Blog Tour: I am Ayah by Donna Hill

Title: I am Ayah

Author: Donna Hill

Genre: Dual Timeline contemporary Historical

Publication Date:  May 23, 2023

Rating : 💥💥💥💥💥

About the Book

Set amid Sag Harbor’s vibrant African American history, bestselling author Donna Hill weaves a stunningly rich story about finding the way home…no matter how long the journey takes.

Alessandra Fleming has spent most of her life running from her past. Her budding photography career, her life in Manhattan, all serve to distract from the secrets and guilt she’s never been able to face. Then the call. Her estranged father is in the hospital…and Alessandra must return home to Sag Harbor, crumbling the first wall between her past and her present.

For some, coming home is a relief. For Alessandra, it’s a reminder of the family she’s lost, of the time she’ll never regain. But the answers—the secrets—of her family are hidden in the house, waiting for her. And the only one who may be able to help her uncover them is her father’s neighbor, Zach, who brings with him an attraction that’s intense and instantaneous, yet oddly familiar.

Now Alessandra is being pulled back not only into her own complex family history, but into the richly documented lives of four extraordinary women. Generations touched by tragedy and triumph, despair and hope. And it’s in these aching echoes of the past that Alessandra’s own story—her mistakes and her capacity to love—will take shape, guiding her to the life she’s meant to live…and the extraordinary person she will become.

My review 

The word home usually means one of two things. It's either a place of happiness or sadness/tragedy. For Alessandra Fleming, it happens to be the latter. She left at 18 and has been living her life in New York until she is forced to return to her roots At Sag Harbor after her father suffers a life changing event. While there, She comes across some information that will change her life and she will eventually end up on a path of lessons, secrets and self discovery.

Told in two time periods, I am Ayah will take you on a journey that will make you look at your life in a different way and possibly your own self discovery and healing and how events in life eventually come to full circle. It will pull on your heart strings with unforgettable characters that you will want to hold on to forever. This is an amazing story that I will not soon forget. It makes me even that more ready to look into my family's history This is one of those books that need to be read by everyone.

About the Author

My official writing career began in 1987 when my first short story was published. My first novel, Rooms of the Heart was published in 1990. Since then there have been a slew of books and short stories that I've had published, from romance to women's fiction, chic-lit, erotica and mysteries. I enjoy them all. Three of my novels were adapted for television so that was exciting. I've had the honor of conceptualizing and editing several collections: After the Vows, Midnight Clear, Where There's a Will, Indecent Exposure, and The Hot Spot. I currently teach at Medgar Evers College and live in Brooklyn, NY with my family.