The Bo0ki3: YA

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Pride

Ibi Zoboi

Young Adult Contemporary Romance, Retelling

Hardcover, 304 Pages

Publisher: Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins

Release Date: September 18, 2018

Overall Rating: 4/5

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.

When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.

But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.

I’ll be honest with you I haven’t read Pride and Prejudice (gasp, I know) I have the book but when I started it, I just couldn’t get into. I have watched the movie and read a few retellings. I love seeing authors or people in general taking something they love and turning it into their own thing while paying respect to the original work. Ibi Zoboi did just that, yes while this book was a retelling of a classic story it was fresh and stood on its own. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a retelling of Pride and Prejudice like this, one that I could relate to, one that touched on what it meant to be black girl in New York City.

Okay so let’s get down to it, I’ve had my eye on this book for months and I was not disappointed, though if I’m being honest I didn’t think this would be a bad book at all. It was well written, well-paced, relatable and just good. Zuri, (huge fan of the name) is smart, stubborn, passionate, family orientated, and extremely judgmental. She had a plan for her life, work hard and go to a good college. I loved that Zuri was excited to spend the summer with her older sister Janae, who just came home from her first year at college. That spoke to me because I do pretty much everything with my siblings, and when the twins went away to college it was weird not to have them around.

My one biggest problem with Zuri was how judgmental she was. It honestly was maddening how she judged Darius and his family solely based off the fact that they had money. She judged them before she had even seen them, and in her head, she knew she was absolutely right about them. Though if I’m being truthful I can’t tell if Zuri was that bad or if the reason I’m so hard on her is because I relate to Darius so much. I’m not rich but I definitely know how it feels to not fit in to that box of what people think it means to black. Darius as a character spoke to me because all my life I’ve done things in a way that was different from what other black people around have done and had people questioning if I was truly black.

Now this is not to say Darius is a perfect character because he too is judgey as hell. If both Zuri and Darius got over themselves, they might have been friends from the beginning. One of my favorite parts of the book was how Zuri felt about her neighborhood. She was worried about people moving in and gentrifying the neighborhood. Sometimes people only see an area they think is “ghetto” or “hood” or that needs to fixed but what they don’t see that these neighborhoods have a culture and life all their own. It showed that neighborhoods are more than the buildings and landscaping, neighborhoods are people and personalities. I might seem like I’m reading too much into it but it’s something I can relate to and it made me happy to see these things reflected in a book.

I recommend this book to any and every one, it was fun book, a quick read and a reminder that sometimes people need to let go of their pride. You do not have to be a person of color to enjoy this book. Please do yourself a favor and get this book when it comes out, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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Black Moon

Jessica McQuay

Paige Taylor Book 1

Paperback, 240 Pages

Publisher: Charles River Press

Releases Date: November 23, 2012

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

"Am I losing my mind?"
Paige couldn't help but question her sanity. What other explanation could there be for her hearing a conversation held barely above a whisper in the back of a classroom full of students? What about coming home to find one of those very classmates lying in wait in the darkness of her home, ready to attack her?
Confused, frustrated and feeling every ounce of her social ostracism, Paige confides in the one person she's always been able to count on: her mom. But when her mom reveals a deeply rooted, unbelievable family secret, Paige discovers her world is filled with more than she ever imagined possible. A world where fairytales live alongside nightmares and secrets are the glue that binds them together. Suddenly no one is who they seem and Paige is faced with more questions than answers. Can she survive in a world filled with creatures scarier than anything she could imagine and where deceit runs as thick as blood? Or will the truth send her over the edge?

Black Moon left me with mixed feelings, I liked the book yet at the same time I didn’t, I was a little confused about some things and left feeling like other things were missing. I really liked Paige, she was a great character a little different from what I’ve been reading lately and that was refreshing. She handled everything that was thrown at her in a way that seemed real, it also made me respect her. Her whole life has been turned upside down yet she handles things amazingly.

There are two whole sides of Paige’s life that she knows nothing about and both sides are having their strings pulled by someone else. I loved the fairy aspect of the story, it was great. Paige sets off on a journey to the fairy world where she meets Naialah and that’s where things got a little confusing for me. What I was confused about was Paige a lesbian or bi? This was way more than a normal friendship. If that was the case why not just say so? I’m totally okay with that. Naialah and Paige’s ‘relationship' was a big part of the story and honestly I’m glad Paige found someone who liked her for who she was doesn’t matter what kind of relationship they had. Naialah isn’t a fairy and only a few people even know what she really is and from what I can tell whatever she is a big deal. Then we have the wolves which I loved, now don’t mistake me I didn’t like the wolves personally, I didn’t trust them and want to see how they develop in future books, I do love wolves period.

This book has all of the makings of a great book yet it falls short. It was quick, fun, and action packed. So much happened in the story, though it still didn’t like enough. This book felt unfinished in a way, more like novella. Hopefully book two will make up for that and shed some light on the things that were left unsaid. The writing was great and it really was a good read, one that people shouldn’t pass up. When the second book is released I will read it.

About the Author:

There were three things Jessica loved to do growing up; reading, writing and playing music. She discovered her love for writing at a young age, when she realized she could create anything she wanted with words.

Jessica lives in Sacramento, CA with her husband, four children, a goldfish named Sparkle and their cat, Talula. When she isn't working on the next Paige Tailor novel, taking her children to one activity or another, or folding the never ending laundry of a six person family, Jessica enjoys playing her clarinet in the community band, reading while enjoying a cup of coffee or heading to the theater and catching a movie with her husband.