Reviews tagging 'Murder'

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

85 reviews

otakatoe3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Death, Outing, Cancer, Hate crime, Bullying, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Homophobia, Murder, Death of parent, Grief, and Racism

sad_sunflower's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Lesbophobia, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Death, Outing, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Racism, Hate crime, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Body shaming and Car accident

dreyajavi's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The writing was beautiful. The characters delicately crafted and real. The lack of accountability was unsettling while being realistic. But some of that lack of accountability led to an unsatisfying ending for me and knocked it down a star or so. 
Sidenote: I totally picked this book up because of its cover art. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Racism, and Cancer

Moderate: Police brutality and Emotional abuse

Minor: Murder

amberstanislawa's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Cancer

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, Racism, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Death, Biphobia, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Drug use, Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Alcohol, Child abuse, Body shaming, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Sexism, Murder, Sexual content, and Slavery

mia_liest's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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

A beautiful, black, queer coming-of-age story set in a small town including quite some family mysteries. I read through the night and loved (almost) all of the characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, and Death

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Outing, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Child death, Infidelity, Gun violence, and Murder

caseyaboutthroughout's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

livreittoashley's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Outing, Police brutality, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Fatphobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Medical content, Classism, Death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Outing

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Addiction, and Drug use

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Abandonment, Gun violence, Slavery, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

We Deserve Monuments is a deeply moving story about family, regrets, loss and love. I think this book handles grief and generational trauma in a very relatable way. Watching Avery connect with her grandma and learn more about their past, as well as watching Zora and Mama Letty reconcile all the hurt and trauma that was between them was so impactful to me. The moments they shared at the end of the book were so special and I processed a lot of my own grief while reading them.

 I thought Avery’s relationship with Simone was sweet, and I wish we got to see more of them together. I did like Jade’s character as well and I felt like we didn’t really get much resolution with her part of the story. I’m not sure if that was intentional, or if certain things had to be left out but I did wish that Avery got to have a real talk with Jade at the end. 

I guess I assumed from the description that it was going to be more of an active mystery and that Avery was going to actually investigate so that was partially on me. I was kind of disappointed with the ending, and how the plot and character development were resolved.

I still don’t know how I feel about the reveal at the end about who killed Jade’s mom. When Avery discovered that Mama Letty was the one who killed Amelia  I just couldn’t reconcile with it. It almost felt like it was a last-minute decision. After I got the vibe of the story I figured there probably wasn’t going to be some big sweeping act of justice for what happened to Ray, as these acts of racist brutality usually don’t end with justice. But I just didn’t like how Avery found out really quickly at the end and there was no real reflection on it. I just kind of struggled with how those two events were tied together. And I felt that Avery’s personal story fell flat at the end, like her future goals and college plan were never brought up again, and I know the epilogue kind of addressed but I felt she deserved more. That and what I mentioned above made the ending feel a little rushed but that was really my only issue with the story.

I always struggle with open-ended conclusions tbh 😂 I like knowing that things were neatly tied up and everyone got a happy ending, but part of me is okay that we didn’t get closure and answers for everything, because real life is messy and inconclusive. My feelings about the ending aside, I thought this book portrayed grief and the slow process of loss and illness in a very beautiful way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Police brutality, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Cancer, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Addiction