Liara Tamani

diverse middlegrade/teen fiction (mature 6th grade and up?)
The stories start off with Taja in the 5th-6th grade (just about to start the awkward puberty years) but end with her having lost her virginity and entering college (parental note: this book contains sex and one or two F* words); I would say this would suit an audience of 6th-9th graders better than 9th-12th graders. Taja's voice sounds genuine to her age (she could easily have been someone I went to school with) and as far as I am able to tell, also sounds genuine to her background--African American, belonging to a very religious Christian family and growing up circa 1990. I think her voice would resonate with readers (even with the generational gap) and the short story format provides lots of spaces for stopping and reflecting (if the reader wants to).

I also think the cover art is beautiful. More, please.… (mehr)

Being a young woman whose body is changing, in today's society is hard. But for Taja being a young African American girl growing up thought racism, bullying, heartbreak, religion, and self-discovering, discovering her sexuality is way harder. This book shows how easily the society judges a woman for her sexuality, the high expectation, and how easy it is to define a woman "a hoe" for it. Liara Tamani wrote a beautiful novel about a complicated and strong young woman. This book is amazing for representation.… (mehr)

“It’s like we’re two trees secretly sharing nutrients underground, two stars orbiting around all the things there’s no language for.”

TL;DR Loved it! A pleasant spin on the usual YA insta-love filled with family, emotions, self-esteem, and teens wondering about their futures.

Lovely! The romance played it straight with the insta-love and fate. Rex and Carli’s love was fluffy, giddy, the slightest bit corny, and light-hearted.

I was surprised that romance wasn’t the only draw here. There was a lot of focus on family, upbringing, and the usual growing pains of becoming a young adult. Carli has loving parents who are divorcing for a reason unbeknownst to her, whereas Rex has a hands-off, single father who spends all his time away from home as a brain surgeon. Those different family dynamics definitely affected Carli and Rex in a lot of different ways. Just seeing how both of them handled emotions and their family situations really fleshed out their characters. For one point, Rex’s mom died in childbirth with him, which adds another layer of longing in him for love.

The characters aren’t perfect, and they have a lot of emotional outbursts. Carli was relatable with trying to narrow down her career/life purpose. I, too, hated having to have an idea of what you want to seemingly do for the rest of your life. For that reason, I struggled with picking a major for college. Carli’s also good at basketball, but it’s nothing she wholeheartedly loves. She had so many different interests from art to mythology to random trivia. I liked her! She was level-headed but still playful, just trying to figure life out.

I enjoyed that Rex wasn’t the typical playboy, ball hog star player. He got emotional and desperately yearned for love. He had an ingrained habit of hiding his hurt and pain down low within himself. Obviously, those feelings burst forth at some point. Unlike most YA leads, due to his lack of parenting, he desired a stricter upbringing. I wished at some point Rex went to therapy, a school counselor, or read a book or something. He kept bottling up a lot of his feelings, and he needed someone besides Carli to unload that on. He felt like a real person, and, at times, I wanted to slap him into next week when he acted a dee-diddle-fool. BUT I always get why he behaved a certain way. I like that. I don’t have to agree with a character’s actions, but I understand them.

Cole, Carli’s brother, is a goofy, hopeful romantic who was sensitive and majorly in touch with his feelings. Carli and he get along great. I always adore seeing sibling relationships where they don’t revolve solely around fighting.

Also, I loved Carli’s mom, Barbra. I get so tired of the long-suffering wife who puts up with all her husband’s foolery, so she was such a breath of fresh air.

I enjoyed reading this immensely! The narrative voice felt crisp and authentic. The whole relationship didn't just revolve around sex though there were a bit of some sexual shenanigans. The pacing was great, and I connected with the characters. I would definitely recommend reading this even for non-romance readers or non-sports fans! There is a lot of heart in this story. One thing, at times, Rex was creepyyyyy. Like, You “Joe” creepy. Still, read this!

ending spoiler: I'm glad they broke up. it was too much drama tho the ending is certainly hopeful.… (mehr)

I had mixed reactions to this book. On the one hand, the writing is beautiful and poetic. It is a book filled with introspection and deeply personal thoughts, which I liked.
But it isn't a novel in any traditional sense. It doesn't tell a story. Most of the 50 odd chapters are unrelated story-wise from each other. Here and there a single thread will carry through several chapters, but only briefly.
Each chapter is one tiny snapshot into Taja Brown's life. All other characters are distant secondary players, as all focus is on Taja's own thoughts, personal battles, strengths, weaknesses, etc. When I finished a chapter, nothing compelled e to keep reading, to see what would happen next, because whatever story there was in that chapter (and many of the chapters are pretty much just Taja's thoughts, with no story at all) would not be picked up in the next chapter. An added difficulty is that the book covers many years of Taja's life, from sometime in middle school I gather, up to high school graduation, yet there is nothing at any point to let the reader know where in this timeline we are.
From a literary standpoint, I don't think any of that is a weakness. It just wasn't the kind of book that appeals to me as much as one with a plot, holding it all together. I suppose I'm a bit too shallow to fully appreciate this one, even though I recognize the lovely writing.
Perhaps I should say, this one of the best books I've ever read that I didn't like all that much.… (mehr)