What a book! I laughed, I cried, I learnt... ALOT and I really actually didn't want it to end - so definitely hoping for a follow up.

Layla and Sera have been friends since school. Layla meets Andy and fall in love, they even share the same surname.
The book follows them 30 days prior to their wedding when a discovery can change everything. Jumping from past to present we build a picture of Layla's family - her mum, Grandad but also her family history before that with startling information coming to light, will this ruin both her wedding to Andy and friendship with Sera. A trip to Jamaica may be what she needs to make decisions and find out about her past.

There was a lot of information regarding the history of Jamaica and Britain hard hitting topics such as slavery and conditions and racism then also still now- lots of things I didn't know about. A real learning curve. A lot of topics covered with thought from all sides.

I loved the descriptions of the food, when reading about the oxtail and gravy her grandad makes it made my mouth water, and guess what I'm having for dinner on Sunday :)

I was laughing out loud in parts, especially about the Garlic and ginger tea - very similar to my first experience.

I will be recommending this book to others and looking out for more from this author

I went into this book blindfolded and came out full of knowledge. It was an insightful, full of differing emotions, type of read that took my breath away. Told exquisitely but an anger would rise inside me a few times. Dominoes is a book that will stay with me for the right reasons and not just because I’m so angry at the slave trade. It’s a multi-dimensional book that I urge everyone to read.

I got Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh from NetGalley for free for a fair and honest review.


Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh is a novel about a relationship between Layla and Andy who happen to have the same surname.

However with Lyla having a white father who never had any connection with her and a black mother whose dad (Layla’s grandad) is from Jamaica. While Andy is from a wealthy family who used to own a stately home this connection may be more sinister, than cute.

Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh is one of those contemporary issue novels that we all said we would read after 2020 and the BLM protests across the world, as it examines the history of slavery and how it affects the modern generation who have a direct link through their ancestors.

There are times when reading novels that may be centred around an issue no matter how interesting can take over the novel and make it almost unreadable, but in Phoebe Mcintosh’s novel the way slavery and its aftereffects were examined were put in the novel in such a way that most seemed to fall into the narrative easily.

While most issues surrounding the effects of slavery and racism in modern day Britain were examined, the story was told through the eyes of Layla, who because of her mixed race heritage and lighter skin seemed to escape the issues her friend Sera has had to deal with.

So when Sera sends Layla information about a BBC programme which discusses the amount of money paid in compensation to slave owners in general and Andy's family in particular.

It leads to a damaging relationship between old school friends and Layla having to decide on if she wants to go ahead with the wedding and a voyage of discovery for her.

While at times Dominos was difficult to read this was more to do with the story than Phoebe McIntosh’s writing style, which was easy to read and allowed the story to flow which at times could be writing about difficult subjects.

The main issue I had with the novel could also be seen as its biggest strength as the story was seen solely through the eyes of Layla. At times it felt that some characters were seen as more divisive than they were because of the upbringing they had.

However the way that the writer allowed these characters to change and develop over the story as seen through Layla’s eyes showed hope, things can change

All this makes Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh a must read novel.

A very interesting and unique take on intergenerational trauma. With themes of identity, race, friendships and relationships this was a well paced and thought provoking read. I would encourage readers to go into this story with as little knowledge as possible and be prepared to leave behind your preconceptions.

The premise of Dominoes, the debut novel by Phoebe McIntosh, is fascinating. What if you discover that the man you’re about to marry may be descended from people who owned your ancestors as slaves?

It’s a fascinating question to consider because it poses all kinds of other important questions about the way past injustices continue to shape the present, about race and reparations, identity, and so much more.

Dominoes explores the question through the relationship of Layla and Andy. Layla is a mixed-race woman and Andy is a white man, and they both share the same surname: McKinnon. In a normal world, this could be just a cute coincidence, but ours is not a normal world. It’s a world shaped by centuries of brutality, particularly in the Caribbean, where Layla’s family came from. So Layla is gradually forced to consider the possibility that Andy’s McKinnon ancestors were the slaveowners who treated her McKinnon ancestors as property.

Layla’s character development through the book is very interesting. At the start, she is quite apolitical and unaware. She’s young and in love, and she doesn’t really pay much attention to what’s happening in the wider world. The person who really forces her to confront the past is her best friend Sera, and in doing so she also forces her to confront and understand her identity.

There’s a pivotal and poignant flashback scene that beautifully explains the dynamics of Layla and Sera’s friendship and their different experiences of race. The two of them are refused entry to a Soho bar, for no reason other than that they’re black. For Sera, this has happened many times before, and she just wants to get out of there and go somewhere where she’s not judged for her skin colour. But for the light-skinned, blond-haired Layla, it’s new territory. She refuses to believe that the bouncers are racist, then believes that their behaviour is some kind of anomaly that the managers of the bar will correct when she tells them about it. She uses some white friends as cover to get them into the bar, feeling triumphant about eluding the bouncers, but Sera is miserable and just wants to go home.

A similar dynamic comes out in other parts of Dominoes. Although Sera and Layla are true “besties” and are incredibly close on a personal level, their responses to issues of race and identity are very different, and this creates tension in their relationship. This is why Sera takes the extreme step of forcing Layla to confront the McKinnon family history, berating her and finally even refusing to attend the wedding. It’s an extreme reaction, and I think it’s the only part of the book that’s not quite believable—I can see why she’d press the issue, but refusing to attend your best friend’s wedding is a huge leap. But I can also see that it stems from a much deeper divide in their friendship. Maybe it’s the last straw for Sera.

Anyway, Sera’s role in the novel is important, both in exploring issues of racial identity and in forcing a reluctant Layla to go delving into the past. The search takes her to Jamaica, where she finds answers—not so much in the facts of the McKinnon family history as in a greater understanding of where she comes from and what’s important in her life.

The character of Andy is also well drawn. McIntosh does a great job of showing the love between Andy and Layla—their relationship is very believable and very sweet, without being cloying. Andy is caring and thoughtful, and he’s also a well-meaning “ally” who’s on a Diversity & Inclusion panel at his workplace. And yet his tweets also reveal areas of alarming ignorance on issues of race and police brutality.

And then there’s Andy’s family. When Andy’s mother loses her phone, she asks her husband to “check with the little coloured girl at the till”. There are other incidents like that, which are not blatant enough to negate their overall friendliness towards Layla but do contribute to her growing doubts about joining the family.

The novel is set in the last few years, so in the background all the time is the growing awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. Again, Layla, Sera and Andy respond to it in very different ways, providing a fascinating perspective on this pivotal moment in recent history.

Dominoes is a novel that book groups will love because there are so many interesting questions to discuss and debate. It would also be a great gift for that person in your life who simply doesn’t understand why people keep talking about slavery and other historic injustices when they “all happened so long ago.”

Dominoes shows very clearly that the past does matter, and that historic injustices have a way of perpetuating themselves right up to the present day unless they are dealt with and properly rectified. It provides a great way of exploring and thinking about contemporary questions, while through its heart runs a classic tale of star-crossed lovers. It’s a thought-provoking and very enjoyable novel.

This was a very thoughtful and compelling read, that captured my attention throughout, and raise a lot of emotions and thoughts. The narrative, with its dual timelines, did an excellent job of emphasising how the impact of the past - both the further away past in terms slavery, and the more recent in terms of the Windrush Scandal - is unavoidably tied to the present, and that attempts to ignore it are damaging and harmful. The whole book asks for the present to be viewed alongside the past, with a positive future only possible if the past is openly addressed and confronted. All this, whilst also addressing the crucial themes of how love, whether romantic, platonic, and familial, is a matter of effort and development too.

I'm not sure how well the end worked for me - I am perhaps just more negative in my assessment of how quickly and well some entrenched cultural and racist attitudes can be changed, but the book's compelling story definitely worked overall to create a very good novel.


*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

Although this is hailed as a love story it is so much more. For me the primary story is one of friendship but also one of forming a relationship with your own identity, and not forgetting the important exploration of where that comes from. At first, I was just furious with Sera. Not for the challenge she posed to her friend, but the way in which she posed it. But it was interesting that the other characters in the novel were there to teach understanding and forgiveness. And that final scene (without giving anything away) over the coffee machine was just perfect. I’m still finding it hard to get over the dress, though! At times, the decisions made were frustrating, but this just added t9 the realism in many ways, people do just act in strange and mysterious ways. I thought this was a great read and would certainly recommend it. A great lead on for discussions with fellow book lovers,

This is a modern love story with a twist. Layla is a black woman who falls in love with a white man but they share the same surname. On discovering why, Layla has to confront her history and that of her family. There is a dark underside to this novel and I learned a lot about black Jamaican culture and history. Out of all the characters, I liked Layla’s grandfather the most. An interesting read and one I enjoyed more than I expected.