Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl by Joya Goffney

Preacher’s daughter, Monique is a good girl. Well she’s not, everyone else believes she is. Her parents especially so compared to their older daughter, Myracle whom they kicked out a year ago. And that’s what Monique intends for them to keep believing as she fools around with her boyfriend. But after twenty nine times of trying to have sex, he breaks up with her. Monqiue just doesn’t know what to do, she wants to have sex but she just physically can’t.

A surprise run-in with Sasha Howser, a real good girl from Church, at Planned Parenthood reveals the possible problem. She has vaginismus. So in an effort to win him back, Monique goes on a crazy adventure with Sasha and her father’s new expelled bad boy project, Reggie to get some dialators and say the word sex out loud.

I heartily applaud Goffney for taking ona little known topic as vaginismus (I won’t go too medically into it, but basically the vagina is a venus flytrap. That’s why she can’t have sex. But it’s treatable!) but one that Goffney emphasizes it is more common than people realize. But sex is a hidden topic, leaving many feeling lonely and in Monqiue’s case fearful as her religious parents tie so much of her worth to her virginity while her boyfriend tie so much into having sex.

Goffney takes time to explore the layers behind sex, the emotions, the rush and the fears, making it a very sex positive book. She also gets a bit into religion. Thankfully, no one is a one dimensional character type here. In fact, everyone is shown as being capable of growth and hidden layers from Sasha, whom Monique viewed as the good Church girl her parents want her to be, her parents who she saw as a cool preacher Dad and uptight, controlling mother, to Reggie who turns out to be the sweetest, ideal guy. I loved him and how respectful and open he was and the build up as Monique began to see it too. Plus the general friendship between Sasha, Monique and Reggie was excellent.

This is a good book for those who want sex positivity and nuanced characters, tackling religion and intimacy and love for young adults. Plus vaginismus education!

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

Goffney’s debut book has an interesting premise following rule-abiding, Columbia-bound Quinn who has a special journel of lists. List of her favorite movies, who she’d like to kiss, secrets. . . When she mixes up her journal with the cute but pretentious Carter, she’s determined to get it back, praying he doesn’t read it. But he loses it before the exchange can be made. And the new owner is blackmailing Quinn to complete her list of fears to overcome. Or else he/she is releasing it to the whole school. And the blackmailer isn’t bluffing because they release one list of all her biggest regrets including the one that she wasn’t actually accepted to Columbia. Fuming, scared and humiliated, she and Carter embark on a quest to complete the list and find the blackmailer. And find out their first impressions were more wrong than they realized.

It’s a very good rom-com premise but it also has layers. Goffney uses Quinn to open a discussion about blackness. Quinn is often called an “Oreo” and she also fears her father holds colorist prejudices and is ashamed of his blackness. Not to mention the microaggresions and real racist comments from her white friends. The part about her father also connects to her fears of her parents; marriage and what will happen once she leaves for collage. There’s also a poignant thread concerning Quinn’s agining grandmother who is slowly losing her memories, making her feel like she’s no longer Hattie anymore. It’s sad but moving as Quinn navigates her feelings about aging, death and memory, and it brought some tears.

Additionally, not only do we see past the first impressions of Carter, but also her surprising new friends, Auden and Olivia. One who seems a typical overachiever white nerd and a girl whom Quinn wrongly helped to spread vicious rumors. No one is one dimensional which is character devlopment that Goffney excells. She also excells in building up Carter and Quinn’s burgeoning romance and how they push each other, balance each other and even their climatic fight doesn’t feel forced because of how the communication helps them through.

It’s a great read full of consequences, introspection and fun times. Fun and deep all at once.

The Dating Playbook by Farrah Rochon

The second book in The Boyfriend Project series takes on Taylor’s story. She’s the wild one of the self-proclaimed Squad though she’s doing her best to rein that in fast. She’s broke and about to be vacated from her apartment and jobs keep falling through because she doesn’t have a college degree in fitness/nutrition. It does put a damper on her fitness empire. So when NFL player, Jamar comes to her pop up yoga class and offers her thousands of dollars for one on one fitness training, who is she to refuse.

Problem is, he’s hot, and worse, he’s respectful and nice. But that’s not all. While she is all for professionality, it gets a bit tricky when they end up fake-dating. You see, Jamar is doing her conditioning on the downlow so the NFL can be surprised by his comeback and he won’t feel like such a failure if his bum knee gives out before he gets to the pick up. So when a reporter asks what they’re doing together, Taylor’s first lie is that she’s his girlfriend and so begins one of the steamiest romances I’ve read so far.

Rochon does an excellent job in giving Jamor and Taylor realistic flaws without veering into unlikability that also tie into their character development. Taylor’s decision to take on Jamar not only comes from a financial need but also a place of procastination on taking college entrance exams. School had always been a panic-inducing fear for her which allows Rochon to explore late in life diagnosis of learning disabilities. This realization also allows for Taylor to take a step back in how she views her relation to her family, another place where she always felt insecure like a black sheep slacker among overachievers that she’s convince look down on her.

Jamar has his own stuggles regarding his sense of self. He has a tremendous need to help others, his family, his best friend’s family and eventually Taylor. He likes to fix things, but that doesn’t apply to himself. He feels like he cannot accept his success because of his overwhelming guilt that he caused his best friend’s death. Silas, not he, should be the football star and that is what drives him to get back to the NFL. But as Taylor poignantly says he’s not living, if he’s living for Silas, not himself.

But overall, they meshed well together, their banter and push pull with Taylors drill sergent attitude and Jamar’s respectful yet snarky cracks, I enjoyed them together and how they brought out the best in each other.

I can’t wait for the last one in the series, coming out in a month!