A review by courtneyfalling
Blackout by Angie Thomas, Dhonielle Clayton, Ashley Woodfolk, Nic Stone, Nicola Yoon, Tiffany D. Jackson

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

This was really cute, and I loved how the stories and characters intertwined! There was also a really sweet sense of intergenerational connection, supportive friendships, and friends-to-lovers arcs across the stories.

Tammi and Kareem (written by Tiffany D. Jackson): I feel like a lot of their storyline hinged on miscommunication, and the final "reveals" didn't pay off enough for me. There were still so many things it felt like they each needed to talk through! I also wonder a little bit about the choice to intersperse their scenes with the other stories, vs. to just do six stories.

JJ and Tremaine (written by Nic Stone): I love them. I love how past moments between the characters got woven in. I actually gasped aloud at one point
when Tremaine said JJ looked better without his mask
. Possibly my favorite of the stories.

Nella and Joss (written by Ashley Woodfolk): I also totally love them. A little insta-love but I really liked the setting for this story and the other context that allowed them to open up to each other. Also good sapphic rep around confusing friendships and finding romantic love!

Lana and Tristán (written by Dhonielle Clayton): Childhood friends to lovers arcs kept popping up! I guess it makes sense with the phase of life (final summer before college, reflecting on who they are and who they want to be) that the characters are in. I also related a lot to Lana's struggle to find the perfect book and moment to tell Tristán about her feelings, only to have that perfectionist drive become what made the moment more difficult for her. 

Kayla, Tre'Shawn, Micah, and Jazmyn (written by Angie Thomas): I wasn't sold on the love triangle/quadrangle at the beginning of this, but it grew on me a lot by the end.
I liked how Kayla was able to discover that her real fear was not knowing who she was not as "Tre'Shawn's girlfriend," especially as someone who's been in that kind of young, serious, long-term relationship and had very similar anxieties. I feel like they were depicted well and we leave Kayla in a good headspace.


Seymour and Grace (written by Nicola Yoon): I liked them! They had a sweet meet-cute and this felt like the most traditionally YA romance story out of them all. (Two strangers with existential thoughts pushed together by coincidence and able to finally open up, only to realize they want to take those feelings into their real lives.) 

Overall: I did expect to get a final chapter with all the characters at the block party, to wrap up some of the loose ends, mostly because all of the stories felt very fast-paced with bringing their characters together. I wanted to know, for example,
if Kayla gets to meet up with her cousin, or if Kareem pulls off DJing, or if JJ and Tremaine arrive together in a public way, and so on.
Nothing is too glaringly outstanding, but it's all these small details!
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