A review by stevie_b
Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson

3.0

It's the summer between Nala's Junior and Senior year and she has three goals. 1. Find Love. 2. Discover her new hairstyle. 3. Spends hours and hours watching Netflix with her cousin-sister-friend Imani and their best friend Sadie. When Nala meets Tye, an incredibly handsome environmental conscientious social justice warrior, at an event for Imani's volunteer group she panics and exaggerates (lies) about herself to impress Tye. As the summer goes on and Nala and Tye's relationship grows she struggles with keeping her lies hidden and their repercussions.

I was all ready for a cute rom-com with this book, and it absolutely met those expectations, but also gave me a dose of self-reflection and revolutionary self-love that I wasn't expecting and found moving and refreshing. Towards the beginning, I was a little wary of how Nala resented the work of Inspire Harlem (which probably says more about me than the book), but I LOVED Nala's growth towards realizing that the small things that we do for people can have a powerful impact. Recommend for MS and US (maybe even 6th grade) students looking for some light rom-com realistic fiction.

*Received an e-Arc on NetGalley to review*