Loved this one. The pacing fell somewhere between literary and commercial, my favorite. Glamorous queers and juicy gossip--what's not to like?

What an excellent book! I was so happy to see a diverse cast of characters that were real, flawed, and very loveable. A modern sapphic romance with BIPOC and disabled leads that takes place in the NYC art scene? Yes, please. I could not love this more. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book fell a bit flat for me. It was a bit boring at times, and I wanted more from the romance aspect of the book. There were things I enjoyed (ie. the characters), but it is not very memorable for me.

I'm all for a lesbian romance novel but this was boring AF. I had much higher hopes for a Roxane Gay choice.

This book did feel a little slow at points so it was a little hard to get through, but on the plus side i really enjoyed the dual point of views and the representation of the Nyc art scene but my biggest downfall with it was the diet culture references, they honestly just felt a bit out dated.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me, I had issues getting into the story and had to put it down. I appreciate the chance to read though! :)

2.5 ⭐️

Thank you so much Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I was so excited for this book. I mean, a sapphic interracial romance? Come on, too good not to pass up. BUT, this book was a huge disappointment. There was so much miscommunication and fighting and drama. It felt like the couple was fighting more than they had cute moments.

I was also WAY more invested in the side plot than the actual romance. Is it bad I actually DIDNT want the main couple together?

I really did not enjoy this book and it felt very long with not much happening and way too much drama. Definitely a disappointment

Thank you to the author, Roxane Gay Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found a lot to love in this convoluted story with multiple threads. The insight into the insular worlds of art - both those creating and those wanting to represent the creators - and art auctioneering was fascinating and absorbing. The historical look at the Harlem Renaissance and how that thread tied in to the present day - I wish there had been more meat on that bone, but what there was, was a good start. The love story - yes, I suppose you could all it "lush", it was steamy, if a bit predictable and at times annoying because: communication. Lots more like ethical quandries when you're just trying to make a living and get ahead, coping with familial expectations that don't mesh with your own wants and desires, and race/class distinctions. Yes, there were gaps and weaknesses, and the book could have used one more stringent edit - but overall this is a great read and I look forward to more from this author.

Lush Lives had a lot of ingredients I really liked. A love story between two ambitious women working in the art world, an inheritance that connects to the Harlem Renaissance, and the conflict of having to be part of a job project that clashes with major ethical problems. The two indivisible plots of the leads were interesting, but their relationship didn’t quite come together for me. The instant love trope is not my favorite, so that did not help, but there were several decisions that left me frustrated. While I was glad to see two accomplished, ambitious women in the lead, unfortunately, this one missed the mark a bit for me.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me

This book is about an artist called Glory, who just inherited a brownstone from a distant relative, and ends up meeting Parkie, who works at an auction house and appraises some items from the estate. They have this instant interest and attraction for each other and their relationship goes from there.

I thought the writing style was too confusing, the characters felt flat and there was nothing that made me really care about this story. It felt like the author wanted to do too much all at once and didn't manage to do any of them with depth.

Thanks to Roxane Gay Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

I really wanted to enjoy this book. Reading about a community I am so passionate about is always a goal and a pleasure. This book had so much going for it, interesting and relevant plot points, diverse representation, well researched art scene. However. I cant help but feel the plot development was lacking. I also feel like many of the conversations were stilted and used as a device rather than feeling natural. This book was ok and I would include it in displays with relevant themes but I would not specifically recommend it to library patrons.

Unfortunately, "Lush Lives" by J. Vanessa Lyon fell short of my expectations.

The lack of sufficient editing impacted the narrative structure, leaving it confusing and jumbled throughout the story. Connecting with any of the characters proved challenging, and their relationships felt forced rather than genuine, making it hard to fully invest in the plot.

While I appreciated the book's attempt to comment on the art and cultural scene, it seemed to take on too much, leaving several aspects feeling underdeveloped.

Overall, I feel that "Lush Lives" had potential, but it needed more refinement to deliver the compelling and authentic story I was hoping for.

Thank you to Roxane Gay Books and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tricky book to rate! I enjoyed Lush Lives. Surprisingly, I found the plot more engaging than the characters. Glory and Parkie were interesting (though frustrating at times), but the dual plots of 1) figuring out the story behind the unpublished manuscript found in the brownstone and 2) the Flagg auction at Cuthbert's really held my attention more.

Sometimes the plot felt a bit meandering, with things thrown in unnecessarily. For example, we hear about Parkie's ex a bit, and toward the end, she reunites with her and they have a long talk about their relationship and choose not to hook up. Cool? Truly something I did not need closure on.

One of my main complaints about this book is it feels like it's trying very hard to be ~woke~ (a word I hesitate to use since it's basically meaningless at this point, but not sure what else to call it). It comes across as a little fake, or like reading a manifesto, rather than reading two realistic characters having a realistic conversation. There are interesting points being made about race and class and art and operating in our current capitalist society, but it's written in a way where it almost feels like the author is trying not to get canceled. Intersectionality is all around us, we get it! The novel would've been stronger if it just let the characters and story speak for themselves rather than getting preachy at times.

For a book that tries so hard to get it right when it comes to race, class, queerness, etc, some parts still somehow felt problematic to me?! 1) Manya Shaw is bi and is portrayed as the stereotypical slutty/greedy bisexual, which rubbed me the wrong way. Eventually we come to see her as a good friend and smart business ally, but how she was presented for most of the book was kind of icky. 2) Nicholas is written as a very stereotypical gay man and it didn't feel authentic. 3). OMG SO MUCH DIET CULTURE GARBAGE. That bothered me. Constantly talking about the calories in the crumb cake Glory's brother-in-law is eating, how many servings of ice cream Parkie indulged in that she shouldn't have, etc. For being such intelligent, empowered ladies, would've loved to see them not hung up on calories.

All that being said: the plot was riveting. I'm interested in art and you could tell the author really knows her stuff/did her research when it comes to the NYC art world. I loved picturing the brownstone full of art and hearing about Lucille and her lovers back in the 40s. That was a cool storyline, I would've loved to see more of that!

Ultimately, I feel like this book could have used some editing (prose was so verbose), but it was an enjoyable time!

dnf. I could not for the life of me get into the book. It was unbelievably dry to the point I had to reread numerous paragraphs to get what they were trying to say. Somehow the sentence flow was both stilted and dragged on. There were way too many elements to the story and it just didn't work with my brain. I did not like either Glory or Parkie and I felt like Parkie was very objectified. I can't continue.

I wanted to love this book! And I did really love the setting, the queerness, the poly-rep, and a couple of the characters. But the writing lagged in spots and read as under-edited, needing tightening up. The ideas were good, but the pacing was slightly off so emphasis was not quite brought to the right places, and that messed with how and where tension appeared/was dispelled and how I felt about the characters and their relationships. There were some inconsistencies in the drawing of the characters themselves wherein they acted or spoke in ways that felt inconsistent with how they'd been shown. I also didn't buy the central love story--there wasn't enough establishment of connection to render believable the depth of feelings that were supposed to be propelling us forward.

All told, there are good bones! The setting, characters, and relationships had potential! The sources of building tension were believable, and the mystery they uncovered was compelling. But the execution made it tough for me to finish this one.

I really wanted to love this book. I loved the first book from Roxane Gay's imprint and was looking forward to another queer story full of heart. Unfortunately, Lush Lives by J. Vanessa Lyon didn't meet my expectations. Overall, I feel like the book would have benefited from more editing. The narrative structure was confusing and jumbled for most of the story. I'm not sure if that was the intention, but it made for a less than desirable experience while reading the book. I struggled to connect with a single character in the book and the relationships didn't feel real. It felt like they were just grasping onto each other out of the need to not be alone, and not because they actually loved each other. Which is totally fine except I don't know if that was what I was supposed to get out of the book. I appreciated the ways that Lush Lives was trying to make comments on the art & cultural scene. Ultimately, I just feel like this book was attempting to do too much and nothing felt fully fleshed out.

Glory and Parkie meet when Glory brings some of the things she's found in the brownstone she inherited from her great aunt Lucille to the gallery where Parkie works. Its clear from that moment that these two will have a fraught relationship that swings between devotion, jealousy, and so many other things, especially when Manya enters the picture, This is a romance set in the art world with lots of themes- perhaps too many, It's received a fair number of negative reviews but my major complaint is that it needed another edit, a paring of pages, to tighten it up and make it more of a page turner. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

Thank you for letting me review this book!

I was attracted by the cover (this architect loves cute abstract images of houses!) and the interesting sounding blurb. Unfortunately this book was a bit of a let down for me.

I could not get into the story and I was not invested in the characters. The whole thing felt dry and very formulaic and just there. The way the author described the house and the area was lovely though, and helped me visualise things very well.
But it did not help with making this an enjoyable read.

Also, the book was just SO LONG. 350+ pages in PDF so that is a whole A4/letter page. Insert "ain't nobody got thime for that meme", I was STRUGGLING to even get to a third of the book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review**

I so wanted to love this book and it just never found it's footing. It's a story about on and off again love, a complicated relationship between two women living in NYC. I liked aspects of the book, including the art scene and the queer rep, but I couldn't get into the vibe of the book. It felt unserious and yet too serious at the same time. I wanted to feel more connected to the story but really struggled.

Glory Hopkins is a struggling artist who unexpectedly inherits her great-aunt Lucille’s brownstone in Harlem. Parkie de Groot is the fancy auction house salesperson that Glory hires to help her go through her aunt’s belongings to see if there is anything of value. Through this process, Glory and Parkie discover much more than a long-lost manuscript that could shed a whole new light on Glory’s family history and the dynamic relationships in her new neighborhood.

Neither character was likable, and I kind of like that. They were both severely flawed people, which is very much like real life. Both nearly imploded their relationship due to their own stubbornness, and I can absolutely relate to that. At points, I despised one of them, and there were even points where I couldn’t stand either of them.
While I think that the characters were well done, the plot was tough to get through. It was slow and seemed to meander, yet there almost seemed to be too much going on. Overall, I would give this 3 out of 5 stars.
As for spice, there are a few scenes that get a little hot, though it’s still rather tame. I would rate it 2.5 peppers.