out as a slow-burn psychological thriller, morphed into a Jordan Peele-esque social thriller, and I am here for it.

There’s a lot to unpack in this book. The author, Zakiya Dalila Harris, does a fantastic job of creating a narrative that tackles some serious sh*t that is NOT talked about enough: micro-aggressions, racial alienation, racism, white-washing, and tokenism, just to name a few. It’s a commentary on race-relations, and challenges what it means to lobby for and ensure diversity in the workplace, all while keeping you guessing at what will happen next.

The timeline, which alternated from past to present, existed to provide context, but I personally felt at times it stalled the amp-up of suspense. And while I did find it was a bit 𝘵𝘰𝘰 slow-paced at times, I think that was in an effort to not draw away from the truths that the author was writing about.

This isn’t just a story, I believe it mirrors the unacceptable reality that people of colour face every day in and out of the workplace (*being a cis-white female afforded white-privilege, I don’t presume to assume I know what it is like to live in the everyday reality of a person of colour).

It’s an interesting and important read that will leave you thinking long after it’s done. It hits shelves on June 1, 2021, and you should definitely read it.

A sincere thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for this advanced readers copy.

Nella is the only Black employee at a publishing company in New York and is thrilled when the company hires another Black woman, Hazel. Except Hazel is... off. There's something about her that rubs Nella (and the reader) the wrong way, and it's a slow-burn race to figure out what her deal is.

I found this a deeply compelling novel. It's not necessarily a horror novel, but it is pretty horrifying at times. There's a very unsettling edge that runs through the whole story that led me to clicking "horror" under genre on my reading log. It's being pushed as "Devil Wears Prada meets Get Out"... honestly, the only DWP about this is that a lot of it is set in an office. That's it. It is very much Get Out vibes, which was so fun to read. But also, as I mentioned, horrifying. I really liked Harris' writing and found it evoked the right feelings all the way through. I'm happy to say that even though I had some idea of what was happening, there were parts that shocked me and made me feel very uncomfortable to my soul. Reading this as a woman of colour who has faced racism while working in publishing, there was a lot of bad feelings while reading. (Caveat: I am not Black, so definitely not the same experiences, but similar enough that I felt vividly uncomfortable and angry.)

The ending left me unsettled and questioning, which usually annoys me, but for THE OTHER BLACK GIRL it was perfect. A great novel with a very deep introspection on the concept of Other, both by someone else against and for you, and by yourself against and for others. Definitely recommend!

In education, we say books should be mirrors, windows and doors for students. Mirrors so that students can see themselves in the text. Windows, so we can understand how other people live. Prisms so our beliefs and biases can be challenged. The Other Black Girl was all of these things.

What started out as a seemingly contemporary novel about racism and microaggressions became a complicated maze of people, eras, genres and suspense. I’m still in disbelief after finishing the novel as it took unexpected twists and turns. Huge twists and turns!

Nella is an editorial assistant at Wagners, a top Publishing Company in NYC. She is thrilled when Hazel joins the team, so that Nella is no longer the only Black woman. Quickly though, Nella becomes less than thrilled as some strange interactions with Hazel, coupled with threatening notes, leave her questioning her beliefs, ideals and all that she thought to be true.

Zakiya Dalila Harris has written a true masterpiece that took me on a ride that I really didn’t expect. She slowly built her characters, outlined the microaggressions and made me really care about her characters. I sat, mouth gaping, while reading the final chapters. I love being surprised like this!

A very sincere thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the digital ARC of The Other Black Girl. I can’t wait to further promote this novel.

Four Stars

A psychological thriller about diversity in the publishing industry, or in any industry, is a timely subject. Without giving anything away, I feel this is more about indoctrination than diversity and as this is rampant in our society, the diversity aspect felt dumbed down. I enjoyed the book and found it a very fast paced read, but admit to being confused on more than one occasion and having to backtrack, because it didn’t always feel as though the narratives were flowing in the same direction. The initial chapter, set in 1983, certainly got the blood pumping as a prologue but then the narrative switches to 2018 and remains there for most of the book and after finishing it, the prologue felt superfluous. I applaud the author for drawing some uniquely disturbing characters who mirage their way into your psyche. You ‘feel’ what you are seeing but what you feel doesn’t add up to what you ‘see’. But this is clever writing and the dialogue is well done.
Overall, I think the novel lacks cohesiveness and, although I enjoyed the read, I also feel as though chunks had hit the editing floor before proper consideration of how all the facets meld together giving every piece a spotlight in the jigsaw. Lovely creepy ending which came as a surprise. Bravo!

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris is a sharply observed and cleverly constructed debut that explores race relations and workplace dynamics as two black women navigate the predominantly white landscape of book publishing in New York City,

Nella is the sole black employee of Wagner Books until Hazel arrives one day to begin work in a neighbouring cubicle. Nella bonds with the new employee, suddenly not feeling so alone. When Hazel begins to quickly become the office darling, leaving Nessa behind, a series of threatening notes begin to arrive on Nessa's desk, causing her to wonder if her colleague could possibly be behind them.

Initially, I was disappointed that the novel didn't immediately grab my attention in the way that I had hoped, but I was soon drawn into the dynamics of the relationship between Nella and Hazel, and became more engaged as the narrative progressed. 3.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC.

I was drawn in by the description of this book being a cross between Get Out and The Devil Wears Prada. It’s difficult to class the genre of this novel, as it was unlike anything I’ve read before. It was contemporary, but also suspenseful, and had a tinge of science fiction as well.

I found that the first 2/3 or so of the novel were quite slow, and then it suddenly picked up.

This story is quite timely and relevant right now in that it has a lot of commentary on some of the challenges that BIPOC people face everyday. All in all, this was a great debut, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, and Zakiya Dalila Harris for the opportunity to review this ARC. This review and all opinions are my own.

"A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace."

And this book is all that and more. It is very thought provoking. I could relate to the dynamics between Nella and Hazel and watching the "new girl" become the star in the office without having to first put in the work to get there. But more than that is the question of why Hazel is so loved so quickly. A shining personality? Manipulation? A small office affair with the boss?

But the answer was so much better than anticipated. I'll be thinking about the ending for quite some time.

I LOVED The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris! It is a psychological thriller about a young Black working working in a Manhattan publishing house. It is extremely entertaining and will be a great summer read for 2021. It also raises a lot of interesting issues that would make for lively book club discussions. I will definitely recommend it to book clubs later this year. I am very hopeful that this becomes a series or there are follow-up books with some of the same characters -- I would read them all!

I was very intrigued with the premise of this novel - a The Devil Wears Prada and Get Out mashup. I was here for it and I wanted to love this book.
It just moved so. dang. slowly. I was hanging on through all the publishing world talk for those moments of suspense (which were great!), but there just weren't enough. I was over 80% of the way through the story before the action picked up.
There is a lot of great social commentary here and I appreciated hearing about the challenges black people are facing everyday. It's a very relevant story, I just wish the suspense had been more consistent and the story was more concise.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada, Atria Books and NetGalley for the DRC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

This book has the description of being "The Devil Wears Prada" meets "Get Out". I'd go with the latter more than the prior. I honestly don't really see the "The Devil Wears Prada" connection part of it. Definitely a "Get Out" one though.

What this book does cover though, are racial micro-agressions in the day to day lives of millions of Afro-Americans. The comments that might not be noticed by people who are not PoCs (I'm caucasian). The perceptions of a PoC vs one that isn't on a given subject. For example, in Chapter 5, Nella, the main character, discusses with her boss and their cash cow author certain issues at hand with his most recent release. When Nella raises certain issues about the one person of colour character in the book being cliché'ed, the author reacts the wrong way. Further along the book, they discuss the book's cover and that same book character is again cliché'ed and Nella feels she needs to speak out, but I won't spoil what happens as this is when most of the reveal happens. I must say though, that even though I try to be as cautious as possible when it comes to these matters in my personal life, I may not notice them as much as a PoC might, and this book certainly did help a bit with that.

There was one part that confused me however. When we kept going back between an old character (which I won't name for spoiler reasons) and Nella. I still don't understand why it was done this way even after having thought about it for a week now. It just kept me confused throughout. We do end up seeing why this character is mentioned, but starting off the book with this character is just confusing. But, it is forgivable.

This book was definitely not what I expected it to be though (especially not the ending - in a good way), and I must say it was definitely a page turner for sure! Once I opened this book, I could not put it down! It was so good! I could have taken a few hundred pages more of this story. The characters are fun and enjoyable for the most part. Zakiya Dalila Harris is a promising author I would definitely read again.

This book is one of the most timely books I’ve read in a long time. It eloquently deals with tokenism, outright racism, microagressions (especially in the work place) and societies expectations of black women. While I’ve read about these things before, what was particularly enticing about this read for me what getting to see it through a black women’s eyes. The author has a knack for giving the reader a better understanding of the confusion and overwhelming frustration black women face in their day to day activities and the additional emotional labour it takes to navigate them.

I was however left with unanswered questions at the end of the book. I felt like the mystery wasn’t fully resolved. I wanted more details on OBG, how they function, who was involved and why/how. But maybe leaving it up in the air is also a commentary on black women’s unsettling expriences in the professional world - or maybe (hopefully) it means there is a sequel coming!

Either way I couldn’t put it down. I think it is one of those unique reads that, because of its social relevance, can be confidently recommended to both people who prefer fiction and those who prefer non-fiction.

* Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an advance copy for review purposes *

Nella has been working at a publishing house with no concept of life-work balance for the last couple years, and is thrilled that another black employee is joining its ranks. However, a rivalry with the new employee quickly comes to surface while Nella keeps finding cryptic, slightly creepy notes on her desk.

Is this a workplace drama or a thriller or something else entirely? "The Other Black Girl" is a book that defies categorization, and that will get people talking but is better approached knowing as little as possible about it. It is timely, bringing to the forefront more awareness on micro aggression and its confidence eroding effect. It surprised me with its a very unique premise and mind blowing conclusion. I am still processing what I read, wishing to be able to discuss with more people.

This book is well worth the hype! It's more of a slow burn, but it isn't by any means boring. Instead, I wanted to be able to read faster to see what happened to the dynamic characters, how their stories would inevitably collide, and how it'll all come together in the end. I was rooting for Nella the entire time and thought her characterization was really well done -- even though her actions/thoughts were extremely frustrating at times. This book also offers a strong social commentary on various topics that was nicely woven right into the narrative.

One thing that caught me off guard was the sci-fi elements. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it (I did!), but based on the description and the story up to the point where it clicked for me, I didn't realize that it would take such a turn. Most of the novel was rooted in realism, so it felt like it came out of nowhere.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher, #SimonSchusterCanada, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5-Stars (if I could give it more, I would).

An edge-of-your-seat, unputdownable read!

The author had me hooked within the first few pages and held my interest until the very last word. I spent a sleepless weekend not wanting to miss what would happen next.

I highly recommend this one.

Release Date: June 1, 2021