We Deserve Monuments

Avery is a lesbian, biracial high school senior who moves to her mother's small Georgia hometown with her parents to help her dying grandmother. This book is a deeply complex character-driven story which navigates intergenerational trauma, the ugliness of southern racism, white privilege, homophobia, police brutality, female friendships, family secrets, and identity. This coming-of-age debut novel is beautifully written, powerful, emotional, gripping and utterly heartrending. It deserves awards.

This debut novel deserves all the awards. From start to finish, I traveled on an emotional rollercoaster, driven by authentic and flawed characters whom I fell in love with immediately. The family relationships and dynamics felt happy and comforting at times, but then angry and frustrating at other times, just as in real life. The friendships are fierce and complex as not only are these teenagers dealing with figuring out their identities, but also what their futures possibly hold. The slow-burn

I thought Avery was a great main character, and really enjoyed rooting for her. This was a fast read because I was entirely swept up -- I think it's more character- than plot-driven, but I was so taken by the characters that the pages kept turning. Queer love, generational trauma, a small town's racist history -- this book pretty seamlessly covers a lot of ground (but I'm not giving specifics because I want you to read it for yourself!).