I had a bad day so I wanted to pick up a comfort read (YA realistic fiction) and a book I knew I'd like (THUG was fantastic), so I ditched everything I was reading for two days to pick up Concrete Rose. It did not disappoint. This book is so great. It's one of those books I don't even know how to review because everything about it was so good.

The characters were great. I loved Mav's character and his inner struggles. His growth as a person was so well done. I loved the development of his relationships with other characters, and how they all existed separate to him. Like their lives continued offscreen and they had motivations Mav wasn't privy to, but they all made sense as full people.

Thomas's writing style was great. I think it may have been even better than in THUG, which was already so incredibly well done. It flowed so well. I kept sneaking little snippets of reading at work because I didn't want to put the book down.

One thing I really enjoyed was that despite this book being a prequel, it could have existed as a standalone. Like this book works without having THUG as context. It doesn't rely on the connection between the two to tell a good story. It works on its own merits and seems more happenstance than anything that the two are connected.

Like I dunno. It was good. It was so good. How do you review something that's just so good in every way? If you like coming of age realistic fiction, you should probably read this and THUG because Angie Thomas is great.