Name: Sarah Sammis's review of Unti Teen Novel - DB by Angie Thomas
Item: Unti Teen Novel - DB
Rating: 5
Author: Sarah Sammis

Angie Thomas

International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood. If there's one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it's that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad's in prison. Life's not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav's got everything under control. Until, that is, Maverick finds out he's a father. Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it's not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he's offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he's expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he's different. When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can't just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He'll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.

Unti Teen Novel - DB

Becky A

Sarah Sammis

In the original novel, I admit I wasn't very fond of Starr's parents. They weren't the main point, though, so I let my own reaction slide. Starr loved them and they loved her and that was enough. Concrete Rose fills in the gaps and makes Maverick and Lisa understandable and their relationship relatable.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comm...

rita

so good!! it’s been a while since i’ve read a ya book / a book told from a guy’s perspective. it was a rly nice read, made me think a lot and the writing was vv nice!! the characters were solid and i ! overall really liked this book! the bit with his mom and moe made me tear up 


also i finished this book while during the bridge of love fool by stayc which was a fun coincidence :))

Melissa Palmer

This is a prequel to The Hate U Give, focusing on Maverick (Starr's father). It shows the struggle of a young black man, who becomes a father too young. It was a good read.

Raven K

Was just as good as The Hate U Give ❤️!

Kelsey Munson

This is a fantastic book with a lot of heart. Concrete Rose has a great balance of heavy, relevant topics and light hearted humor that genuinely made me ‘lol’ at times. I fell even more in love with these characters that I was already so invested in after reading The Hate U Give. Maverick and Lisa are everything and Angie did not disappoint.

Angie Thomas always writes such a fantastic read, and this is no exception. It perfectly connects all of her other novels, and is a true expression of the human condition.

OliviaPadilla

Loved all the characters and their community.

Sarah Selvaratnam 

I don’t even know what to say about this book, besides read it, and that this Angie Thomas’s third book, and she once again absolutely created perfection. 
The story is poignant and raw and real and sheds light into what it means to be a Black teen boy transitioning into adulthood in a world that tries to keep you down. 
The references and inclusion of characters from THUG and to the late 90s was heartwarming. I now have a deeper love of all the characters and think it’s time for a reread of THUG.
Also, I’m even more in love with Maverick

Julia Z Price

Eva Bailey

I adored this book and Maverick is one of my favourite fictional characters. Incredible.

Maegan Kennedy

Having read Angie Thomas’s debut book The Hate U Give, which deals with tough but true subject matter (Black Live Matter, police brutality, systemic racism), I went into Concrete Rose with high expectations as The Hate U give really opened my eyes. And while. Concrete Rose is the prequel story to THUG, I was still expecting a breathtaking story.
We are introduced to Starr’s father, Maverick, when he is seventeen years old. He finds out that he has a son and we follow him through high school as he overcomes his fear of raising a child and we see how he tries to support his child no matter what. This story deals with some triggering topics such as teen pregnancy, postpartum depression, gang hierarchy and violence, drug dealing, and murder. 
I enjoyed seeing Maverick’s history and how he grew to be the father he is in THUG. He was in a tough place dealing drugs to get money, but I was sympathetic to him when he gave up that business to become a better person to raise his son. Maverick gave up the gang to prove that he is the man he wants to be, not the one he’s expected to be. Maverick “done had a kid for so long that [he] forgot that [he’s] still one” himself (pg. 169). Maverick had to grow up overnight to be able to provide for his child and himself with a life that was worthy of living outside of the gang life.
I also fell like Thomas gives a great insight into a black community that deals with gang violence and a sort of hierarchy system. Maverick coped with his cousin’s murder in a human way. He was distraught and upset, but he though of Dre in a positive manor to help him move on and focus on his child. 
One issue I had with this story were the tropes that were included. I am not a fan of teen pregnancy but I felt like Thomas wrote about it in a realistic manor, with Maverick’s surprise, the birth mother’s postpartum depression, and the other pregnancies that occurred. 
I also wasn’t a fan of the writing style. I completely understand the format of the writing, but it just did not work for me as I am not a black woman who grew up in a black community, the way Maverick spoke was hard to follow along with. It just did not work with my brain as that is not how I speak. It made sense for the story and the characters, I just prefer traditional writing. 
I thought this book was important to giving insight into how Maverick came to being a teen father and how he changed his life to support his family. I liked seeing his youthful side and it helps me to understand some things from The Hate U Give more now that I’ve read this instalment.

Alexa Jade

angie’s beautiful writing was there but I just wasn’t invested in this story in the way I was invested in her 2 others so 4 stars for me.

Camila Eduarda Vilela Lobianco

A+ (sorry, English is not my first language)

This book is so intense and has so much to say. I have to admit, since it's been a long time since I read The Hate U Give I didn't remember who was the main character, but it was pretty easy to discover. Lovely characters, the plot is so intense and gives so much more than it promises it. This gives The Hate U Give so much more depth and I'm really glad that I finally read this book.

Characters: ★★★★★
Plot: ★★★★★
Logic: ★★★★★
Intensity: ★★★★★
Heart breakiness: ★★★★★
Title: ★★★★★
Total: ★★★★★

Tatiana Alvarez 

Thank you so much Netgalley for sending me an ARC of one of my most highly anticipated reads for 2021. I am a huge lover of all things Angie Thomas and when I realized she was writing a prequel to The Hate U Give staring Starr's Dad Maverick, I was all for it. Maverick was a very interesting and influential character in THUG, but it was not his story. I did know know I needed to hear his story until Thomas released she would be writing this prequel. 

Synopsis
This novel takes place 17 years before THUG and follows Maverick Carter, a 17 year old boy living in Garden Heights. Since Mav was eight, he has been living without a father figure because Adonis got busted for and is not serving 40 to life in jail. He had to grow up quickly and after seeing his mother struggle with financially. There's only one sure and fast way to make money in Garden Heights, and that is affiliating yourself with a gang. It's also the only way to truly be protected.

His life is soon turned upside when he discovers his one night stand has now made him the father two 3 month old, Seven. Juggling school, work, a baby, and the King Lords is difficult enough, but he soon finds out his long term girlfriends (now x), Lisa, and is pregnant with his second child. 

Maverick soon has to face the harsh realities of his life. He has to come to terms with being a father while not having one in his life for nearly a decade, losing a brother figure to senseless gang violence, and losing friends since he has a baby.

 Things I Liked
- Maverick! This story is told through 1st person POV. You got to see Mav through Starr's POV in THUG, but now you get to be inside his head and understand what he had to deal with and why he is the way that he was in THUG.
-Seeing familiar characters from THUG! Baby Seven was so cute and baby Kahlil nearly killed me. And of course Starr is mentioned at the very end.
- Maverick's growth. He had to make a lot of tough decisions and compromise a lot. Being a parent is not easy, especially not as a single teenage father.
- Bi representation
- Before you call someone a thug or ghetto, please check your privilege and understand that no one goes through life perfectly. Sometimes people do what they need to in order to survive and raise their family.

 Things I Didn't Like...
-It's over :(

Qaisarah Kamal Fariz

i read T.H.U.G more than a year ago so i was worried that it wasnt gonna make sense but tbh u really dont need to remember a lot about it bc its still really good. yes i did like this a little less than THUG and On the Come Up but i would still rate it 5 stars. in my opinion you could probably read this before THUG ! 
a lot of mentions of drugs, gangs, and basically the whole book is about maverick becoming a father at an early age so i would probably recommend to 13+

Ahaana Bhargava

this book was so so heartbreaking 🥺🥺 + i def need to do a THUG re-read soon

Caitlyn DeRouin

Read the full review here: https://teatimelit.com/2021/02/03/rev...

When I read Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give for the first time in 2017, I found myself completely fascinated by the Carter family and their story. Since then, I have wanted to know more about their lives and stories. When the news came out that Thomas was writing a prequel to THUG that would focus on teenage Maverick, I instantly added it to my TBR and was counting down the days until its release. It was a highly anticipated read for me, and I am glad to say that it met all of my expectations and then some.

My favorite thing about Thomas’ writing is that from the very first page her main characters have a clear and distinct voice. You know exactly who they are from the first sentence on the first page. Thomas’ characters are always real, flawed, complex, and so full of life that they practically leap off the page as you read their story. I felt that way about Starr in THUG, Bri in On the Come Up, and the same is true for Maverick in Concrete Rose. While I knew who Maverick Carter was from THUG, had I read this book with no prior knowledge of him, I still would’ve gotten a clear picture of who he was through Thomas’ descriptive writing. 

Honestly I could continue to go on about my love for this book and Thomas’ writing, but if I did that, then I’d probably spoil the entire thing. So, I will end this review with this: once I started reading Concrete Rose I couldn’t stop. From the get-go, I was immediately immersed in Maverick’s world and didn’t want to stop until I had gotten to the very last page. In my opinion, Angie Thomas is one of the best writers of this generation and I will continue to read every single piece of literature that she puts out. If you haven’t read Concrete Rose yet, I highly recommend that you do. You won’t regret it.

alice nunes

This was so beautiful, so well written, so powerful and soooo captivating. I cried many times, more than in THUG or OTCU, and this is probably my favorite of Angie Thomas’ books so far! Maybe because it was the last one I read and the one that is more fresh in my mind, because all these books are equally awesome 
I loved reading Maverick’s perspective, getting to see more of Lisa and everyone else! Baby Seven got me melting on the inside with all his cuteness
Definitely going to be a favorite of the year!!

When they mentioned Lawless though✨

Taylor

Angie Thomas truly hit the nail on the head yet again with another beautiful, honest, and riveting story. 

Concrete Rose follows the father of The Hate U Give protagonist Starr Carter, Maverick, as a teen growing up in Garden Heights. So rarely do we get an opportunity to get to know the parents of YA protagonists and Concrete Rose is a wonderful exception that both adds to THUG and also stands on its own as a brilliant story about family, duty, love, and what it means to be not only a father but also a man. It is a perfect 90s snapshot, full of musical, cultural, and fashion references that set the perfect tone to learn about how Maverick became the person, and father he is in THUG. 

All in all, Concrete Rose was thought-provoking and poignant. It was not only full of surprises, sorrow, and hardship but also life and love and the impact a positive and supportive community can have on someone's life. Angie Thomas creates such rich and full characters and Maverick is no exemption. He makes mistakes and is flawed, and that makes him feel all the more like a real person. 

This story wonderfully examines themes of grief, loss, family, and how communities, even full of people who have next to nothing, can come together to support and care for their own. This is not a book that wraps everything up in a pretty bow at the end, Maverick didn't have it easy before and that doesn't magically change over the course of the book. You know that there are still some struggles to come based on THUG, but Angie Thomas leaves us feeling hopeful for his future, it doesn't give us all of the answers of his life before Starr. 

I loved all of the nods to not only Angie Thomas' other work but also some to Nic Stone's books, which was really neat to spot as a reader. I definitely want to reread THUG after finishing Concrete Rose as it has been a couple of years since I read it. One of the things that I loved about this book is that it didn't read like a prequel, it stands completely on its own

CW: death of a loved one, drug dealing, drug use, grief, gun violence, incarceration, teen pregnancy

This ARC was provided to me from NetGalley and Harper Collins Canada in exchange for my honest review.

Natalie Sypeck 

4.5 stars! 
I listened to the audiobook. 
I new I would enjoy this audiobook since I enjoyed the audiobook of The Hate U Give (THUG) so much. This story made me laugh and cry. It had me rooting for Maverick every step of the way. Seeing him has a father to little 7 was so heart warming. He was really struggling, but he continued to always try to make the right choices. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is because the ending was a bit abrupt. I think if you didn't read THUG then you would be left wondering what happened after the last page, but of course you get these answers in THUG, so I knew these events were missing and was just a bit surprised it wasn't mentioned. Overall I think this book did a great jobs showing the struggles of a young father and the struggles of someone trying to find a better life for his family.

Alex Hill 

Actual Rating: 4.5
Angie Thomas has done it again. I don't think I will ever get tired of her stories.

Anne Sofie Stavad

Cameron Austin

not gonna lie, i was always hesitant when i heard that this book would be about maverick. i didn't know if i'd enjoy a book that dealt with gang affiliation, etc. but i was wrong. i loved this book.

Samantha Seeman

Maverick has got to be one of my all time favorite characters. He’s a good man, all that you can ask of him considering the circumstances. 
Bravo Angie Thomas, another masterpiece.

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Unti Teen Novel - DB by Angie Thomas

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