The first 200 pages or so were actually pretty boring. There were way too many storylines for many of them to be properly developed, just about everything in this book was predictable, and so many of the characters were either completely underdeveloped or just not likable. This allows everyone to benefit from the lessons and messages that this book tells. Angie Thomas has such a gift of being able to tell a story from a teenager’s point of view while appealing to adults at the same time.

The issues that this book discussed are IMPORTANT and truly are ones that NEED to be discussed. I loved that this book took us back to Garden Heights and I loved the references back to storylines from The Hate U Give. I completely understand that I shouldn’t be comparing them because they are stand alone novels…but…it’s not The Hate U Give. (Disclaimer: I will never post spoilers in my reviews HOWEVER the comment section is completely fair game to discuss any and all specifics including spoilers) It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families. On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it-she has to make it. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. I waited (not so patiently) for months! It was finally released last month and I couldn’t get my hands on a copy soon enough.

Nobody was more excited for this book to be released than I was.

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas