This book did take a while for me to be invested -- about a quarter of the way through, but once I did I was impressed by what a sympathetic character Ella was. A moving coming of age story that handles tough topics like racism, prejudice, color lines and sexual abuse. A nice touch was we also saw the point of view of Ms. St. James, which gave the narrative an added depth.

This book was a bit of a slow start and I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I thought I would. I did like hearing from a different perspective. It was hard to remember that this was a work of fiction so I was constantly wondering how much artistic license the author took. Probably a good fit for readers who are big fans of Jackie O.

It took a little while for me to get into this book because I am only peripherally aware of the history and the going back and forth in time was slightly confusing. Once I got into the story though I appreciated how the author gave depth to a historical figure and the events surrounding her life. Also really liked the author notes which gave a little background on artistic license taken in the story.