A review by themoodyambr
Light It Up by Kekla Magoon

3.0

3.5 ⭐

"When Shae Tatum died, it was different. It was about how they treat us, no matter how good or innocent we are. It was about how a black face is a black face is a black face. A threat no matter how you slice it"

WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME THIS WAS A COMPANION NOVEL? I saw this skimming through reviews and I did not know that but anywhooo

It felt like it took me MONTHS to read this book but its only been one month. I started this book while I was in a slump thinking it was going to take me out of it. It did slightly. I enjoyed the pacing of the story. I liked the perspectives of the different people such as Brick, Kimberly and Zeke. I DID NOT like the Officer's perspective (but I think that was the point)

This story follows all these people after a 13 year old is shot and was unarmed. Chaos ensues and everyone is in a riot.. literally. So the story shows these POVS and how everyone is processing whats going on in the news. There are tweets and interviews. I liked that this was a Black Lives Matter book because we got to see everyone perspective on what they perceive is right or wrong. Did Shae deserve to die? Is the last resort is to pull a trigger for police?

This book made me angry, sad, happy (there were some romance sprinkled) and angry again because just because this is a fictional story this happens everyday. A black person gets shot by an officer and then nothing happens to the officer. It's a never ending cycle.

thank you to netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review. this title comes out October 22nd 2019