Bam cooks the books's Reviews > Swift River

*3.5 stars rounded up.

Diamond Newberry is the only black kid growing up in the New England town of Swift River. But that's not her only problem: she's also quite obese and her father, Robert Vaughn Newberry, disappeared when she was seven. So her life has been quite tough; she has no friends and her mother Annabelle hasn't been stable enough to provide decently for them. Now, seven years have passed, and Annabelle's hope is to have Robbie declared dead so she can finally get her hands on his insurance money. THEN all their problems will be solved. But Diamond has other plans. She's been learning to drive and her father's aunt Lena from Georgia has been in secret contact, finally filling in the details about their family, so Diamond is getting a sense of who she really is.

Diamond is an interesting character whose experiences shed light on dealing with racial issues, the problem of weight shaming and a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. The story ends leaving us hoping for the best for Diamond.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this debut novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.