Reviewed By Natasha Jackson for Readers’ Favorite

Nothing But Trouble is the story of Bobbie Lamont, a recent high school graduate who is about to start the craziest, most tumultuous years of her young life. Especially regarding men. Bobbie falls in and out of love a lot, and living with her parents at that age just makes her life more stressful, particularly her strained relationship with her mother. But beyond Bobbie’s failed attempts at love, Zelmer Wilson’s story is about the friendship between Bobbie and Billie. Theirs was a friendship with staying power, surviving bullies, broken hearts, four hard years of college and moving on. Billie was her rock as she constantly pursued the wrong men in a misguided attempt to forge her own identity.

This story was an interesting coming of age tale that focused on Bobbie and her friendship with Billie. I felt that Billie was an underdeveloped secondary character when her presence was so essential to the story, but when she was in a scene it was more real. The way Zelmer Wilson writes is plainspoken, but it works for these New Orleans based characters. What they say is real and you don’t need to be a master of subtext to get it, which I think is a credit to the author. This was by no means a typical coming of age story, but it was filled with emotions and mistakes and growth, which is what those vitally important four years is all about. I was happy to see Bobbie try to break out of certain molds that had been created for her or self-crafted; it showed real growth that makes you want to know what happens next.