Pet was my pick for the #blacklitchallenge that is outside of my usual genre - it’s YA. It follows teenage Jam, who lives in a world where monsters (abusers and criminals) have been vanquished by angels (who I think were just people who uphold the laws?). When a creature from one of her mother’s paintings comes alive and tells Jam he’s there to hunt a monster in her best friend’s house, she can hardly believe it, but sets off with Pet to save her friend.

This book was fun and had a good message. I loved Jam’s character and relationship with her best friend, Redemption. It was super sweet how she cared so much for him. I also appreciated the representation of different types of characters - Jam is a trans girl, Redemption has a non-traditional family, and their relationship is not romantic, which was refreshing. Ultimately though I found myself a bit bored with the story, probably because it’s YA which is just not my thing, and I think leans towards the younger YA crowd too. The messages felt a little bit heavy-handed, but again, I think it’s more that I just don’t typically love YA. I definitely think Emezi can tell a great story, so I’m excited to check out their adult book, Freshwater. I feel like fans of middle grade and YA would be able to enjoy this one more than I did.

I know Seji @theartisangeek is a big fan of this one so definitely check out her own voices review!