On the Come Up is Angie Thoma's second book. Her first book, The Hate U Give, was amazing and I was a bit nervous on how I would find this book. I was the exact opoiste of the prime audience - being white and in my late 30s. To make it worse I spent most of grad school with my peers trying to teach me the joy of hip hop, something that I never quite understood. I don't really understand any music to be honest.

However, my daughter's are avid music lovers, are mixed, and are both teenagers. This book was really written for them, except my girls hate to read. I did the only logical thing and bought the audiobook. I then played it while I was driving. My 14 year old actually pointed out the other day, "Isn't that the book you were listening to?" That alone showed it made an impact, although this review is mine. I would say take it with a grain of salt, except this book is brilliant so you should listen to what I have to say - read this book.

Brie is a teenager, she was captured so well that I could not tell the difference between her and my own two teenage daughters. While I understand her POV - as a parent I often found myself siding with her mother. It was an interesting perspective when reading a book. However, I left the book seeing the growth in Brie and the world around her. The story was engaging and gave me an understanding that never quite clicked when my Georgia grad school peers tried to teach a west cost girl about music.