Completely Full Bookshelf

Is anybody else having the urge to read every single book you own and have read, own and haven't read, or don't own at all? It is seriously driving me crazy, especially since, until the end of this week, I barely have time to read at all! But I do have a review for today, which I am writing at the very last minute, so it will probably be shorter than usual. Today, I'm looking at Concrete Rose  by Angie Thomas. A word of caution to any young readers: this is a YA (young adult) book, not an MG (middle grade) book, and it contains somewhat mature content.         If you're not aware (though most of you probably are), Concrete Rose  is the third book by the inimitable Angie Thomas, following up her showstopping debut The Hate U Give  and her excellent follow-up On The Come Up   ( which is getting a movie adaptation! ). Thomas has tackled countless different aspects of what it is like to be Black in the United States in her books, with The Hate U...

Happy October! For #IMWAYR, I am recommending On the Come Up  by Angie Thomas. A word of caution to any young readers: this is a YA (young adult) book, not an MG (middle grade) book, and it contains somewhat mature content.           You probably know Angie Thomas as the author of the incomparable, show-stopping book The Hate U Give , which I reviewed just a few months ago . On the Come Up  is Thomas's newer novel from 2019, and it is just as absolutely amazing! On the Come Up  follows Brianna, or Bri for short, a high school girl dealing with quite a bit. Racist security guards are "protecting" her school, the Garden Heights neighborhood she lives in is reeling from the death of an unnamed boy at the hands of police (presumably Khalil from The Hate U Give , the only indication that these books take place in the same universe), and, despite her mother Jay and older brother Trey both working, they still can't make enough money to keep all the bills...

For #IMWAYR, I am recommending The Hate U Give  by Angie Thomas. A word of caution to any young readers: this book is a YA (young adult) novel, not an MG (middle grade) novel and contains some mature content.           Quite frankly, this book barely needs my recommendation, considering that it was probably the most-discussed, most-read, and most-important book of 2017 (also quite frankly, I'm unsure how it took me 3 years to start this book—I still feel like it just came out!). Regardless, I'm still reviewing it. ;)           The Hate U Give  revolves around Starr Carter, a high school student who spends her life divided between two worlds, so to speak. She and her family live in Garden Heights, a predominantly-black neighborhood that is home to gangs and drug dealers but is also a closely-knit community of neighbors who help each other (certainly something largely absent from today's society). However, Starr attends...