Black girls must be magic : a novel / Jayne Allen.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Masterfully written and pitch perfect, Black Girls Must Be Magic is, simply, magic."--Good Morning America

In this highly anticipated second installment in the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series, Tabitha Walker copes with more of life's challenges and a happy surprise--a baby--with a little help and lots of love from friends old and new.

For Tabitha Walker, her grandmother's old adage, "Black girls must die exhausted" is becoming all too true. Discovering she's pregnant--after she was told she may not be able to have biological children--Tabitha throws herself headfirst into the world of "single mothers by choice." Between her job, doctor's appointments, and preparing for the baby, she's worn out. And that's before her boss at the local news station starts getting complaints from viewers about Tabitha's natural hair.

When an unexpected turn of events draws Marc--her on and off-again ex-boyfriend--back into her world with surprising demands, and the situation at work begins to threaten her livelihood and her identity, Tabitha must make some tough decisions about her and her baby's future. It takes a village to raise a child, and Tabitha turns to the women who have always been there for her.

Bolstered by the fierce support of Ms. Gretchen, her grandmother's best friend, the counsel of her closest friends Laila and Alexis, and the calming presence of her doula Andouele, Tabitha must find a way to navigate motherhood on her own terms. Will she harness the bravery, strength, and self-love she'll need to keep "the village" together, find her voice at work, and settle things with Marc before the baby arrives?

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

Following the events of Black Girls Must Die Exhausted (2018), Tabitha Walker courageously navigates a risky pregnancy, an old flame, and workplace racism in Allen's delightful sequel. After the death of her beloved Granny Tab less than a year ago, Tabitha refuses to waste any more time on starting a family. Last year's medical diagnosis of premature ovarian reserve failure encouraged Tab to do in vitro fertilization with a sperm donor, and she's just received the life-changing news: She's having a son. Tab plans to raise the child alone as a "single mother by choice, much to the dismay of her ex-boyfriend Marc. Although they've been friends-with-benefits for the past few months, she hopes he will join the village (including her friends Alexis and Laila; unconventional doula Andouele; and Granny Tab's best friend, Ms. Gretchen, who's going to be the "glam-maw") that it will take to help raise her baby. But then her doctor unleashes a bombshell: The baby is a girl, which means it isn't the embryo he implanted. Which means that the baby is Marc's. Suddenly, Tab's carefully laid plans for the future go haywire in all aspects of her life. Chris, her ratings-hungry boss at the TV station where she works as a news reporter, informs her that viewers have filed complaints about seeing her natural hair on air; Marc wants to be more than friends; and her father might be having an affair, again. Over the course of nine months, Tab can't help but wonder whether this is the happy ending she chose for herself or whether it was simply decided for her. Author Allen moves through Tabitha's pregnancy at an efficient pace, writing with flowing, poetic prose, as in this passage when Tabitha unloosens her braids: "They felt glorious, like thick grapevines hanging from my scalp. I let my eyes linger on them lovingly. This moment was my truth. Here I was, the real me--unfurled, free, unrestrained, wild in my spirit and natural in my appearance." Tabitha's journey is raw and real, and Allen's description of the different realities of motherhood is exceedingly authentic and powerful, as demonstrated through this moniker that Tabitha applies to herself: "single mother by courage." An exceptional sequel that will leave readers eager for more. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.