BRILLIANT! PHENOMENAL! THOUGHT-PROVOKING!

I can’t stop raving about this and would like to adopt Devon ❤️

CW: racism, racial slurs, homophobia, (cyber) bullying, death of a parent

I can’t believe this was a debut! This was so engaging; I was hooked and engrossed from the first chapter! I love YA mysteries and this one really hit different for me. The racism our two MCs experience and face was relatable for me as a black woman and ignited so much anger in me. I wanted to save these kids (esp Devon my bebe 🥺) and just protect them from everything that was happening to them.

I loved the characters. Devon just wanted to find a way to make life better for his mother and siblings, make music and love his bf. Chiamaka was smart, cunning and ambitious and I respected her for that (though, I didn’t always like or agree with her methods to gain success, I understood where it came from - we’re trained and it’s engrained in us as black kids that we have to succeed and in order to do so we have to do better than the best white kid because or the barriers put in place and this book very much explores that theme).  

This was such an intricate and well-examined look at the still very much occurring systems of white supremacy put in place to hinder the amelioration of black people and people of colour in society and how it starts as young as high school (and it absolutely does, if not younger). I couldn’t believe some of the things that occurred because I didn’t think the book would dive in as a deeply as it did, but I loved that about it!

One thing that stood out to me about this was the queerness; I loved that both characters were black and queer (bc yay intersectionality!!!) and that this was also explored heavily in the book (especially the number of black, gay men in the book 👏🏽🙌🏽). 

My only qualm (which wasn’t even enough to deduct a start for because I adored this book that much) was how things wrapped up. I liked the ending but I wish we got more closure with certain aspects and storylines.

Overall a fabulous, fantastic debut and I can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next! I’ll be recommending this to every and anyone!