Book Review: Black Girls Must Be Magic by Jayne Allen

Black Girls Must Die Exhausted Series

A screenshot taken by the author from Amazon.

“There was what I wanted, and what I was supposed to want.”

That line sums up so much of Tabitha Walker’s story in Black Girls Must Be Magic, the second book in Jayne Allen’s Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series. In the first novel, Allen portrayed modern Black womanhood with honesty, wit, and heart, introducing Tabitha as a woman balancing love, career, and identity while learning to trust herself in a world that constantly demanded more.

This second installment raises the stakes. Tabitha, who once thought becoming a mother might not be possible, discovers she is pregnant, sending her life in a direction she never planned. This new chapter pushes her to stop living by other people’s expectations and embrace the life that actually makes sense for her. As she grows more accepting of herself, she also navigates challenges at the news station, including viewer complaints about her natural hair. At first, she puts on a wig in response to pressure and the lack of support from the news director, but over time she leans into self-acceptance and begins showing up authentically.

Encouraged by her workplace women’s group, Tabitha shares her story on air as a human-interest feature. The…