 Highside is always 2020. But do you remember what you wanted to do five years ago, maybe 10 years ago? Think back to what you did before and let's find out what book we're talking about today. Hey it's Kyla DeNio and you're watching Kyla's Reading Day. So today we have another installment of Vlogmas 2022 where I am putting up a book review from an Eric Jerome Dickey book every day for 12 days in a row. Okay? So today we are talking about the book before we were wicked. This book is written by Eric Jerome Dickey. The genre of the book is fiction. The theme of the book is literature, African-American literature. So this book is number two in the Ken Swift series. The first book, again, book one, to switch them. In real life, in real time, I had to read bad men and wicked women first. And then I was able to read this. But now that they're both out, I read this one first. So one of my favorite things about this book is the fact that you get to see how men can be hurt as easily as women, right? In the book, Ken Swift falls for Jimmy Lee, this really, really sweet college girl, Ethiopian. And there's so much Ethiopian dialect and slang in the book. Eric Jerome Dickey, he did a great job of doing all his research. But so Jimmy Lee meets Ken Swift. Ken Swift is in school, Jimmy Lee is about to go to school and you're like, okay, what's going to happen here? This is cute. This is cute. They get married. He takes care of her. Jimmy Lee is heartbroken. There's a series of things that happen and she just cannot get over it. She refuses to forgive Ken. She refuses to even respect him at a lot of the time, right? She steps out on their marriage. She steps out on being a parent. She steps out on a lot of stuff and you're just like, child. The fact that men can be hurt as easily as women is so important because you don't hear a ton of stories about women just being callous, not caring, doing whatever they want. And Jimmy Lee, Jimmy Lee just don't care. Jimmy Lee had a path, a plan, the plan didn't happen and she was going to burn every single bridge to remind y'all that her plan never happened. But I remember being 19. Yeah, I probably would have done that too, right? So I think it's so important to read the prequel before they were wicked because you got to find out what happened before they were bad men, before they were wicked women. If you've never read these books, you have the luxury of reading the prequel before you read the initial story so that you can actually get some background before you find out what happened. Okay? So yeah, I think it's really important to see the other side because Ken Swift absolutely loves Jimmy Lee and Jimmy Lee takes advantage of every single opportunity to break his heart. And it's really hard to read, but also to me that was really important, right? There's a number of things, Jake Ellis is hilarious, you know, his family, her family. If you're married, you get the whole inlaw thing. So that part is important too. But the relationship between them and the fact that Ken Swift stays around to get hurt for a very long time is really, really important. Okay? So would I reread this book? Yes, that is no surprise. I would reread this book. So thanks for hanging out with me today. I really do think these videos are little love letters to Eric Drumdicky. I hope if any of his family sees it or any of his other fans, you know, they can relate because he was a really important writer to me. And before we were wicked, was a really great book. Okay? So thanks for hanging out with me on this other installment of Vlogmas 2022. All Things Christmas, right? We are hanging out and talking about books written by Eric Drumdicky. Let me know. Have you read the book before we were wicked? Have you read the other book, Batman and Wicked Women? And if you haven't, get them from the library. Go check them out. Buy them at a bookstore. They are very, very compelling. So I will see you tomorrow on another edition of Vlogmas 2022. And thanks for hanging out with me today on Kyla's Reading Day.