I had to force myself to finish this book but I'm so glad that i did. The story was told fr in alternating perspectives, this is the story of a Black woman who moves from Atlanta to a wealthy, very white community in Virginia and a white woman who heads up the diversity committee at a high-end private school. Rebecca considers herself well educated and aware and can't wait to welcome De'Andrea and her daughter to the school and neighborhood. A dramatic fight over a confederate statue being taken down will draw battle lines throughout the community and will bring some together and test all of them. It was a quick read and I'm looking for more from this author. #netgalley #Rebecca,notBecky

De’Andrea and her family move to a predominantly white neighborhood in Northern Virginia. A move she did not want to make and she has a hard time adjusting to the move. Rebecca Myland, a white woman who is also De’Andrea’s neighbor, invites her to join the Parent Diversity committee at their children’s school.

This book touches on race issues and I think it’s important to read books like this. As a white woman I feel like I’m ignorant to a lot of race issues and I enjoy reading books like this because it opens my eyes and teaches me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely gut wrenching and difficult to read, this book is a must for white women hoping to be allies to their Black neighbors. I felt so much kinship with Rebecca, hoping and wanting to do better, but not knowing how. I am so grateful to the authors for being so vulnerable about their own journeys through these amazing and complex characters. Thank you for your work and for allowing us to be a part of it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

"Rebecca, Not Becky" by Christine Platt and Catherine Wigginton Greene is a story told by two affluent women living in Northern Virginia, Rebecca and De'Andrea.

This book was very hard for me to get through. I kept going back to it, trying to engage, but the animosity was just too much. This book was compared to Kiley Reid's "Such a Fun Age" which I LOVED, but it fell very short from that book. It was such a slow read, and I did not feel drawn to it all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for this advanced listen in exchange for my honest review.. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Told in alternating perspectives, this is the story of a Black woman who moves from Atlanta to a wealthy, very white community in Virginia and a white woman who heads up the diversity committee at a high-end private school. The plot line is a bit in-your-face and the characters are a bit over-the-top but it is an easy, engaging read. Think "When Life Gives You Lululemons" with a Black character and race issues thrown in.

Rebecca, Not Becky by Christine Platt & Catherine Wigginton Greene was a fun and entertaining contemporary fiction.
The characters and multiple point of views really added so much depth to the story.
The writing held my attention and kept me flipping the pages till the end.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Amistad for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

I was intrigued by this book as it is being marketed as in the same vein as "Such a Fun Age". This novel explores a lot of the same issues, but with more "feelings". De'Andrea Whitman relocates her upper middle class family from Atlanta to northern Virginia so that her mother in law can receive superior care for Alzheimer's. De'Andrea quickly discovers that the Whitman's are the only black family at their daughter Nina's private school. Nina makes fast friends with Isabella Myland, whose mother Rebecca runs the schools diversity committee. Rebecca is overeager to befriend De'Andrea and De'Andrea is very wary of her. There are many current topical themes explored in this novel most notably what is means to be woke, from multiple viewpoints. In addition to the racial issues, this author does a really good job of portraying what it is like for a family dealing with Alzheimer's. This book made me feel very uncomfortable at times, and I think this was the author's intent. This story is very timely and would be a great book club pick. I really enjoyed this book. Thanks to #netgalley for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book to be very interesting and intriguing. I would recommend this a friend because this is a book for everyone. I really enjoyed emerging myself into this book and it was just wonderful. This book evened my eyes to quite a few things and it’s one of those books that I’ll think about for quite awhile.

I didn't finish this book. The language was so over the top that it felt like it was being written by a white woman pretending to be Black. It had a very disappointing first chapter and I could not bring myself to continue reading it.

REbecca not Becky
by Platt/Greene
Pub Date: December 5, 2023
Ecco
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
In the vein of Such a Fun Age, a whip-smart, compulsively readable novel about two upper-class stay-at-home mothers—one white, one Black—living in a "perfect" suburb that explores motherhood, friendship, and the true meaning of sisterhood amidst the backdrop of America’s all-too-familiar racial reckoning.
Maybe I'm too old, but this book fell flat for me. It was very stereotypical and the writing wasn't great.
So for me:
3 stars

This was blurbed as, "In the vein of Such a Fun Age, a whip-smart, compulsively readable novel about two upper-class stay-at-home mothers—one white, one Black—living in a "perfect" suburb that explores motherhood, friendship, and the true meaning of sisterhood amidst the backdrop of America’s all-too-familiar racial reckoning.", which is right up my alley as I loved Such a Fun Age and was expecting something similar but this one fell flat. I don't know if I'm too old but the characters felt very young using many slang terms that my 10 year old currently uses and the dialogue took me right out of the story. I just don't connect that mid 20's would talk that way but as I said maybe I am too old and not the target group for this one. I found the character's over the top stereotypical and found it hard to relate connect to any of them and frankly didn't like any of them. This was one just wasn't for me.

DeAndrea, Nina, and their father and spouse, Malik, are on their way to a new life. They are currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. They are now relocating to Rolling Hills, Virginia, where most of the population is White. The bulk of Atlanta's communities are Black. De Andrea has a large number of pals in Atlanta. She refers to them as her best friends. Living near Buckhead appears to be a dream come true. She will now have to establish new acquaintances who may not understand her Black culture. She will also have little knowledge of their way of life. Life will undoubtedly become difficult . She'll need to hang on tight and retain some self-control for Nina, Malik, and herself as they embark on this new adventure. She has no regrets about telling her therapist about her new event. She also has God on her mind. She eventually wants to make time for herself. Giving so much of her time to family has forced her to forget herself. Her true identity is unknown. Who I am has become a huge concern.

Rebecca, on the other hand, is intrigued and delighted about the coming of the new family. She is fascinated by diversity. While she struggles with what to call the new neighbors, she silently hopes to become a friend to them. Should she use Black or African American? So far, she seems to be enjoying the upheaval. "Rebecca, Not Becky." is rich in emotional content. Our emotions will bounce around like pool table balls as we watch the two races and wait to see how it all plays out. Rebecca's description of the Rolling Hills neighborhood gives you a sense of the neighborhood's charm. The grounds and stores are delicious treats. However, there is a prominent note about Confederate memorials on the bulletin board. Rebecca is taken aback. She assumed that such memorials had long since been removed. So here we are, with Rebecca leading us back to reality. The youngsters in the families are, by the way, charming. There are three of them: Lyla, Isabella, and Nina. Sure, there will be changes and questions. Finally, there is always new knowledge and possibly sunflower-like development. After all, there's always Barack Obama's goatee to talk about. Yes, the times have changed. Why not say hello to them? I almost forgot about Todd. He is Rebecca's spouse and the father of Rebecca's two daughters.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I liked the idea of dual authors/POCs, but I don’t think it was executed well. I did like the idea of this book and the plot was great. I liked the mixture of light-hearted vibes with heavy topics such as race, culture, and even health issues like Alzheimer’s. I would give this book a 3.5 stars which is rounded to a 4 on here.

I almost gave up on this book in the first chapter with De’Andrea because it read more like IG captions than an actual book. I kept going, and the writing did get better and became more of a story and less superficial, although especially for De’Andrea’s part, there were a lot of times I felt like “ we don’t really talk like that or use those terms.” At that time, it felt more like it was trying to explain things than tell a story. Which then made me feel like I wasn’t the audience for this story.
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This was an interesting story. The plot is ripped right out of the headlines and infused with real-life new stories. De’Andrea and Rebecca felt more stereotypes of upper-middle-class Black and white women than developed characters. I wonder if some of that was intentional based on Rebecca, Not Becky title, story, and plot lines. Either way, it left me wanting more and feeling a bit annoyed at the stereotypes and limited development at times. Some of the supporting characters were interesting, and I wish we had more of their stories or character development, but some just felt out of place, like Heidi. The book ended rather abruptly. We got no conclusion or closing with Rebecca, and after all the stuff with Jake, I felt we needed more. The story with Malik and De’Andrea was kind of brushed over, too. It felt like we got more about their friend reunion/visit than we did about the true aftermath of the incident.

I like the idea of this book and where it was going, but it fell short and was a bit disappointing. There was so much to explore here- motherhood, race, class, aging, family situations and I felt like so much of it was glossed over, and we got bits and pieces that left me wanting more.

I think this book does a good job presenting the view of a black woman stuck in a white world. It also presents a little look into the emotional pain of caring for your parents with dementia. A difficult read at times because it forced me to confront some of my white privilege, but that's good. I enjoyed the book.

This one just didn’t hit for me. A novel addressing issues of race in a suburban setting. The story switches points of view (and presumably authors). The characters are very over the top stereotypes and the structure feels clunky. Not a favorite.

“Rebecca, Not Becky'' is told from the perspective of two upper middle-class women living in Northern Virginia. Rebecca Myland is a stay-at-home mom living in a multimillion-dollar home with her husband and two daughters. She is a white woman leading the diversity committee at her daughter's very non-diverse private school. De'Andrea Whitman and her husband and daughter move from Atlanta into the same gated community as the Myland and their daughter attends the same school but is one of the only Black children there.
I found most of this book to be an uncomfortable read, and not because the topic of race, racism, and diversity are uncomfortable, but because so many of the characteristics of both families and the host of supporting players, felt so stereotypically based on their races.

I found the middle of the story to be the best part of it, but did not like the beginning, or the ending, at all. It is hard to feel sympathetic towards Rebecca, living with all of the privileges of her wealth and status (I don't care that she feels stressed about managing all of the contractors coming in and out of her house to do things like build a koi fish pond to help with her mediation journey, or that she has a hard time relaxing in her fancy meditation room in her big house.

I found De'Andrea much more palatable but hated that the experience she and her husband had near the very end of the book was rushed through and glossed over. It should have been one of if not the, most important parts of the book, and throwing it in at the end felt wrong.

There were a few laughs to be had here and there and some moments that many moms will be able to relate to, but overall, I found this book to be poorly executed, and I would not recommend it to other readers.

“Rebecca, Not Becky'' is told from the perspective of two upper middle class women living in Northern Virginia. Rebecca Myland is a stay-at-home mom living in a multimillion dollar home with her husband and two daughters. She is a white woman leading the diversity committee at her daughter's very non-diverse private school. De'Andrea Whitman and her husband and daughter move from Atlanta into the same gated community as the Myland's, and their daughter attends the same school, but is one of the only Black children there.
I found most of this book to be an uncomfortable read, and not because the topic of race, racism, and diversity are uncomfortable, but because so many of the characteristics of both families, and the host of supporting players, felt so stereotypically based on their races.

I found the middle of the story to be the best part of it, but did not like the beginning, or the ending, at all. It is hard to feel sympathetic towards Rebecca, living with all of the privileges of her wealth and status (I don't care that she feels stressed about managing all of the contractors coming in and out of her house to do things like build a koi fish pond to help with her mediation journey, or that she has a hard time relaxing in her fancy meditation room in her big house.

I found De'Andrea much more palatable, but hated that the experience she and her husband had near the very end of the book was rushed through and glossed over. It should have been one of, if not the, most important parts of the book, and throwing it in at the end felt wrong.

There were a few laughs to be had here and there, and some moments that many mom's will be able to relate to, but overall, I found this book to be poorly executed, and I would not recommend it to other readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I had a hard time with this one. I love suburban dramas and I was excited to read a book that managed to take a look at racism and microaggressions at the same time. I appreciated the two authors bringing two perspectives, however, I had trouble with De'Andrea's character. Her chapters tended to drag over the most menial tasks and she spoke almost exclusively in AAVE. Both took me out of the story and slowed it down. I bet that this book will be great for bookclubs and I'm glad that it's been written.