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violetbentbackwards1036's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racial slurs, Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Sexual harassment, Violence, Blood, Child death, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders
m4rtt4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Murder, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Racism, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Violence, Gaslighting, Infertility, and Excrement
Minor: Addiction and Drug use
anxiousrage's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Drug use and Sexual content
Minor: Confinement
alinaccc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Minor: Drug use and Miscarriage
kshertz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Murder, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Drug use
blombern's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Miscarriage, Classism, Lesbophobia, Murder, Death, Child death, Cursing, Mental illness, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Confinement, Vomit, and Incest
brianna_moye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual content and Drug use
brookey8888's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Murder, Drug use, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Child death, Classism, Child abuse, Racism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Abandonment
athenathestorier's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Besides how palatable the emotion was on the pages, how desperation and fear permeated nearly every word, I think what really hurt the most was how real this scenario felt. How many kids are ignored and left in states of living hell all because of people applying “ain’t our business” logic to situations it shouldn’t apply. How it’s funny that “ain’t our business” logic never seems to apply to gossip. How people pretend to be blind when things get serious. How “ain’t our business” gets spouted even by the very systems meant to protect people, in order to protect reputation and time instead.
And how I know/n kids to this day who should’ve had state and school intervention. But received nothing other than a scheduled knock on the door and a “could be worse.” And I know it’s even worse in other areas. In other communities. So much needs to get fixed.
“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: 𝒘𝒉𝒐’𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈—𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚?”
Our protagonist is Claudia. Daughter of a southern mother and a trucker father. Tragic fan of go-go music. Beautiful dancer and overall artist. She sees the world in colors. And words tend to escape her. She fears speaking. Fears standing out. Monday is her safety net from the world. And Claudia is hers. They shared a dynamic that perhaps wasn’t the most honest or healthy, but was nonetheless crucial. Nonetheless genuine. I absolutely loved how the author explored this relationship, and how deep-seated and confusing it was, without ever turning it into something it wasn’t.
“𝑰𝒇 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓, 𝒔𝒉𝒆'𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒅. 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒑, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓—𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍'𝒔-𝒆𝒚𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎, 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒔.”
“𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆, 𝒗𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑷𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆, 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑩𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒗𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒃.”
Overall, this story was excellently crafted. It really spoke to how kids notice a lot. But they often lack the focus and emphasis that comes with experience—the focus that establishes importance. This style made it spectacularly well-suited to a mystery thriller.
I also loved how the story used AAVE. I think this might actually be the first book I’ve read that used it consistently throughout. It was interesting to see how similar it was to my southern dialect—enough so that I would occasionally slip into it while reading—but also simultaneously so different that I had to use context to understand the general meaning.
And the detail is *chef’s kiss.* After reading a certain revelation, I am tempted to go back and re-read to see what details I may have missed, or forgotten about while waiting for all the simultaneous timelines to come together. I’ve already seen a few while getting quotes for this review, so I know they’re there. But I’ll do that reread when I get the physical book for my shelf.
“𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒊𝒏’𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓.”
“Lastly, missing children of color, we have not forgotten about you. We will continue to fight and give you a voice. You matter.” – Tiffany D. Jackson, Acknowledgments
Graphic: Child abuse, Bullying, and Grief
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Ableism, Child death, and Death
Minor: Drug use, Miscarriage, Vomit, Homophobia, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Alcohol
implied prostitution;