The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert

The Revolution of Birdie Randolph
by  Brandy Colbert
Check it Out: Goodreads

Dove “Birdie” Randolph works hard to be the perfect daughter and follow the path her parents have laid out for her: She quit playing her beloved soccer, she keeps her nose buried in textbooks, and she’s on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then Birdie falls hard for Booker, a sweet boy with a troubled past…whom she knows her parents will never approve of.

When her estranged aunt Carlene returns to Chicago and moves into the family’s apartment above their hair salon, Birdie notices the tension building at home. Carlene is sweet, friendly, and open-minded–she’s also spent decades in and out of treatment facilities for addiction. As Birdie becomes closer to both Booker and Carlene, she yearns to spread her wings. But when long-buried secrets rise to the surface, everything she’s known to be true is turned upside down.

This was my first book by Brandy Colbert and I was excited to start it. This covers some serious topics and also has quite a bit of diversity. However, what kept me from really loving this book were the characters and the lack of plot.

This book just follows along with Birdie’s everyday life while she manages love, family, and finding out about herself. For the most part, I did like Birdie. She came off as an average teenager. Really naïve, but still an average teenager.

I can’t say that I connected with any character here sadly. I didn’t grow up the same as Birdie so when I say I that I didn’t really like her family, you have to take that from a different point of view. My parents were never strict and never forced me to do things that I didn’t love. Also, I think the worst to me was her mother. She super judgmental and pushed her beliefs onto Birdie. I think that teenagers should get to form their own opinions about the world, not just what their parents want them to. The best character to me was her aunt Carlene. While she was NOWHERE near perfect, she didn’t let the bad days win and she really pushed herself to finally be on the recovery road that she wanted to be.

We did get a bit of a romance here and I really enjoyed our love interest, Booker. He was sweet and someone that Birdie really paired well with. I would have loved to see more about the two of them.

I think the best part of this novel was how much diversity we received. There were so many discussions of race, sexual orientation, and also dealing with alcoholism. It didn’t feel forced and was thrown into even regular conversation between characters.

To wrap up my review, while I wasn’t wowed by my first Brandy Colbert read; I can see why her work is well loved in the book community. The characters and lack of plot are what held me back but I think that so many readers will enjoy this one.

• I received an ARC via TheNovl for an honest review. 

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