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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
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:
No
Everything Woodson writes is beautiful, even a teen romance which normally I wouldn’t go anywhere near.
This book was going real good until the end. Jeremiah and that white girl( I forgot her name) fell in love and they were all happy in New York and blah blah. Then after Jeremiah makes plans to meet his girlfriend's parents he apparently gets shot???? That's why this book got 4 stars. The sequel was worse.
I picked this up for a bookclub, and its description was "a book published 20 years ago but still feels blisteringly contemporary". And God, I felt that reading the book.
The romance was soft and sweet and warm, I fell in love with the characters from the very first chapters. The quiet and reflective writing style kind of reminded me of We Are Okay which is another book that's really close to my heart.
From the opening lines of the book, Jeremiah's lines carved a special place in my heart and wouldn't let go:
"Just one step and somehow the weight of his skin seemed to change. It got heavier."
As a person of color in predominantly white spaces on the Internet, reading this felt like a puzzle piece clicking into place. Everything in the book resonated. How Miah's being-different felt too heavy in a room full of white people. How you begin to cherish just feeling free in your own skin. There's a lot of heartache in this book, but also a lot of healing to be found.
And man, God knows all of us still need a little healing today too.
The romance was soft and sweet and warm, I fell in love with the characters from the very first chapters. The quiet and reflective writing style kind of reminded me of We Are Okay which is another book that's really close to my heart.
From the opening lines of the book, Jeremiah's lines carved a special place in my heart and wouldn't let go:
"Just one step and somehow the weight of his skin seemed to change. It got heavier."
As a person of color in predominantly white spaces on the Internet, reading this felt like a puzzle piece clicking into place. Everything in the book resonated. How Miah's being-different felt too heavy in a room full of white people. How you begin to cherish just feeling free in your own skin. There's a lot of heartache in this book, but also a lot of healing to be found.
And man, God knows all of us still need a little healing today too.
This is totally a case of it’s me not you. I want to love Woodson’s books, but I just don’t seem to mesh well with her writing style. I liked the book well enough, but know this should have been an easy 5 star for me.
Fifteen-year-old Ellie is used to people leaving her. Her mom left when she was little (twice!), so she has trust issues. Jeremiah feels torn between his famous parents who are in the midst of a divorce. However, when Jeremiah and Ellie meet, they each find someone they can trust, someone they can share their thoughts and feelings with, someone who makes them feel like they're no longer alone. Unfortunately this happiness is short lived. Woodson's characters are easy to relate to and If You Come Softly is filled with the emotions of the Audre Lord poem it got it's name from. It's a bittersweet story and the ending is so sad it made me cry.
It was a short, quick read, but also sweet and sad. The kids were so lovely and is sad that they didn't get to finish their story.
- Writing this long after finishing it so feelings are probably delayed
- Writing and story was eh, wasn't terrible though
- Appreciated the frank portrayal of racism, I usually feel like YA books don't treat race relations with the honesty that young adults are capable of handling (and that hurts far far more than it helps), so I was very pleasantly surprised that this book went there (esp. since this book was published a while back)
- Very abrupt ending, wish there was more surrounding that, possibly would have made the book feel more powerful
- Can't believe that a YA ROMANCE NOVEL had this effect on me but I was sat here like. Do people actually like each other back. That's news
- <3 always appreciate a story set in NYC with characters that I feel like I already know bc of how versions of them already exist here
- Writing and story was eh, wasn't terrible though
- Appreciated the frank portrayal of racism, I usually feel like YA books don't treat race relations with the honesty that young adults are capable of handling (and that hurts far far more than it helps), so I was very pleasantly surprised that this book went there (esp. since this book was published a while back)
- Very abrupt ending, wish there was more surrounding that, possibly would have made the book feel more powerful
- Can't believe that a YA ROMANCE NOVEL had this effect on me but I was sat here like. Do people actually like each other back. That's news
- <3 always appreciate a story set in NYC with characters that I feel like I already know bc of how versions of them already exist here
this was a book that i checked out from the sackville library at least three times when i was the 'young adult' demographic. i've been wanting to revisit it for years and wasn't disappointed. it was still as beautiful and poignant as i remembered. it's very much in the tradition of books like thug and it hurts to see how little things have changed in twenty years. i really do need to read more from woodson's backlist.