DNF@ 31%

I wonder if it's my ADHD, but I really can't force myself to read something that I'm not into. Something that I am into, I will stay up until the birds are chirping and forget/avoid all the things I should be doing in order to finish it. Something I'm not into, it just makes me mad honestly. I have to re-read stuff over and over, and I have a hard time processing it, and it just irritates me.

This idea had promise, but it was executed poorly. The writing is not good. There's a lot of telling. There are a lot of really juvenile jokes. I was hoping that it would be like.. I don't even know. I was hoping there would be more creativity, like a totally different spin on Oz, not the same Oz but with a woman from New York shooting the wicked witch of the west with a colt 45 and a bunch of poorly executed dirty jokes mixed in.

🌌Rating:2/5⭐
-----------------------------------------
🌠Review:
First of all, I would like to begin by thanking NetGallery and the publisher for providing me this free ARC. I was just scrolling aimlessly on NetGallery since it was my first time using NetGallery and found this book piqued my interest. This book is a retelling of The Wizard Of Oz where we follow Dorothy Jones who is a dressmaker and also owns a speakeasy. One day she drank a martini at her bar which led her to get swept up into the world of Oz. When she arrived, she accidentally killed the WItch of the East which acquired her a new pair of Ruby shoes. Hence begins the journey of Dorothy making her way to the Emerald City.
Truth to be told, I don’t really have any good things to say about this book so I would be grouping everything under review. Let’s dive into this review!
🌸Review:
Honestly speaking, I was expecting a lot more from the book itself. I was expecting the author to try to change up the story and add their own originality into the book itself. However, the book mostly stayed to the original plot of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I was expecting perhaps the author could spice the book up by adding more 1920s vibes and change up the characters. For example, make the Lion, Tin man and the Scarecrow run the speakeasy with Dorothy during the prohibition period in America which consisted of a lot of gangs having lots of power by having control of alcohol. I think that would help make the story much more interesting rather than sticking to the original book plot which was very predictable when I was reading it.

Next up, I feel that the main character was too Mary Sue for me. She was loved and charmed by everyone she met and almost every guy that walked past her seemed to have a crush on her. Also, she can do everything and anything without failure on the first try. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I gave this book a low rating since I really can’t stand her crying for one moment while people comfort her and then all of the sudden she can do whatever impossible task that life throws towards her. It ended up with me rooting for the antagonist in the story because I was just so done with Dorothy 

Another reason is that I felt that the side characters were just trying too hard to be witty and sassy. I felt like the characters were constantly trying to dominate the conversation which ended up making the conversation feel weird and forced. I mean you can have witty and smart characters but don’t do it consistently throughout the book but instead let the characters each have their own moment to shine in intervals. 

I was also quite confused in the beginning of the book which might be partly due to the writing style. It felt like on this page there was a problem but then on the next page the problem disappeared. Plus I felt like it was quite fast paced which ended up with some characters being forgotten or shun away in the end. There is also something else about the writing style that just doesn't click with me but I’m not sure what it is. So I was definitely kind of confused at the beginning of the book but I did manage to make sense of the plot while reading it later on.  

🌟Conclusion:

In conclusion this book gets a 2/5⭐ from me. Honestly speaking, I feel like the main reason why I didn’t really enjoy this book is due to Dorothy being Mary Sue and the lack of originality in the book. If perhaps the author makes some changes to these two points, I’m sure the book would be much more enjoyable. Anyways, once again thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this free ARC.

I really enjoyed this novel. All the aspects of a great read were found within these pages. Be sure to pick up this title!

Dorothy Jones: A Jazz age trip through Oz looked promising but was a dud. Boring characters, stereotypical characters. I’m all for reading reimagining of mythological characters or stories but the retelling has to add something and create a new feeling. This story felt like it was so closely trying to retell The Wizard of Oz, but make it Black.

I even thought it might be a new edition with updates since the story was originally published in 2013. Sadly, no. Why is this on NetGalley now?

2/5 stars. Do not recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book to review.

I didn't love this book. I found myself skipping ahead just to finish. While I loved the idea of a Jazz Age Wizard of Oz, rather than being a reimagining it was simply a retelling that didn't feel much different.

I apologize to the wonderful humans at NetGalley that granted me access to this book, but I was unable to finish it. I just never felt invested in the characters and did not find it interesting enough to keep reading beyond the first few chapters.

i really enjoyed how unique this fairy tale retelling was, I loved the Oz and Jazz elements and it was a really good read. I loved going on this journey and want to read more from Ms. Ross.

I was slightly confused during this book! The premise of it was really interesting though. If you like reading a twisted tale of wizard of Oz would recommend it!

Dorothy Jones is a fun, fast read, brimming with high spirits and affirmations. It didn't quite land for me, mostly because it moves very quickly and sometimes rushes by details I would have liked to know more about--such as the hints that Dorothy has been on other adventures just as wild as her time in Oz--but I liked its attitude. The classic Wizard of Oz plot makes a diverting canvas for a story about a beautiful, accomplished, stylish, and very sexy 1920s Black businesswoman who was 100% born to be a queen. Although I would have liked more detail and depth in some parts of the narrative, I enjoyed Ross's imaginative characterizations of the familiar Oz sidekicks and settings (and her inclusion of the celebratory jitterbug scene that was cut from the 1930s film!).

I received a free e-ARC of this title from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my review.

First off, thank you NetGalley for this ARC copy for my honest review!

What a fun twist on a classic, and a unique perspective on Oz. I like that this book had all of the original characters, but a twisted storyline and some attitude. I felt that this book was hard to follow at times (I think it was the writing style), and could use some better proofreading and editing, but overall I enjoyed this book.

Like other readers, I really wanted to like this one because it was such a clever and original concept, but the writing just didn't resonate with me in the way I hoped it would... The characters felt kind of flat and the story forced, like it was trying too hard to be sassy and clever and witty and all the things one would want and expect from a jazz-era Wizard of Oz reimagining.

First, I want to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!! I really wanted to love this book, but it just did not happen for me. The ideas that I conjured up from the title just made the expectations too high in my mind. I did love Dorothy as a character, a little sass and a how lot of spice! :)

A reworking of The Wizard of Oz set in 1920s Harlem. Dorothy is the owner of a dress shop, but also runs a speakeasy in the evenings.
I loved the idea of this story but I found the writing rather forced. The characters were not very appealing. Overall this was rather a disappointing read.

I really wanted to love Dorothy Jones: A Jazz Age Trip Through Oz, but it fell a little flat for me. 1920’s era Dorothy, running a speakeasy and getting transported to Oz sounds like an amazing plot, but I found the writing somewhat lacking and confusing at times, with some odd analogies. For an example, when we meet Glinda “…a gorgeous woman with the joy of heaven parading in her eyes.” It reads as an attempt at lyricism, but comes off feeling forced. Despite some of the issues I had with the writing style, I did like this jazz era take on Dorothy’s trip through Oz.

This is a creative and quirky trip through Harlem and Oz.

I love the author’s concept and got a kick out of her Jazz Age, most liberated take on Dorothy. What was missing for me was more expressive and stimulating language in the novel. The concept was so much fun, I wanted the writing to sparkle as much as the characters and plot. But, it didn’t.

NetGalley provided me a complimentary copybof this book in return fir a candid review.