TIME TO SHINE

The fifth installment in Carter's Fab Life series revisits some familiar territory but still delivers its proven mix of music-industry insiderdom, interpersonal drama and solid, affirming friendships.

As in the previous titles, practical, self-possessed Sunday Tolliver narrates. Now a consistently successful recording artist and songwriter as well as a student at Spelman College, Sunday is juggling her career, her new set of college friends and her academic work. In this volume, Sunday attends the wedding of her mentor Mystique, makes amends with her cousin and rival recording artist Dreya, and attends the Grammy Awards as a nominee. Romantic tension provides the biggest arc in the book. After finding out that her one-time boyfriend Sam lied about his involvement with another girl, Sunday has broken off their relationship. It is clear, however, that both parties miss each other, and Sunday's stubborn insistence that Sam did wrong, despite some evidence to the contrary, can be exasperating at times. Although the plot is more modest than in some of the earlier books, new and returning characters are developed, and the door is left open for music tours and family drama in future installments.

A solid entry in a successful series.