Book Review: The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

Hey friends!

I recently finished reading The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert and I really liked it. I requested an ARC of it from Disney Hyperion on NetGalley because I read the book Pointe by Brandy Colbert a year or two ago and remember liking that as well. Then, I won a finished copy on Instagram (Thanks to Parker Peevyhouse!) and ended up reading that. This was a super quick read for me and it's out now if you'd like to read it.

Summary

This is a story that takes place over the course of one day. Marva is very passionate about voting and activism, so when she hears Duke get turned away at the polls, she decides to help him make sure his vote gets in. This ends up being easier said than done and they end up driving around town all day on a wild adventure, including trying to find Marva's missing cat, all before Duke's band's gig.

Review

This book is compared to The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon on the dust jacket. I've also read and enjoyed that book, and I can see why they would be compared: both include romance and take place over the course of a day (with some seamless transitions to flashbacks). However, I felt like the tone of the two books differed. The Sun is Also a Star is definitely dedicated to the romance, while I felt The Voting Booth read more like a contemporary adventure book. I had a lot of fun reading it because it felt like I was following Marva and Duke across town. Both characters felt like people I would want to be friends with. Also, I would absolutely love to meet Selma/Eartha Kitty (Marva's cat).

Just because it was fun, though, didn't mean the book shied from serious topics, such as familial death/grief, racial profiling, and why it is so important to vote, especially now. I can't speak as an #ownvoices reviewer on all of these topics, but I found all of these topics were told in a way that integrated them well into the story but didn't take away from their gravity. I especially liked the inclusion of music as a form of therapy. I have been involved in the performing arts for most of my life and I identified with finding peace in the arts.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you are looking for a great election year read. I would also especially recommend this book if you appreciate strong teen voices, as both main characters have strong voices that really sounded like modern teenagers.

I rated this book 4 stars!

I'll definitely be back soon because I have some more reviews queued up, and I should probably wrap up July before we get too far into June. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you come back for those posts. Let me know if you have any ideas of what you want me to cover on the blog!

Kyra