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A tender and provocative debut novel about a mixed-race British woman who makes the shocking discovery in the days leading up to her wedding that her fiancé's family may have enslaved her ancestors

Dominoes opens in London, twenty-nine days before the wedding of a young couple. Layla is a mixed-race woman--with a Black, Jamaican mother and a white father she's never met--and Andy is a white man of Scottish descent. When they first meet at a party, they can't believe how instant their chemistry is, and how quickly their relationship unfolds. But the commonalities between the two outweigh their differences; funnily enough, they even share a last name: McKinnon.

Layla's best friend, Sera, isn't so sure--about Andy, or the fact that her best friend is engaged to marry a white man. As Layla's wedding date approaches, Sera prompts her friend to research her heritage more, and in the undertaking, Layla makes a shocking discovery: It's not just possible but extremely likely that Andy's ancestors enslaved Layla's in Jamaica, and that the money from that enslavement helped build his family's wealth.

What seemed like a fairy-tale romance is suddenly derailed as Layla begins to uncover parts of her history and identity that she never could have imagined--or had simply learned to ignore. The task takes her to Jamaica for the first time, where she meets family members for the first time, and uncovers truths about her family's history that will change the way she thinks about herself and her future. As the clock ticks down to her wedding--four days, three days, two days--Layla must make a decision: commit to the man she loves or expose a shameful history that has gone unspoken for far too long.

Conversation-starting, open-hearted, and unforgettable, Dominoes shows us that only by fully confronting the past can one hope to move forward.

Start Date: 3/22

yay!

Sorry, I got distracted and haven't started this one yet oops.

Trisha, if it's only us should we reschedule?

the audio just dropped in my inbox from the library!

so perfect, I can slip that in anytime! I'm starting today!

through 6 chapters / 26%

I like it so far
(view spoiler)[ although you can feel the foreboding on every page. The documentary and the thing with Sera. Yikes
reading the synopsis, I'm shocked by what we're waiting for the mc's to find out.

but I do wonder why, now, Sera isn't being nice about the wedding
why she isn't being upfront about the hen-do and the dress. I mean, who does that - treats their best friend like that?

Andy's family is especially awful. I wonder how this will all go down

and I wonder what's wrong with her grand dad (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 13/ 55%

(view spoiler)[ wow, I can't even imagine the choice
I can't imagine not looking into the history there - wanting to know
but also ruining the love you have for someone

but does someone stand alone - or are they part of their history

I'm still mad at Sera. I think she's being unfair to her friend
She's not communicating, dropping their friendship of so many years - acting like her friend isn't who she always is. I think she owes her more communication. If she'd been disappointed in her for months, why didn't she chat along the way? Wonder what was going on?

our MC clearly is a positive thinker, doesn't like to dwell on bad things - Sera knows this and should have handled this whole situation differently - at least I think so - if she truly loved her friend

I really hope her granddad is okay.

I also find it curious that her mother and grandfather didn't have the same wonders/concerns/thoughts
I'm really sad that she doesn't feel like she has anyone to talk to (especially since Sera just won't). She dropped it on her and just walked away

(hide spoiler)]

26%

(view spoiler)[
I feel so bad for this poor woman. I can't imagine what it feels like to be in that kind of situation.

Sera... This is really not how you're supposed to treat your closest friends. I don't understand this attitude at all.

Andy's family is awful and it makes me wonder whether given their history and their current state, this will end in either her saying no thanks to him or him splitting away from his family.

(hide spoiler)]

55%

(view spoiler)[
I really don't think I could choose to not look. Not once I knew the possibility...

Sera doesn't seem to understand her friend at all. I'm confused by their dynamic - they're supposed to be best friends?

I wonder if the middle gen of mom/grandma simply either 1. don't want/don't have capacity to process this or 2. think nothing good will come of this knowledge

I like him fine. I don't like his family. I think he could stand alone if he split but if it were me, getting money from that family is still being part of the complicity of history. I think I would be ok if the person had split from the family. But I am not a descendant of slaves and don't feel like I'm entitled to an opinion about what I would do in this situation, because I can only imagine what that might be like.

(hide spoiler)]

80% / Through Ch 21

(view spoiler)[ these flashbacks just make me more upset about Sera. She knew her friend was always always trying to be positive and only think happy thoughts. That she was naive. I'm so sad Sera has treated her so horribly.

I'm so glad that she's finally told her mom.
but I loved her mom's response. But wow, the meeting with the genealogist. Heartbreaking but also eye-opening.

I can't even imagine the struggle of being in her shoes. How do you choose? How do you ignore what you've discovered? How can you look away from some of the things Andy's done to make him seem just a bit too much like his own parents. what if his parents treated Andy and her kids different than they treated his sister's kids? Or her family? Can she trust his family?

Ugh, now that she's finally admitting some of the things Andy has done to make her uncomfortable - I don't know if she can feel fully comfortable with him. . . (hide spoiler)]

80%

(view spoiler)[
Sera is horrible. What is wrong with this woman? Who treats a friend like this? I'm so pissed at this character right now!

I was scared about how her mom was going to react, but I'm glad it went the way it did.

I don't know how I could ever look at someone the same way again, honestly. But again... I think the history alone, I could maybe deal with if he split from his family. The stuff about her own interactions with him... no.

This is heartbreaking. :(

(hide spoiler)]

and I'm done

(view spoiler)[ This was such a great book! I love that it really took on tough topics and didn't shy away from them

but I feel like I shouldn't weigh in on if Sera's opinion was wrong
or if Layla's was wrong or right. I don't feel like it's my place to say if Layla should or shouldn't have married him. It's for me to observe and be shocked and moved by the story but not judge. Because these aren't my experiences and there's no way that I would ever be faced with this like they were.

I still really think Sera was wrong for how she treated Layla. She acted like Layla should have been someone else, someone she'd never shown herself to be. So for her to judge her and drop her at such a huge moment in Layla's life - without talking to her - was frustrating to read and made me sad.

I loved that she told her mom and her mom's words to her. I loved her talking to Queen and talking to her grandpa.
I loved that she had that domino in her pocket. (hide spoiler)]

this was such a moving beautiful tough story. I hope you love the ending too!

done!

(view spoiler)[

I agree. I'm in no position to make a judgment. I have no idea what I would do in that situation, nor do I have the generational trauma attached to that situation to even begin to understand what that would feel like.

Sera frustrated me because of the way she treated Layla not her opinion. That was no way to treat a friend.

Beautiful story, and I liked the ending, but it was a hard read.

(hide spoiler)]

yay!! I'm so glad you loved it too!

I've added this one to my tbr. The synopsis, and your ratings, sound like a book I need to read. :)

Tasha wrote: "I've added this one to my tbr. The synopsis, and your ratings, sound like a book I need to read. :)"

yay! Hope you like it as much as we did!

🙂