Review: Layover by Katrina Jackson

Layover by Katrina Jackson
Published by Amazon Digital Services LLC on April 8, 2018
Genres: African American, Romance
Pages: 124
Format: eBook
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four-half-stars

Lena Ward is an unhappy travel blogger with a less than 24 hour layover in her hometown. She spends the day with Tony Dembélé, a podcaster she's been flirting with for a few months online. In their brief time together Lena confronts some hard truths about her life and her past and the two test the waters of their connection.

This is a short story with a sweet and satisfying happy for now ending.

I was scrolling through Amazon this past weekend and Layover by Katrina Jackson was recommended to me. After looking at the synopsis, I decided to give it a try. I was not disappointed.

We meet Lena Ward, a travel blogger with a great love of music whose in a transitional period. She’s still struggling with the death of her mother two years ago, has a strained relationship with her sister and is contemplating whether she wants to continue the travel lifestyle blog that has gained her notoriety.

Tony is a podcaster on the cusp of next level fame. He’s been flirting with Lena for a few months and is excited when he gets the opportunity to interview her.

What he expects to be a good but run of the mill interview turns into something unexpected yet meaningful for both of them. They spend an incredible day together but life moves on. Lena has to find herself again and figure out her next moves. Tony has to focus on his career though he’s holding out hope that he’ll hear from Lena again. Readers are invested and are rooting for these two to cross paths again.

I loved Lena’s passion for music and the cool vibe that resonates throughout this novella. Something about Lena’s love of music reminded me of the movie Brown Sugar. The playlists that she created for every city and/or situation she was in were ones that I really wanted to listen to. Tony’s lowkey and patient demeanor was a good ying to her yang. Though we didn’t learn that much about Tony, we got the feeling that he really was a good guy.

Though Layover was a short novella, it managed to be funny, smart, and sentimental. We got solid characters and a pretty good storyline. There were quite a few secondary characters that I would be interested in reading more about. I hope Aiyana and Kwame get their own story.

Sometimes a longer layover is worth it.

This was my first read by Katrina Jackson and I will definitely be checking out more of her work.

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Natalya

Natalya is an Account Manager by day and an editor and author's assistant to passionate creatives by night. When she is not adding to her enormous book collection or stationery supply, she is catching up on her favorite television shows.

Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.

You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.