84: Pritty

Synopsis

On the verge of summer before his senior year, Jay is a soft soul in a world of concrete. While his older brother is everything people expect a man to be–tough, athletic, and in charge–Jay simply blends into the background to everyone, except when it comes to Leroy.

Unsure of what he could have possibly done to catch the eye of the boy who could easily have anyone he wants, Jay isn’t about to ignore the surprising but welcome attention. But as everything in his world begins to heat up, especially with Leroy, whispered rumors over the murder of a young Black journalist and long-brewing territory tensions hang like a dark cloud over his neighborhood. And when Jay and Leroy find themselves caught in the crossfire, Leroy isn’t willing to be the reason Jay’s life is at risk.

Dragged into the world of the Black Diamonds–whose work to protect the Black neighborhoods of Savannah began with his father and now falls to his older brother–Leroy knows that finding out who attacked his brother is not only the key to protecting everyone he loves but also the only way he can ever be with Jay. Wading through a murky history of family trauma and regret, Leroy soon dis-covers that there’s no keeping Jay safe when Jay’s own family is in just as deep and fighting the undertow of danger just as hard.

Now Jay and Leroy must puzzle through secrets hiding in plain sight and scramble to uncover who is determined to eliminate the Black Diamonds before someone else gets hurt–even if the cost might be their own electric connection.

The Good

I. Black queerness is front and center.

II. Love is a major theme in the story.

There is a representation of Black love across the board: community, family, between Black men (platonic and romantic), Black men loving and being loved/desired, and more.

III. Merging of spheres that are usually made to seem at odds with each other – Black queerness & gangs and certain representations of Black masculinity.

IV. Variety in Black guys

This is the most Black guys I have seen represented in a ya book in a long time.

V. Story is a space that centers Blackness.

The Bad

I. So much plot and characters with little build up.

II. A lot of telling not enough showing.

-Who are any of these characters? We are told who they are, but we are not shown who they are.

III. Story jumps around.

IV. Could this have been tighter and shorter story?

V. Heavily romance to point everything feels like a background to the romance/love. At a certain point I was tired of talking about love in a way that I felt lacked depth or umph.

Thoughts

I. Comparison to Angie Thomas and Jason Reynolds

Looking at the comps helped me to understand the story on its own.

In what way does this story compare to Angie Thomas or Jason Reynolds? Is it in tone, subject matter, or in another way? The tone/voice of Pritty does not give either Angie Thomas or Jason Reynolds to me.

II. Is the story for a mature audience?

Constantly thinking about what has been said about the place young readers (teens) are at it makes me assess if books fit the age range they are for.

A. It has longer chapters. The Hate U Give has long chapters too.

B. The tone is more mature because of how it is written?

Does use of AAVE make this story more accessible to young readers?

III. Is there an emerging trend of these angsty or dramatic type of romances?

IV. Language & N-word.

When is the last young adult (or adult) book I read that has characters using the n-word? Is there representation being lost when there are not many books with Black characters using it? Then again how do you edit and review (use of n-word & AAVE) when majority of editors/agents/people in publishing are not Black?

V. This coulda been…:

A. Fantasy or horror or speculative – At a certain point in story one of the characters said something that made me think about story possibly shifting into fantasy. It would have been interesting with the gangs & magic.

B. Comic – Saw a bit of the Pritty Kickstarter and if this was a comic, I think so much would have gone down better.

I received this for review from Epic Reads

85: Gorgeous Gruesome Faces (Spoilers Towards End of Thoughts Section)

Synopsis

Yellowjackets meets She Is a Haunting in this spine-tingling sapphic thriller that follows a disgraced teen idol who comes face-to-face with the demons of her past in a glittering, cutthroat K-pop competition.

THEN:

Sunny Lee is on the top of the world. She’s one third of Sweet Cadence, the hottest up-and-coming teen pop group, alongside her new BFFs, Candie and Mina. The three are inseparable as they ride their way to the top of the charts, even as Candie and Sunny fight to resist the growing spark between them. But when a shocking scandal breaks, the group is suddenly torn apart. Then the unthinkable – Mina dies tragically right before Sunny and Candie’s eyes. And Sunny suspects the dark and otherworldly secrets she and Candie were keeping may have had something to do with it . . .

NOW:

For the past two years, Sunny has spent her days longing for her former life and her nights wondering just what caused Mina’s death. So when she discovers that Candie is attending a new K-pop workshop right in her hometown, Sunny has no choice but to follow her there. Candie might be chasing stardom again, but Sunny is only after one thing: answers.

At the workshop, the lines between nightmare and reality start to blur as Sunny is haunted by ghostly visions and her competitors’ bodies turn up bizarrely maimed and mutilated. To survive the twisted carnage, Sunny will have to expose the ugly truth behind the workshop’s spotlights and the sinister forces swirling around Candie. Stitched with cutting commentary on the ugly side of stardom and impossible beauty standards, Linda Cheng’s mind-bending thriller will have readers screaming and swooning for more.

The Good

I. The horror: what is at the heart of the horror is good.

II. Overall good: Explains and wraps up everything while leaving space for more.

III. There are many good things sprinkled throughout the story but my favorite part of story is last 100 or so pages when we get to heart of story. There is a book that is similar to this that I came out this year. I feel like by reading that story so close to this one I am able to appreciate what this did. Also, it showed me the ways that story failed.

IV. Good setting and premise for a horror.

The Bad

I. Story drags a bit

II. I felt emotionally detached in ways.

III. Did the romance(s) take over the story at times?

IV. Could they have moved some things around so as to create a tighter darker story?

V. Was there enough time with the competition or characters?

Thoughts

I. Mismarketing vs My Lofty Expectations

A.  Do I have elaborate expectations for books? Yes.

Do these synopses and marketing not fully represent these stories? Yes. 

B. Possibilities (from reading up to chapter 2): Since this is horror we could get a darker k-pop story than that has been done in ya. The line between homophobia and queer baiting the industry/fans do.

Assumptions: I assumed it was going to be more focused on realistic contemporary horrors of Asian music industry.

C. How do you comp stories when some of the true comparisons are spoilers?

D. I don’t agree with the Yellowjackets comp. What way does it compare to Yellowjackets?

II. There needs to be more of: Asian entertainment industry + (insert genre).

Adult + horror = could really go darker than this.

III. Celestial Maiden vs Acheron (Spoilers)

The story that I felt this was similar to is I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me because both deal with someone giving themselves over to an entity.

A. Celestial maiden is explained & feels like a competent entity unlike Acheron who got beat up and people killed left and right. Celestial Maiden did get trapped and mutilated by humans but killed a bunch in end of story, so it levels out.

B. Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is more organized structurally.

C. You could study these stories next to each other.

(image and synopsis are from bookishfirst)

won from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group via bookishfirst