Review: Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

The stunning sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Dear Martin. Incarcerated teen Quan writes letters to Justyce about his experiences in the American juvenile justice system. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Angie Thomas.

In the highly anticipated sequel to her New York Times bestseller, Nic Stone delivers an unflinching look into the flawed practices and silenced voices in the American juvenile justice system.

Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.

Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce--the protagonist of Dear Martin--Quan's story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there's a dead cop and a weapon with Quan's prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.

Review: Wow this book was so powerful but just like Dear Martin it left me incredibly sad. This novel has an authors note both at the beginning and at the end and they really add to the power of the message and the story within. 

I really loved the way this book links with Dear Martin, that these two characters are from the same neighborhood and that neighborhood still has the same issues uncovered in Dear Martin. This book also really highlights through the narrative and also through Nic Stone's choices the importance of support. Support within your community and having someone who believes in you. So much of the pain these young people have gone through could be so easily avoided and yet because of he way society has been and is today, they are almost unavoidable. 

One of the things I also really loved about Quan's story is that he highlights the power of a supportive teacher and someone at school who believes in him. As a teacher this really warmed my heart and helped to reinforce my ideas around the power of what happens within the school building. I think my being a teacher is one of the reasons this book felt so sad so much of the time for me. There are some wonderfully funny moments between Quan and his friends and he never really looses his sense of humour throughout the novel but I was so sad the way things so quickly declined for him and the reasons behind so many of the choices that he made. 

This book can be painful to read sometimes and feels so close to home I struggled to believe it was fiction in points but it is an important read and it does give us a sense of hope as well as that affirmation of the importance of having someone in your corner who believes in you. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' story lines intersect?

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

Review: This book took me a little while to get into. There is a lot of early information to take on and a lot of characters to get into your head right at the beginning. Once I was into this book though I did find myself invested in the story and swept up in what was going to happen with this family. 

The setting on the origin of this book is just so interesting and something that I believe could actually exist in today’s society. Mallard, Louisiana was conceived of by the twins great-great-great grandfather as an exclusive place for light-skinned blacks like him. It is so interesting the way the town leads to different directions for Desiree and Stella. One deciding to embrace their heritage and pass as white and the other breaking ties with those values in a different way. 

Then we have the characters. Once I got to know them and work out who was who as we moved back forth through time Desiree, Loretta, Jude, Reese really got me and I felt like I really cared about them as people. Stella was a really interesting character and I felt drawn to her side of the story much more than Desiree.  I did feel angry and frustrated with Stella, I also, feel very sad for her and the fact that her choices led to so much pain for herself and others. I also really loved the way we got to know the twins through their daughters and their relationships with one another. 

This structure definitely takes a little getting used to. I listened to this on audiobook and I think perhaps if I had had the physical book I would have been able to flick back and forth and keep track of the characters easier initially. Whilst the audiobook was well narrated I would probably recommend the physical copy more because I think it would have made for a quicker start to the story for me. I do enjoy how this challenged my views and challenged my reading and I wouldn’t rule out reading more from this author in the future. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Slay by Brittney Morris

Black Panther meets Ready Player One. A fierce teen game developer battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers.

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY.

No one knows Kiera is the game developer - not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs.

With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she's created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself?

Review: I absolutely loved this book and I don't know why it took me so long to read. I think perhaps I was scared of the hype and so stayed away until more people had had time to voice their opinions on this one. I was worried I would struggle to understand the video game world of Slay because I struggle with reading fantasy and it took me a couple of goes to enjoy all that Black Panther had to offer but I had no issues immersing myself in the world of Slay and I LOVED all that it had to offer. 

I really got along with Kiera as a character. She has so much of the world on her shoulders because she is a teen applying to colleges and trying to get through senior year but also because she is a strong black woman dealing with all that the world throws at her because of her race and her family. I really love that through Kiera this book explores the experience of white friends expecting you to explain and be representative of all Black people. We also get to explore the problems associated with rigid ideas about what Black excellence should look like. Toxic masculinity and cultural identity is explored so well through Kiera and her friends. 

Kiera creates Slay to have a safe space for black gamers after experiencing racism in the gaming community but whether that is inherently racist or not is brought up when the mainstream media discovers the game. This throws up a lot of issues for the reader as well as for Kiera and her friends and made me ask a lot of questions for sure. I wholeheartedly loved the idea of Slay. The cards involved in the game celebrate and highlight black culture and I also love that it opens up an international world. 

Overall this book was such a delight to read and I can highly recommend it to anyone. It is thematically rich, well paced and brings up so many important questions for readers today no matter what your cultural background. It's a must read. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US