I was intrigued by the premise of "Dominoes" in which a mixed heritage woman finds out that her ancestors could have been owned by her fiancee's ancestors.

It starts with Layla meeting Andy and the days leading up to their wedding. The first 1-2 chapters have a different style than the rest of the novel, almost to the point where it feels like Layla and Sera have changed personalities completely.

But the rest of the book was a thought-provoking experience. I liked Layla's growth throughout the book, her self-discovery and what she did with the information she received. The book also gives us a great insight into both the micro-aggressions and outright racist experiences faced over centuries by black people.

While Layla's family, especially her grandfather was amazing, Sera confused me. While I wasn't a big fan, I think I could almost understand her point of view. But I would have liked more insight about where she was coming from.

Andy, on the other hand, while being great on paper, seemed to warrant more consideration too. I would like to know how he felt, and what he thought about everything.

Overall, a fascinating read which will stay with me. Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the advance e-copy!

What would happen if you discover the man you’re about to marry, who funnily enough shares your surname, is related to the people who enslaved your relatives? That’s the dilemma mixed-race Londoner of Jamaican descent Layla McKinnon faces after her best friend Sera confronts her over Layla’s white fiancé Andy’s lineage. Sera delivers an ultimatum: marry him and she will lose her.

Incredibly thought-provoking and deeply moving, Phoebe McIntosh’s ‘Dominoes’, based on her one-woman play, posits a thorny situation that has no easy answers. McIntosh skillfully depicts racism from over examples to micro aggressions and how all of us, including light-skinned Layla can be blithely unaware or even complicit in it. I was so invested in this book, not only to know what Layla decides about marrying Andy, but also how she works through the very uncomfortable feelings Sera has opened up. At first Layla frustrated me for not talking to her mum or Andy after Sera’s bombshell, but I later understood her reasons.

All of the characters were well written. I adored Layla’s grandfather, a Windrush immigrant and the advice and wisdom he shares with her. I also found Sera compelling, while many may see her as an antagonist, every one needs a friend like Sera who will tell it straight, even if the truth is uncomfortable. Sera wasn’t wrong, even if Andy is lovely she was spot on with the ‘Mr Diversity & Inclusion’. (Though I wish Sera confronted her properly instead of avoiding her, but the flashback scenes to the bar scenario made me understand why).

This book serves as a powerful reminder that in order for us to be anti-racist, we need to sit with the discomfort and allow for truth-telling. Otherwise how can people, who’ve been the receivers of this cruel and oppressive system, heal? This book should be on everyone’s 2024 reading list.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Dominoes is about questioning the person you are about to marry a month before the wedding. Layla is a mixed race British woman living in London. We start when Layla goes to a house party with her best friend Sera and ends up meeting Andy. They get engaged but hey they already have the same last name which they think is a fun coincidence. Sera has concerns though and Layla is asked to choose between her best friend and fiancé.

I don’t think this book was for me, I bounced off this one. The writing style did not seem to find its footing and I was left struggling to get though it. However, I could see it being for the reader that enjoys literary fiction with romance.

Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh is a thought provoking novel about Layla, a young mixed race woman who is getting married to Andy, a white man who has the same surname as she does. They found it to be a cute coincidence until her maid of honor started pushing her to research her past, to find out if her fiance's family had once been slave owners and owned her family ancestors as slaves. As she researches her heritage, will what she discovers be enough to stop her marriage plans? Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The book's summary implies that a choice must be made. With that, we follow Layla as she closes in on what she thought was her fairytale wedding but instead is looking in to her family's history and into herself. Unlike the summary, I don't think it has to be an either or choice, but whatever the answer is, it is one Layla has to decide for herself. It was a heartbreaking and heartwarming process to follow as Layla searches for her own answers. Perhaps the ending was a bit too neat and tidy for me, but I feel it was a realistic ending to what was a powerful thought provoking story.

This book took be a little bit to get into & feel the flow of the story, as sometimes happens in a book.
Once things started to connect, I really enjoyed it & loved Layla.

Layla is a light skinned biracial British woman of Jamaican descent. She is in the chaos & excitement of planning her wedding to the man of her dreams & she loves sharing all of this with her long time bestie-Sera, but things change with Sera & they finally confront each other on what's going on.
What Sera shares with Layla sends Layla on a mental, emotional & questioning journey & what she finds out is not what she may have expected.

It was a great story.

Dominoes is a story that will sit with me for a while. Though the story started slow, the topic is one that makes me wonder how often this might happen, coming from a country that enslaved people for almost a hundred years.

Layla is a young woman raised in London by her single mother of Jamaican descent. As her white father has never been a part of her life, she identifies more with her mother’s heritage, especially since she regularly spends time with her patois-speaking grandfather. Her best friend Sera is also black, so though her skin is lighter, Layla does not seem to give much consideration to the other half of her heritage.

Counting down to her upcoming nuptials, Layla is excited until Sera brings a documentary about financial payouts post slavery to her attention that wrecks her pre-wedding mood. It turns out that both Layla and her fiancé Andy, who is white, have the last name McKinnon. Layla has discovered as she has gotten to know his relatives that his once owned a plantation in Jamaica. Initially worried about being related, now Layla cannot stop wondering if her soon to be husband’s family once enslaved her own family. The unknown is affecting Layla far more than she cares to admit, and with the help of a historian and a trip back to Jamaica, Layla is determined to find answers.

Layla’s journey to understanding her own identity and what she is comfortable accepting is tough. Sera holds nothing back as her friend, and forces Layla to see a possible ugly truth and face it. Andy is both supportive and naïve and serves as a reminder of how important sensitivity is. Layla’s grandfather, with his thick accent is my favorite character, and is a living reminder of how to think for oneself and move forward, despite setbacks in one’s path. Dominoes takes an honest and heartbreaking approach to a tough topic and explains without being patronizing. The discussions from this book would be thought provoking for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and of course the author Phoebe McIntosh for the advanced copy of the book. Dominoes is out March 12th. All opinions are my own.

A thoughtful and absorbing look at a sensitive subject, handled beautifully by this author. Layla and her best friend Sera are extremely close, always there for each other. When Layla meets Andy, Sera sends her a documentary forcing her to face the interracial relationship with Andy, and causing deep trouble to Sera and Layla’s friendship. Reparations were made not to the freed slaves, but to the Scottish and British owners of Jamaican slaves. Could Layla marry a man who might be descended from slave owners of her own descendants? I highly recommend this timely and well written novel. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Loved this book!!! Layla is a mixed race woman (Mom is Black, Jamaican, and Dad is White, although she’s never met him), living in London. She is invited by her best friend Seraphina (Sera) to a party, and Layla is reluctant to attend. At the party, she meets this handsome man named Andy, who coincidentally shares the same surname as Layla - McKinnon. Andy and Layla hit it off pretty well, ending up engaged. Weeks before the game wedding, Sera tells Layla that she needs to research her ancestry as it is likely that Andy’s family enslaved Layla’s in Jamaica.
The author does an amazing job at taking the reader through this journey, from learning about Layla’s ancestors to her decision to marry or not marry Andy based on her findings.
Huge thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Phoebe McIntosh for an ARC of this novel.

Is Dominoes a romance or contemporary fiction? Which shelf does it belong on? This is my conundrum when reviewing this debut novel. On the one hand, it is a countdown-to-the-wedding story, complete with dress fittings, upset bridesmaids, and in-law-to-be drama. On the other hand, it's a more profound tale of slavery's legacy, Britain's treatment of Caribbean immigrants, and the buried family histories. When all of these themes are melded together, the reading becomes discordant. I read both genres, but romances and race-themed contemporary fiction take up different head space for me, and I pick one or the other based on very different moods. So, I don't know who to recommend this book to.

In addition to the discordant themes, three characters struggle for prominence throughout the book. Layla, for sure, is the main character. But is Andy or Sera her nemesis? Both are, but that leads to neither character being fully fleshed out. Sera is mostly just awful, and Andy is given so little development that it's hard to know who he is.

The grandfather is, by far, my favorite character, and I enjoyed the travel back to Jamaica and the genealogy discussions (almost like having an episode of Finding Your Roots hiding inside the novel). The dialogue is well-written but spread out between very long narrative descriptions; I found myself skimming after a while.

Ultimately, I was intrigued by the premise of descendants of slavers and the enslaved unraveling their legacies, but I would not combine this story with traditional romance novel tropes.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic ARC in return for a review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This is a really good debut novel and I will definitely keep an eye out for anything else McIntosh writes in the future.

Phoebe Mcintosh's debut novel Dominoes finds Layla, a mixed-race young woman of Jamaican and British descent residing in London, just finishing up a school term as a teacher. She is eagerly anticipating her upcoming nuptials to Andy, a white man of Scottish descent. As the wedding approaches in less than a month she finds her long-term friend Sera pulling away from her, and she is confused and hurt. She rationalizes Sera's coldness at first, and she is pretty caught up in wedding planning. Her and Andy are deeply in love and they are amused that they share the last name (McKinnon)- no need to update once married!

Much of the early third or so of the novel sets the groundwork for Layla's relationships with Andy, her mother, and her grandfather and is told through Layla's voice. Just a couple of weeks out from the wedding, Layla receives a text with a video from Seda. It is about England's history with the slave trade in their colonies, and how once the slave trade was banned, the country spent an obscene amount of money compensating slave owners for their "loss." In fact, England was still paying off this debt up until the 2010s. Sera's off-handed comments now begin to make more sense to Layla. Sera says cannot support a marriage where Layla is marrying a man who comes from a family who may have owned Layla's relatives. How can she be so white?

Layla finds herself at a loss, and on a trip to Jamaica to better discover her roots, as well as learn about history that she did not learn much about in school. Is the plot line of "is my future husband from a family who enslaved my relatives?" a weird choice for a book? I would say so. I found the push and pull of almost a romance book at times (some of the writing is reminiscent of) and the topic of enslavement to be dissonant. The atonement for our family's sins and moving forward is an interesting topic to explore, and this really could have worked. I just don't know if the avenue of a "will they or won't they" resonants well with it. I did really enjoy some of the secondary characters, especially Layla's grandfather and mother. Seda and Andy were challenging as they came off as a bit one-note, but we also were seeing them through Layla's eyes. When reading about the backstory of this book, I found out it was a one-woman play beforehand, and I wonder if that avenue for this story was better.

Thank you to Random House via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

I found it very difficult to keep the characters and storyline straight- there was just too much of everything. It was a struggle to complete and I do not recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley, and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the copy of Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh. This provocative, mesmerizing book is so beautifully written I couldn't put it down. The beginning established the relationships of the characters and the rest of the book was about Layla’s journey to come to grips with her life and family history. I loved how Layla realized her experiences were different from her best friend Sera’s were, and how she went in search of answers when she was confronted with news of Andy’s ancestors. This is an eye-opening book and I recommend it to everyone!

I enjoyed this book. I never really knew that racial slurs happened in mixed coloured relationships. The author made me feel like i was right there with the characters. An absolute gem of a book

Thanks Netgalley and publisher.all thoughts are my own

I love a thought provoking plot like this one and it definitely made me think. The beginning is mostly setting up the relationships and preparing for the intensity of the drama that comes up. The writing was slow at times, but I was able to skim around parts that were slow without losing the plot.

Layla is a mixed woman twenty-nine days from her wedding to Andy, a white man, when her best friend sends her a documentary. It is about Jamaican slaves and the money slave owners received when the slaves were emancipated. The hitch to the story is that Layla’s relatives may have been slaves to Andy’s relatives.
Layla is torn as to how this information affects her marrying Andy and decides to travel to Jamaica to the land of her ancestors and dig deep into the slavery story.
I did not quite like the book until one-third in. I felt for Layla and the tremendous dilemma she felt. Her friend Sera was so unlikeable and awful to Layla. There is a true love of family and of the roots evident in the work.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For me, this book would’ve worked much better without the best friend character playing such a prominent (and frankly, manipulative) role

It was a unique and compelling plot but too detailed in some areas, and not detailed enough in others. I had a hard time rooting for the best friendship… it just made me sad. Miscommunication in romance books is irritating AF, but miscommunication this bad between two adult women who grew up together felt truly unbelievable.

If you can look past this, then give it a read. It was well-written and engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc!
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This one took me a bit to get into, but I ultimately liked it a lot. I thought the premise was strong — a mixed race woman (Layla) discovering that her fiancé's (Andy) family may have owned her ancestors — certainly involves some thought provoking questions.

As the wedding approaches, Sera, Layla long time best friend, begins pulling away from Layla and makes her question her choice to marry Andy and (to her mind) betray her race.

This was the kind of book where I really didn't know where it would go. I could see a thread where Layla calls off the wedding just as easily as I could see one where she didn't -- no spoilers to which way it went.

I thought the novel was well written and addressed some tough questions -- it shares some DNA with of Acts of Forgiveness which I read recently too.

I struggled with how Sera treated Layla and wondered if I agreed with her behavior. Flashbacks painted a picture of how long and deep their friendship was which made be more upset for how Sera was acting. I think one minor issue I had was that I felt like I didn't really have a grasp on Andy and if I should be rooting for him or not, but maybe that was the point.

Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh

288 Pages
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Random House, Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: March 12, 2024

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction (Adult), OwnVoices, Multicultural

Layla McKinnon and her best friend Sera are teachers. It is the end of term, and they are looking forward to the summer in London. Layla met her fiancé, Any McKinnon, at his sister’s birthday party. Layla is mixed race but can pass as White. Her friend Sera is darker and feels discrimination that Layla has never experienced. After hearing about Black people being abused by police, Sera tells Layla she just does not understand. Her message is “You are not Black enough.”

Watching a documentary about slavery in the United Kingdom, Layla begins to question her relationship with Andy, who is White. She needs to find herself before she can move forward with her life and goes to the Islands where her people came from.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. This is a touchy subject when a Black or mixed-race person is judged because they are not enough. If you enjoy reading multicultural books, you will enjoy this book.