Scan barcode
jillgoober's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is a fantastic black, queer, young adult story about intergenerational trauma. Our main character, Avery, is forced to temporarily move from her Washington, D.C. home to her mother's old home in Georgia because her grandmother has terminal cancer. She barely knows her grandma, Mama Lettie, because of the strained relationship between her and Avery's mother. During her time there, Avery gets to know her grandmother better as she gets to know herself better too.
I really enjoyed this from beginning to end except for one little tidbit that kept me from giving it five stars. I won't be specific because it's a big spoiler but the twist at the end just didn't do it for me. I felt like it was unnecessary and it personally didn't make sense why the character would do something like that.
Despite the strange plot twist, this is still an incredible novel overall. Please be cautious in reading this if the topics of terminal cancer and family death are difficult for you.
I really enjoyed this from beginning to end except for one little tidbit that kept me from giving it five stars. I won't be specific because it's a big spoiler but the twist at the end just didn't do it for me. I felt like it was unnecessary and it personally didn't make sense why the character would do something like that.
Despite the strange plot twist, this is still an incredible novel overall. Please be cautious in reading this if the topics of terminal cancer and family death are difficult for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Death of parent, Cancer, Murder, Racism, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Terminal illness
scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was both easy and difficult to get through — easy because the writing and plot was not hard to follow. There were tidbits of flashbacks scattered about the chapters but they didn’t take away from the main plot. And it was difficult because of the topics of grief, terminal illness, and racism. Jas Hammonds has created a story absolutely beautiful and heart-breaking, executed so perfectly in every aspect. This book isn’t just about Avery and Simone’s wonderful slow-burn romance, but also about dealing with generational trauma, grief from death of a family member, and struggling with living as a Black person in a bigoted South town. This was such an important book to read and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.
I am gutted after this one and it's going to stay with me for a really really long time. Good job, Jas Hammands and an equally good job to the narrator of the audiobook, Tamika Katon-Donegal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Death, Racism, Police brutality, and Hate crime
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Homophobia
Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual assault
Content warning: police brutality and mentions of KKK, mentions of COVID/pandemic, death of a parent from murder, death of a sibling from murder, religious bigotry, parental abuse/negligence, cigarette use, underaged drinking. For more warnings, please check the user-submitted warnings on Storygraph Representation: Black, biracial, lesbian, bisexual, pansexuallibscote's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is a powerful book about intergenerational trauma. Avery and her family move to Bardell, Georgia, to take care of her maternal grandmother, who is dying of cancer. Avery doesn't know much about why her mother and grandmother won't speak, and she gets determined to find out. There are other mysteries in Bardell: who killed her new friend Jade's mother? Are the answers to all secrets meant to be found?
It's dark, but there is joy too. It's about reconnecting with family, through the traumatic events of your past, and attempting to forgive. It's about loving yourself.
It's dark, but there is joy too. It's about reconnecting with family, through the traumatic events of your past, and attempting to forgive. It's about loving yourself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Emotional abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Homophobia and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism
crazybookishcool's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Cancer, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Addiction, Abandonment, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Grief
mezzythedragon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Grief, Death, Alcohol, Cursing, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Terminal illness
CW // intergenerational trauma, abuse, racism, death, internalized queerphobia, alcohol and drug use This is some hard-hitting, heavy stuff. A clear example of “hurt people hurt people.” Even though both Zora and Mama Letty have gone through/are still going through their personal traumas, they too have done some terrible things to each other, and in Zora’s case, to Avery as well. I will say the endingkays_reading_journal's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was insane. I read it in one day, and spent the last 60 pages bawling my eyes out. I’m not even a teenager anymore, but this threw me right back to when I was 15, terrified to come out to my parents, terrified of the future. This book was filled with love and hurt and pain and trauma and it was done perfectly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, and Homophobia
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Alcoholism, and Murder
lettuce_read's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Grief, Cancer, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Murder, Outing, Cursing, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Classism
readingwithtrey's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Avery Anderson’s life for the last few years has been completely upended by the pandemic. She’s not sure how it could get any more off track until one day Avery’s mother gets a mysterious letter that has them abruptly traveling back to the small town of Bardell, Georgia for the first time in a decade. What starts out as her family moving to care for an estranged grandmother dying of cancer, turns into Avery discovering past family secrets, building new relationships, and healing old wounds.
Jas Hammond’s debut novel, We Deserve Monuments, does not read as a debut at all. She holds nothing back in this coming of age story that examines historical wounds and the impact of them on the descendants today. I could not put this book down, and these characters and their stories will long stay with me. On top of that, there was a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming that left me thinking. I love endings to profound stories that make you think. *chef’s kiss*
This is one of those reads that can definitely make you uncomfortable as it addresses some really deep and unsettling things, but I think those are the best and most important reads. The reads that start can conversations, build understanding, and strengthen relationships are the most impactful. And in my opinion, that’s one of the most amazing things about books.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Racism, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Cursing, Lesbophobia, Violence, Police brutality, Car accident, and Emotional abuse
caseythereader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Thanks to Fierce Reads for the free copy of this book.
- WE DESERVE MONUMENTS is a knockout of a book. This book covers everything from the annoyances of being a teenager to generational trauma, and it's delivered in a story that's both beautiful and page-turning.
- I loved watching the relationships between the women of Avery's family untangle and grow. Hammonds doesn't gloss over how painful it can be to uncover family history, but also that love can still be buried under all of it.
- On top of all this, there's also an exploration of what it means to be young, Black and queer in the South today. I'll truly be thinking of this book for a long time to come.
- WE DESERVE MONUMENTS is a knockout of a book. This book covers everything from the annoyances of being a teenager to generational trauma, and it's delivered in a story that's both beautiful and page-turning.
- I loved watching the relationships between the women of Avery's family untangle and grow. Hammonds doesn't gloss over how painful it can be to uncover family history, but also that love can still be buried under all of it.
- On top of all this, there's also an exploration of what it means to be young, Black and queer in the South today. I'll truly be thinking of this book for a long time to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Alcohol, Racism, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Homophobia, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Medical content, Violence, and Cancer
Minor: Sexual content
solenophage's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I loved a good 80 - 90% of this - solid 4, maybe 5 stars - until the ending. The exploration of complex and nuanced family relationships is something I always enjoy reading about and that was done quite well in this novel. I appreciated how Hammonds portrayed the cycle of trauma and abuse. They showed the sympathetic side to all three generations of the main character, Avery's family without excusing how Avery's grandmother abused her daughter or how her mother denied Avery a connection to her family and their history. Each character's hurt and anger is allowed to breathe and to coexist with love and longing and grief. Their relationships all feel complex and real in a way that often difficult to capture. I also like how Avery's exploration of her family history and her desire to understand her mother and her grandmother more is tied into her increasing feelings that she doesn't really know who she is or what she really wants out of life beyond what is expected of her. I could really feel and empathize with the fear, frustration, and sense of being lost that built slowly as Avery began to realize that the way she'd been living her life was mostly to satisfy others or was something she did without thinking because it was expected of her. She spent so much time following that path and now that she knows it's not what she wants, she's struggling to figure out what is.
There were a few aspects that I thought could have been done better. I was uncomfortable with how casual and dismissive Avery was towards Simone's fear of being outed to her homophobic mother in what seems to be a conservative town. I could accept this as just part of her character - not really understanding the real danger this could have for Simone - but it felt like the narrative supported this attitude or at least didn't contradict it. I didn't feel like Simone's feelings and Avery's dismissiveness weren't fully addressed and by the end Avery's 'everything will be fine, don't worry' attitude was proven correct. Simone's mother did come around and Avery's and Simone's relationship picked right back up easily.
I was kind of irritated by how useless and uninvolved Avery's dad was for a lot of the book. I get that the focus wasn't on him, but if your family's have screaming matches and breaking down crying, shouldn't you be doing something? He got better towards the end, but it was still annoying.
Those were pretty minor problems for me though, what really took this down to only 3 stars was the ending. **Spoilers ahead** Avery finds out her grandmother most likely murdered one of her best friend's, Jade's, parents in the last 20 pages and that's that, end of the book. She has no feelings or thoughts on that, we don't see it affect their friendship, she doesn't even think about breaching that subject with Jade. It's made extra off putting by the fact that Avery finding out that Jade's grandfather and great-grandfather murdered her grandfather was rightfully treated as a big deal that really messed with her. She had a big fight with Jade and had to work through a lot of anger and complex feelings before she could get to thinking about whether they could still be friends after finding out something like that. Then she discovers this and has no empathy towards Jade, doesn't want to help her find closure or decide for herself how she feels about hanging around the family of the woman who killed her mother. Avery can have that, but she'll deny it to Jade. It wasn't even a satisfying conclusion to the 'mystery' of Jade's mother's death, because that never felt like a major part of the story, just a part of Jade's backstory. It felt like a weird and unnecessary note to end an otherwise good book on.
There were a few aspects that I thought could have been done better. I was uncomfortable with how casual and dismissive Avery was towards Simone's fear of being outed to her homophobic mother in what seems to be a conservative town. I could accept this as just part of her character - not really understanding the real danger this could have for Simone - but it felt like the narrative supported this attitude or at least didn't contradict it. I didn't feel like Simone's feelings and Avery's dismissiveness weren't fully addressed and by the end Avery's 'everything will be fine, don't worry' attitude was proven correct. Simone's mother did come around and Avery's and Simone's relationship picked right back up easily.
I was kind of irritated by how useless and uninvolved Avery's dad was for a lot of the book. I get that the focus wasn't on him, but if your family's have screaming matches and breaking down crying, shouldn't you be doing something? He got better towards the end, but it was still annoying.
Those were pretty minor problems for me though, what really took this down to only 3 stars was the ending. **Spoilers ahead** Avery finds out her grandmother most likely murdered one of her best friend's, Jade's, parents in the last 20 pages and that's that, end of the book. She has no feelings or thoughts on that, we don't see it affect their friendship, she doesn't even think about breaching that subject with Jade. It's made extra off putting by the fact that Avery finding out that Jade's grandfather and great-grandfather murdered her grandfather was rightfully treated as a big deal that really messed with her. She had a big fight with Jade and had to work through a lot of anger and complex feelings before she could get to thinking about whether they could still be friends after finding out something like that. Then she discovers this and has no empathy towards Jade, doesn't want to help her find closure or decide for herself how she feels about hanging around the family of the woman who killed her mother. Avery can have that, but she'll deny it to Jade. It wasn't even a satisfying conclusion to the 'mystery' of Jade's mother's death, because that never felt like a major part of the story, just a part of Jade's backstory. It felt like a weird and unnecessary note to end an otherwise good book on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Cancer, and Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Murder
Minor: Fatphobia