Dead Woman Walking had a premise that really hooked me in. A woman is in a hot air balloon with her sister and other tourists when as they begin their descent, she witnesses a man killing a woman and they lock eyes. When the balloon crashes, the murderer seeks out the woman and she knows he is on her tail. 

Everyone else aboard the balloon died, and police struggle to figure out how she could have survived and where she has gone. The first 75 pages move at a fast clip, and then the book slows down for a while. I found the characters interesting enough to keep reading but not as compelling as the characters in The Pact, another book by the same author that inspired me to read more of her backlist. 

The back third of the book was twisty and dark, and I was back to reading at a good clip not wanting to put the book down. It may have been me, but I just didn't find the male villian and the female main character particularly fascinating. I'm glad I read this book and I will continue to read Sharon Bolton, but this isn't at the top of my thriller list. 

We Do This Til We Free Us is about prison and police abolition. If you have heard those words but don't feel informed about what that means or what it could look like in practice, this book is for you. If you know about abolition and want some tangible action items, this book is also for you. If you think abolition sounds nice but is probably impossible, this book is for you as well. If you are a fan of police, this isn't the book for you.

Organized in mostly time sequential interviews, blog posts, and news articles, this book details the work of  Mariame Kaba. Kaba is a forerunner in the abolition movement and her ideas are strong, revolutionary, and accessible. I loved how this book acknowledges how hard it is to imagine our world without police and prisons, but that that doesn't mean it cannot be achieved. As the authors point out, not so long ago prisons were a reform against capital punishment. Prisons have become this terrible industrial complex that does far more to hurt people than ever help them, and now we need drastic reform again. 

Some things that stood out to me are:
1. One big thing you can do is just NOT call the police. Find alternate ways to deal with problems, especially since most police activity is about noise complaints. 
2. "No one enters violence for the first time by committing it." Prison and police are exacerbating a culture of violence. We need to get to the root of this problem as well as abolition. 
3. "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief." It's okay that we want perpetrators to suffer, but that doesn't actually solve anything. 
4. And related to #3, "Abolition is not about your feelings." You can want rapists and murders to go to jail, but that's a feeling. It doesn't change the fact that prison isn't helping our society. It doesn't necessarily make us any safer if violence from the prison system continues to ravage our culture. 
5. Abuse is a pipeline to prison. We need to actively protect children from all kinds of abuse to keep them out of the cycle of violence. 
6. Social workers and DSS are caught up in the PIC and policing. We need to also rethink how to let services actually help people rather than being another arm of punishment. 

This book made me think constantly and question what I can do as a white woman. I recommend listening or reading slowly so that you can reflect and digest on this one. I hope you will read it, I think our society deserve positive change and this is a huge part of it. 

This was a fun, fast read about the Heartstopper universe. Mostly this book focuses on how Alice Oseman developed Heartstopper and how she got it out into the world. If you like Heartstopper, you'll like this one, it's as simple as that. :) 

This was a bang up volume of Giant Days. The character growth in this one was really enjoyable while maintaining the humor. I love this series for a light read between heavy books. 

Recitatif is a must read short story. Twyla and Roberta are 8 year old girls at an orphanage, but their mothers are alive. One mother is sick and the other dances all night. One girl is black, one girl is white. Which is which? 

Morrison never tells us who is who, but that’s the whole point. Told at multiple points in the girls’ lives and with the important memories of cruelty towards a employ of the school, Morrison deftly forces us to examine our stereotypes around race. 

This story is perfect, don’t miss it. 

Boring, long, tedious, why did I even finish? 

How To Turn Into a Bird is a quirky novel told from the point of view of 12 year old Miguel. 

Missing his own father, Miguel looks up to his uncle Ramòn. Ramòn gets a job looking out for the lights on a billboard and the job demands become so big that he starts living on the billboard. This fascinates Miguel who frequently visits him. 

When tragedy strikes their community, Miguel sees how the billboard world is different from reality. So much of this book was beautiful and so intelligent that I knew I wasn’t getting all of it. The translation is graceful and sensitive, and even if I wasn’t smart enough for it I’m so glad I read this book. 

Promise boys is an excellent YA thriller set in an inner city high school. At the beginning of the novel, the principal is murdered. Immediately a handful of BIPOC boys are under suspicion for the murder. Told from each of their perspectives and voiced by a full cast, this audiobook brings us each of their individual stories as well as the story of how they come together to catch the killer and prove their innocence.

I recommend, jumping into this book as blind as you can. Nick Brooks does an amazing job of portraying realistic, messy teenagers and adults as well as all the issues common in schools today. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review