A review by meghanfulmer
Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League by Jonathan Odell

5.0

I knew from the back cover of this book that I would love it. Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League has everything I love: a Southern setting, race relations (Civil Rights era, specifically), and super character development. Miss Hazel tells the stories of two women: Vida, a black maid in Mississippi, and Hazel, a formerly poor (now wealthy) white woman struggling to fit in with all the society women. Both women suffer the loss of their sons, and Vida is then hired by Hazel's husband to act as the family maid. In a somewhat predictable outcome, the women develop a bond, but I found the characters, their voices, their struggles, and the events that unfolded to be authentic and unique. Though I knew from the start that Hazel and Vida would end up becoming fond of one another, I would never have guessed the way in which they would be bound together. There were several minor characters, all very colorful and well-developed, that did not detract from the main story at all, but added to it seamlessly. The character development in this book was phenomenal, and I was so grateful for all of the dialogue that did such a wonderful job of bringing them all to life.