Everyone’s favorite messy but lovable friend, Queenie Jenkins, is back! And, as the new book’s tagline says, she’s: “Bigger. Not better. Older. Not wiser.”
If you read Candice Carty-Williams’s first novel, this should sound about right to you. I reviewed Queenie back in 2019 and fondly remember what it was like to first encounter this one-of-a-kind character, to follow along through her highs and lows navigating everyday life as a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman.
In the sequel Queenie Is Working on It, eight years have passed, making Queenie a mature 33-year-old. More or less. Some days. She is rocking a new job as head of the editorial department at The Good Sis, a social media news outlet. Her family relationships seem stronger than ever. And she still has a core group of friends who fiercely love her, lift her up, and hold her accountable. (Yes, The Corgi group text is back!)
Queenie has always seemed to struggle when it comes to love, though, so it’s not surprising to find her still making questionable relationship choices. This time around, she can’t quite talk herself out of a situationship with a man who she learns is seeing other women. Then she unexpectedly runs into a true love lost, the only genuine adult relationship she’s ever had, which ended three years ago. As if that weren’t enough, add in the newfound knowledge that she may not be able to have children of her own—something she hadn’t seriously considered wanting until she learned it may not be a possibility at all.
In typical Queenie fashion, these stressors shake up her life and things begin to spiral a bit. But will she push things too far this time? Are her friends and family tired of her same old shenanigans after so many years on repeat? Of course, you’ll have to read to find out.
Carty-Williams does a fantastic job of bringing the reader back into Queenie’s world without missing a beat. She strikes a balance that is really difficult to find, delivering a story that is both thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny, which helps balance out the weight of Queenie’s life.
If Queenie frustrated you the first time around, you may not appreciate her antics here either. I’d like to make an argument to give her another chance, though. It might be difficult to spot at times amidst all the chaos, but she has indeed grown a bit since we last saw her. Carty-Williams also gives readers a bit more insight into why Queenie is the way she is—her past, how she was raised, her relationship with her mother—which works to build additional empathy and understanding.
The crux of this new chapter in Queenie’s story is her realisation that time is ticking—but she remains uncertain of what she wants, what the right path is for her life. Sound familiar? This is a smartly written premise that many millennial women can identify with. We all face crossroads in our lives where we must make difficult decisions. And we all inevitably make some poor decisions, whether we like to admit it or not. Queenie helps us to remember, however, that making our way through life is a learning process and, as her mother says, you must “forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.”
Readers will enjoy watching Queenie continue on this journey as she moves into a new stage of her life. At the core, however, she remains the same character I fell in love with the first time around: an imperfect, incredibly real, deeply passionate and strong-willed woman. Queenie is an unforgettable character … and isn’t that what we all hope to find in our next read?
Queenie Is Working on It is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 8th 2026.
Will you be picking up Queenie Is Working on It? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis
Candice Carty-Williams, internationally bestselling author of Queenie (now a television series on Hulu), reunites us with the iconic character nearly ten years on, facing new chaotic choices in life and love with cherished old friends and family in this highly anticipated sequel.
Queenie Jenkins is moving on up.
She’s thirty-three, the editorial director for The Good Sis, a thriving media network amplifying the voices of Black women—a far cry from her former toxic workplace. With a great platform and a renewed sense of purpose, she’s fighting the good fight.
So when an appointment for research goes haywire and reveals startling truths about her own fertility, Queenie is confronted with a racing biological clock when she’s not even sure she wants kids in the first place. She’s sort of seeing someone, but it’s not that serious (according to him), and her mom, grandma, and aunt Maggie all mean well, but they keep asking when she’s going to settle down.
Surrounded by loyal friends who seem to fall in love with their person and get pregnant at the drop of a hat and the reappearance of an old flame she never stopped loving while being pulled into a series of confusing “situationships” that really do NOT go anywhere means that for Queenie, time is running out in all parts of her life. She’s determined to do what she thinks is best to get back on track, no matter how many mistakes it takes to get this right.
Bigger. Not better. Older. Not wiser. The beloved and flawed Queenie Jenkins is scared, she is frustrated, she is confused…but she is working on it.
