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Make Me Over by Janay Harden - ARC Review

 A massive thank you to Story Flow Solutions and Ms Janay Harden for sharing this e-ARC with me. This review contains my honest opinions. 

3 ½ stars out of 5


The artist in me was so charged when I saw the cover art for this book, and I knew I had to read it. It only took some of the first chapter to figure out why the cover art was so stunning. Make Me Over by Janay Harden features Josie Scott, a young Black woman unable to hold down a job, understandably frustrated in a gritty Philadelphia that’ll keep moving on even if she doesn’t. However, her talent with the makeup brush soon draws a lot of eyes, and before long Josie must venture into the unknown, drawing on her wits, memories, and the encouragement of her close-knit circle to navigate the world of work, a strained relationship with a parent, and a love shadowed by crime. Going in without having read the blurb I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m glad I took the dive. 


What I liked

Janay Harden knows how to build her characters! Every one of the main characters (and some of the minor ones) is layered. Josie, in whose point of view this story is told. Her father. Her boyfriend. Ms Marta. Each one has an arc. They’re flawed. They have secrets. They speak like real people. I saw their different points of view, as shaped by their different experiences. They say some of the wittiest things (some of Josie’s thoughts and Ms Marta’s observations are a hoot!). These people have highs and meltdowns. They learn. They grow. Even the city of Philly breathes and moves and feels like a character in its own right, alternating between a familiar, comforting blanket and a constricting cell. The book’s fluid pacing carries its main themes of family, love, and growing up, really well. It’s engaging, with effective use of flashbacks, which aren’t voluminous or thrown in so jarringly that they’d be considered info-dumps. I enjoyed the weird family dynamic. Maybe it’s because I like stories that feature dysfunctional family relationships. Hehe. 

I loved the third act. I typically don’t look forward to them, but there were enough clues to see what would happen. And when it did, it came together in a glorious shower of disaster. I loved that there was no Deus Ex Machina to magically fix it all either, and slap a big red bow on it. Nah, these characters slog through the aftermath of their bad luck and try to stitch together some semblance of hope. It’s good. I felt the weight of their laboured movement, their grief, their confusion. 


What I didn’t like as much

The book had some of the common problems: misusing ‘lie’ when you mean ‘lay,’ and vice versa; dangling modifiers, dialogue tags that weren’t always necessary or fitting. The overall narrative could have benefited from more use of the past perfect tense, to really differentiate the then from the now; sometimes Josie would slip into a flashback and it would take a moment for me to catch on. Plus, some of the points were made over and over, when just once would have sufficed. Ms Janay’s got to trust that her reader can make inferences. 😀 There’s also some swearing.


Overall, 

I liked this book. I thought it was kind of sweet. Odd, because it dealt with some weighty topics. Death. Grief. Rejection. The uncertainty of the future. Gangs. But it wasn’t just words on a page. It had heart. And hope. This is the first book of Ms Janay Harden I’ve read, and I’m definitely encouraged to read more of her work. If you like stories in urban settings, with layered characters, interesting family dynamics, a dash of crime, and a splash of romance, you’ll enjoy this one. 


Make Me Over is expected to release on 12th November, 2024. Pre-order it on Amazon here. 
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