Review Detail

What worked: Powerful, poignant coming-of-age story. Seventeen-year-old Avery moves from DC to a small town in Georgia to help her dying grandmother. There are many secrets that include intergenerational trauma. One of those secrets involves a tragedy with Avery's family and anger that continues to haunt the family.

I really loved this novel. Avery is biracial and when she is around her dying grandmother Letty she's slowly able to piece together what happened one fateful day in Georgia to the grandfather she never knew.

Avery hooks up with Jade, a girl whose family lives in a Southern Plantation and has their own secrets, and next-door neighbor Simone. The romance between Avery and Simone is a slow burn that has some similarities to their own mother's friendship years ago.

Readers follow Avery as she navigates such issues as homophobia, racism, and family trauma in a small Georgia town. Great pacing throughout with hope resonating at the end.

Amazing, gripping tale of trauma that is felt for generations. A total must-read.