Book Review: On the Come Up {Angie Thomas}

Nobody was more excited for this book to be released than I was. I waited (not so patiently) for months! It was finally released last month and I couldn’t get my hands on a copy soon enough. FINALLY my wait was OVER!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.

My Thoughts:

(Disclaimer: I will never post spoilers in my reviews HOWEVER the comment section is completely fair game to discuss any and all specifics including spoilers)

3.5 Stars

So…It’s not The Hate U Give. I completely understand that I shouldn’t be comparing them because they are stand alone novels…but…it’s not The Hate U Give .

I loved that this book took us back to Garden Heights and I loved the references back to storylines from The Hate U Give . But again…it’s not The Hate U Give. .

The issues that this book discussed are IMPORTANT and truly are ones that NEED to be discussed. Angie Thomas has such a gift of being able to tell a story from a teenager’s point of view while appealing to adults at the same time. This allows everyone to benefit from the lessons and messages that this book tells. Perfection.

And yet…

There were way too many storylines for many of them to be properly developed, just about everything in this book was predictable, and so many of the characters were either completely underdeveloped or just not likable.

The first 200 pages or so were actually pretty boring. I debated on Instagram if I should have even continued reading or if I should have abandoned the book halfway through! I WILL say that the last half of the book (it’s 447 pages total) was MUCH better than the first half. I’m glad I stuck with it and forged though. If wasn’t that the beginning was bad, it was just…boring.

Overall, I liked this book and I think the messages it delivers are extremely important. Was it Angie Thomas’s best? Absolutely not. Would I recommend it? Absolutely.

I truly wonder if I had read this book before reading her first one if I would have enjoyed it more without the comparison? I wouldn’t recommend doing that, though. She references the first book a few times and the description of Garden Heights is SO much more detailed in her first book. It sets the entire tone for this book in terms of the neighborhood’s setting. I think that without reading the prior description of the Garden there would be a major disconnect while reading this book.

In case you haven’t figured out yet that I loved The Hate U Give so much (it’s is one of the best books I’ve ever read), you can read my review of it here.

Bottom Line:

This book is really good…just not as good as, well, you know 🙂

Did you read this book? What did you think? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

It would really help me if you could follow/subscribe to my blog. Also, please “like” my Facebook page , follow me on Twitter, and follow me on Instagram!

Local friends, I run a storytime every Tuesday and Friday at Whimsy Cafe in Buffalo Grove, Illinois from 10:00-10:30! Bring your kids (6 months-5 years) for stories, songs, and lots of fun. Price is included in your child’s admission, no need to sign up. If you are a blog reader, please be sure to introduce yourself! I can’t wait to meet you and your little ones. 🙂

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

Food Poisoning.

I got food poisoning last week and MOTHER OF GOD was I sick. Do you follow me on Instagram? If so, you probably saw my story of a picture of the beautiful table all set for dinner and the words saying that my husband was currently out picking up Chinese food for us. I had put cute blinking hearts all around it and the caption “Hurry home Jon” on it. I believe there may have even been a heart eyes emoji?

Jon did in fact come home that night and the Chinese dinner he brought with him was consumed. It was delicious! We caught up on This is Us while we ate. It was quite a lovely evening.

And roughly 4 hours later I became VIOLENTLY ill…and continued to be violently ill for the next 24 hours.

I will spare you the details but I will say that it was absolutely miserable. I may never eat Chinese food ever again…aaaaand as I typed that sentence I realized how ridiculous that sounds. It’s my favorite! I’ll totally eat it again, obviously. I just need a few days. #mustpushthrough

The only thing I managed to do on Friday was to get myself together enough to drive my daughter to school….only to realize once we got there that there was no school. I almost started crying in the parking lot! Thank Goodness my wonderful husband was able to come home from work early that day. I was truly the worst possible version of myself.

Things I was thankful for as I laid in bed:

The amazing age gap between my children (4 years) allowed my daughter to take care of my son for me. She fed him his meals, played with him, and gave him all of the attention that I was unable to give. I could write an entire post on why I personally believe that 4 years is the PERFECT gap in between having children and this was just one more reason I’m so thankful it’s what we chose. She loved helping and he loved having her take care of him. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if she were not home on Friday to help me with him. She’s amazing and I’m so lucky! Bless her school district for having the day off.
Once my husband came home from work and was able to give both of our children love and attention…I was able to catch up on FIVE episodes of The Bachelor as I laid in bed completely helpless. That just shows how sick I was…my head was pounding so hard that I couldn’t even read (=my version of hell). Thank goodness Colton Underwood was able to provide me with all of the entertainment I needed.

To those of you who went to Whimsy Cafe for my storytime on Friday, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there! A few of you emailed saying you went to see me and I feel horrible that I wasn’t able to be there.

It’s now 4 days later and I’m happy to say that I made it out alive. Holy hell.

HOWEVER…

Now both of my kids are sick. My son just has a cold but my daughter is having symptoms very similiar to mine so maybe mine wasn’t food poisoning afterall? No idea. Both kids are home from school today so I’ll be watching closely and calling our pediatrician if need be. My husband has an important work trip today in St. Louis which had been planned for months and he left on an airplane last night. He comes home today and I am COUNTING THE MINUTES. It’s so awful here! 2 sick kids at the same time is no joke. Yesterday and last night were BRUTAL. Both kids woke up today feeling better but we are still staying home all day just in case. I’m exhausted and my coffee is extra delicious (and needed) this morning. Our day today shall include puzzles, play doh, books, Barbies, and fingers crossed…naps. For them. I will read. 🙂

I’m currently reading (and by “currently” I clearly don’t mean today…) this book and it absolutely terrifies me that my 7 year old daughter will one day become a teenager. It is completely unfathomable to me that this is the digital reality in which we now live where situations like this must be happening to teenagers every single day. On a side note, this book is also making me want to live in a fancy hotel. 🙂 I’ve got roughly 100 pages left and loving it so far! I’ll post a full review on the blog when I’m done reading.

In happy news, Book Coffee Happy now has over 1,000 followers on Instagram! What?!? It’s just crazy that so many people actually care about what I think about books. How fun! 🙂

My library called…THIS BOOK is in and waiting just for meeeeeeeeee! I put it on hold MONTHS ago, long before it was even released (it was released at the beginning of February). I cannot WAIT to read this one! I may or may not have been religiously stalking the library website to see how close I have been getting to the front of the queue. Does anyone else do that?!? #booknerd

And just because the one and only photo in this entire post is of my Instagram feed, here is a photo of my new mug. It’s amazing.

Stay healthy, friends. And please enjoy some delicious Chinese food for me as I’m not sure when the next time I’ll be able to enjoy my favorite meal will be. Until we meet again, pan fried noodles…*sobs*

Xo,

Jenny

It would really help me if you could follow/subscribe to my blog. Also, please “like” my Facebook page , follow me on Twitter, and follow me on Instagram!

Local friends, I run a storytime every Tuesday and Friday at Whimsy Cafe in Buffalo Grove, Illinois from 10:00-10:45! Bring your kids (6 months-5 years) for stories, songs, and lots of fun. Price is included in your child’s admission, no need to sign up. If you are a blog reader, please be sure to introduce yourself! I can’t wait to meet you and your little ones. 🙂

Click the images below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

11 Books I Want to Read in 2019

Thank you all SO MUCH for your kind and encouraging words from this post.

I’m doing ok! Each day my elbow seems to be feeling a little bit better. It’s still very sore but nothing compared to last week.

My sling is now officially stained with ice cream, teriyaki sauce, and smells like a mixture of Japanese steakhouse and Clinique Happy (which is the perfume I doused it in hoping to eliminate the Japanese steakhouse smell). I’m scared to witness what this poor sling will look and smell like by the end of our time together, lol.

Happy 2019! New month, new year, new goals. I have personal goals that I’ve set for myself in the new year, blog goals, and of course…reading goals 🙂

There are SO MANY amazing books out there to read and I can’t wait to tackle many of them in this new year!

*This post contains affiliate links. Click each image and link below to read the synopsis and order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo*

I finished this book 2 days ago (LOVED IT) and started reading this book last night!

Here is a very small sample of the books that I’m excited to read in 2019 (in no particular order):

Have you read any of these? If so, NO SPOILERS PLEASE!

What’s on your 2019 To Read List?

Xo,

Jenny

It would really help me if you could follow/subscribe to my blog. Also, please “like” my Facebook page , follow me on Twitter, and follow me on Instagram!