Taezha Riverton is a young girl who wants to become a writer. She lives in Flint, Michigan. She’s a bright girl, a talented young writer, and according to Maggie, an “intellectually curious” young girl. She lives with her mother and three sisters, although she questions whether Quintana is actually her mother. Taezha befriends Maggie Barnett, a woman in her 50’s who works at the school Taezha attends. Taezha (Tae) has discovered in Maggie something that has been missing since her Aunt Serafina died. She looks to Maggie as an aunt, and she finally feels like someone cares about her.

A Mentor and Her Muse by Susan Sage

Maggie Barnett works at Jefferson Middle & High School in the library. She has met several smart and talented students, but none have effected her as Tae has. Maggie is a woman who is rarely settled in her life, she published a book and just about the time she thought it was beginning to take off and become a top seller, it stopped. Maggie decides that she wants to take Tae on a road trip and help her become a great writer by seeing life and living on the road. She also tells Tae that she will take her to meet her Uncle Tyler, a very good friend of Tae’s Aunt Serafina.

This was a different story from what I normally read, but it was a good read. I found myself questioning Maggie’s motives of going on the road trip with Tae. Was she really looking at Tae as her Muse, or was she trying to find something that was missing from her life, like a family? It is clear that Maggie cares for Tae, but is it a healthy relationship for either of them? Is Maggie trying to recover her youth, her writing, or a family that she was denied for so many years due to her lack of finding the right man for her, and the fact that she has no living children of her own. I give this book a 4 star review. Ms. Sage did a great job of painting the picture for this book. Her description of Maggie was so detailed that I could almost see her in front of me.

If you enjoy women’s fiction and psychological novels, this is a good book to read. It is a book about social norms, obsession, and the ambition to succeed.