Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - We Deserve Monuments

But at the end of it, the only thing I could say was, “ I love you.”Then the ice broke, the tears came, and I was drowning.” 4.5 stars

You can tell how much love and emotion it took for this debut to come together and I can’t thank Jas enough for creating this wonderful young adult novel. It centers around 17 year old Avery Anderson, a biracial teen from DC who moves to Bardell,Georgia after finding out that Mama Letty (Avery’s mother) has terminal breast cancer. The relationships we uncover in this book have a lot of deep rooted, repressed trauma and sometimes acknowledged verbal /emotional tendencies that lean towards abusive. Avery along with the audience unpacks a lot within the several months she is living in Bardell. This definitely leaves you thinking and wishing that more people of color did in fact have monuments dedicated to them because lord knows the Confederates of the past have no business being glorified. My only critique were the random flashbacks that weren’t necessarily needed or could have been implemented a different way.

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dernhelms_bag's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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

5.0

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readingwithtrey's review against another edition

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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.

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jessicaludden's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense fast-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

4.5

“I always thought falling in love would feel like an endless summer. Warm and whimsical, sugar-sweet sherbet and sparklers lighting up the sky. But was autumn now, and the world was still beautiful, and it all reminded me of her.”

I am a puddle of tears after reading this book. I loved it. I don’t know how the author did it but they managed to make me feel utterly hopeless and completely hopeful at the same time. This book holds a lot of power. It’s in the scenes where three generations of women are battling through their trauma and grief, whether with or against each other, that it really shows. Jas Hammonds did an amazing job of showing the complexities of trauma within a family and how that trauma can be passed on through generations. They also included the very raw and realistic histories of racism in the south. They put a face and a name to these horrors and were able to show how this history of hatred impacts actual people. Some of my favorite scenes were the conversations between Avery and Mama Letty where they were able to reminisce on Mama Lefty’s love with Ray, but also Avery was able to get bits and pieces of the awful events that resulted in Ray’s death. Jas Hammonds conveyed Avery’s desperation to know more and then her anger and helplessness when she realized there was nothing she could do. I loved Avery’s character. I love her determinedness to know more and do more for those she loved. I loved watching her grow into herself. Overall, I laughed, I cried, and I stared into space thinking. This book was beautiful.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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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.

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apieceofjaaay's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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alylentz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

This is an ambitious but brilliantly executed coming-of-age debut that focuses on Avery as she tries to make a home for herself in a small Southern town and get to know her dying grandmother. Avery, her family and friends, and Mama Letty are all memorable and realistically drawn characters, and while this novel is emotional and complex, it was also very fun to read about Avery making friends and falling in love for the first time. Avery slowly learns the history of her own family as well as the dark history of the town, and following the mysteries definitely kept me turning the pages. I am so impressed that this is a debut and know I will be picking up the next thing Jas Hammonds has to offer us. I can't wait to recommend this to teen readers who are looking for complex queer characters, deep family relationships, and richly drawn settings.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

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marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective 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

When her family learns that her grandmother is dying, Avery is uprooted from her life in D.C. and transplanted to her mom’s tiny hometown in Georgia. She leaves behind her college-obsessed friends (and ex) just before starting her senior year in a town where she knows no one, including her own grandmother. Years of lost time span between three generations of Black women, and Avery is determined to unearth the divisive secrets that color her family and finally get to know her impenetrable grandmother, all while getting to know herself. A debut novel about who and what is worth remembering with a special focus on Black queer love in the South, We Deserve Monuments is unforgettable.

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