Renée Watson

From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Renée Watson comes a love story about not only a romantic relationship but how a girl finds herself and falls in love with who she really is. When Nala Robertson reluctantly agrees to attend an open mic night for her cousin-sister-friend Imani's birthday, she finds herself falling in instant love with Tye Brown, the MC. He's perfect, except . . . Tye is an activist and is spending the summer putting on events for the community when Nala would rather watch movies and try out the new seasonal flavors at the local creamery. In order to impress Tye, Nala tells a few tiny lies to have enough in common with him. As they spend more time together, sharing more of themselves, some of those lies get harder to keep up. As Nala falls deeper into keeping up her lies and into love, she'll learn all the ways love is hard, and how self-love is revolutionary. In Love Is a Revolution, plus size girls are beautiful and get the attention of the hot guys, the popular girl clique is not shallow but has strong convictions and substance, and the ultimate love story is not only about romance but about how to show radical love to the people in your life, including to yourself.

Love Is a Revolution

Bria

This could be a cute little Netflix show. It reminds me of Family Reunion for some reason and I love it.

kayla 

carolreadabook

a nala me irritou às vezes, assim como a prima dela. mas eu gostei da história. gostei de como ela não foi adiante no relacionamento porque não se sentia bem consigo mesma ainda (nota para si mesma: colocar isso em prática)

Esmebelle Jones

Jeannette Ordas

I really enjoyed reading this book, liked the flawed and real characters, and how the book gave the reader such a good sense of place - in this story, Harlem and NYC. A perfect summer YA love story and double cheers for finding love within yourself and not just a boy (though, there's that too).

Yasmin H

'The most radical thing you can do is love yourself and each other.' 

Nala and Imani are cousins - Imani is part of a group called Inspire Harlem, which incorperated a birthday party for Imani into one of their events. Because of this, Nala came along and, during the event, she met one of Inspire Harlems other members, Tye. Slowly, Tye and Nala begin to grow closer because of how much they have in common, but how long can Nala keep up her act before Tye finds out she hasn't always told him the truth?

I would recommend this book because it was very fast paced, and I loved the characters. I found all the characters had a very unique and special personalities.

Elizabeth Moore

This book is perfect YA and so sweet. It takes on really important identity and growing up issues in a way that’s “actually” designed for a YA audience and doesn’t try to inauthentically punch above its reading level weight for the sake of style points, which I think is a huge credit to the story and the writing. The narrator is not perfect, does a bunch of stupid things, and her Big Problems can come off as petty and shallow but guess what, this is what the teen experience is like for a lot of healthy, flawed, figuring-it-out, insecure, mistake-riddled teens who are coming into their own. 

I don’t know what it is like to have experienced my teen years as a Black woman, but I still loved the character of Nala and I thought it was a really great perspective to see how she stood on the outside of the Inspire Harlem activism crew and initially judged them rather than embracing them or even just making peace with their passions which differed from her own. Not because it was wrong or right but because it gave her character depth and individuality and didn’t paint her as exactly what some might think her character “should” be - and she still learned and grew and reflected and ultimately made an impact on her community as well as her self-image.

Overall I just love so much how much Renee Watson “gets” teens and how beautiful her writing is, regardless of what voice or POV she is writing from. Well worth the read and definitely echo others’ critique of this book being a Warm Hug.

Hannah

Love is a Revolution is a cute, young adult story about learning to love yourself. 

When Nala attends her cousin-sister-friends activist event, she meets Tye. Tye is very involved with his community, is a vegetarian, and cares about saving the environment, while Nala is more interested in binge watching Netflix and spending time with her friends. But Nala wants to impress Tye, so she lies and tells him she volunteers at her grandmothers elderly community and is also a vegetarian. From there, her lies spiral and Nala is on a journey to figure out how to love herself for who she is instead of who she thinks people want her to be.

This book is YA and is definitely written with that audience in mind. There are strong messages about body positivity and the beauty of being a black woman - which is a much needed message! 

There were a few things I disliked about this book. The first being the predictability. You knew from the moment the lie left Nala’s lips that it would be what comes back to haunt her. 

I also disliked the conflict between Nala and Imani. I felt like having these cousin-sister-friends at odd’s over jealousy and competitiveness pushed an idea of tearing other woman down when something positive happens to them.

And speaking of outdated, I really hated the idea behind Nala lying to a guy to get him to like her. 

Overall, I did enjoy the book. It was a quick read and had a feel good vibe about it. I would probably not recommend it to my friends but I do acknowledge that I am definitely not a part of the audience this book and its message is meant for. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for the eArc in exchange for my honest review.

Qaisarah Kamal Fariz

super fun summer read !! takes place in harlem, ny in the summer and follows 17 year old Nala. the main plot is that she meets this perfect guy (Tye) and wants to impress him. she starts to make up things about her & her life, but as the story and she and Tye's relationship go on, it gets harder for her to keep these lies. recommend !!!

Jelke Lenaerts

I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 


Damn, this book made me heart full. It's not all sweet and swoon worthy though but it's all balanced really well and I adored this book. Yes, the main pitch for this book sounds like your typical romance but that isn't the point of this book. This book is all about self-love, learning who you are and learning to be okay with the fact that you don't know fully who you are. There's also some great discussions around activism, family, friendships, heritage and how to be in a relationship. The characters were amazing. I didn't love them all but I understood all of their motivations and mind-sets and that's truly all that matters. I loved the element of list making that was featured in this book. It just caused for an unique way to talk about the main character's feelings. I adored following Nala so much. I just realised I haven't talked about that. I loved how confident she was but also insecure at the same time. It's hard to explain but if you've read this book that makes a lot of sense to you (at least I hope). Even though her romance with Tye wasn't the main vocal point of the story I did think it was very cute and I loved how imperfect it was on both sides and how this book acknowledges that and even how the characters acknowledge that. So yeah, in conclusion read this book as this is just so dang good.

Lara De Vos

This book was fun but I had some elements only making it a 3 stars-read, I did enjoy the story but sometimes the main character was really annoying to a point I couldn't stand her. I know this story is about learning to love yourself before loving others but it was too much sometimes. 

I enjoyed it and would re-read it for a quick mindless read.

Joss Vls

5 stars!!

One of the best books I've read so far this year- maybe even the best.

"For you, it will always be easier to love other people, to put them first and cater to them, to adapt to their needs." 

A problem I've always had is that, change myself to adapt other's needs. I've never had seen this as a problem, or as something that needs to be changed. Thanks to this book, I think I'll work on my self-love and try to fix that. Thank you so much to the author for writing this beauty.

Anika | @chaptersofmay

This is exactly the kind of book I wish existed when I was a teen. It’s relevant, relatable, and diverse. The characters are flawed but layered, and the message is insightful and long-lasting. 

Nala Robertson is a teenager living in Harlem who wants someone to love and someone to be loved by. She is sick of fifth-wheeling her cousin-sister-friend Imani, her best friend, and their boyfriends. It's obvious she feels a little left out with those closest to her in relationships, with small but noticeable changes in her friendships, and with a unique family dynamic around her.

Imani, Nala's cousin, works at Inspire Harlem, an organisation that does community service projects while raising awareness for social issues. All the teens that attend are activists in some way, and Nala isn't into their judgmental attitudes and constant critique. But at an Inspire Harlem event, she meets Tye, one of the activists, and instantly falls for him. So she does all she can to impress him. And while a romance quickly blossoms between them, so do Nala's lies.

Nala is really a likeable character. The book is told entirely from her point of view, which brings personality to its pages. She thinks and acts like a teenager which makes her understandably frustrating at times. But she's still figuring life out. And with the addition of keeping up a lie, she further struggles to see her own direction.

Nala and Imani's Jamaican grandmother describes them as "big-boned", which I'm pretty sure every Black plus-size grandchild has heard in their life. I know I’ve heard it from mine. And while Imani is reclaiming the word "fat", stripping it of its negative judgement, Nala isn't too fond of the concept. She doesn't see the important of talking about weight. But with a plus-size character on the cover, I did expect her size in relation to her discoveries to be embraced more. It certainly doesn’t have to play a major role in the plot, but it would have contributed to Nala’s development.
 
Similarly, the book hints at both Tye and Nala having complicated family backgrounds which I think would have really aided to their characters’ growth. But it wasn't really explored. It's mentioned and referenced in conversation but never explained or resolved. I struggled to see their romantic connection, but it didn’t take away from the story too much. 

There are some wonderfully uplifting quotes in this book that celebrate loving yourself. And Watson did a brilliant job at creating three-dimensional personalities. I love the warmth between the characters, and the positive atmosphere of the book despite the protagonist’s insecurities. Her poetic prose flares with the lists and lyrics within the chapters. And with pockets of reflection and thoughtful moments throughout, Love Is a Revolution is a worthy read. 

And overall, this coming-of-age's meaningful message is abundantly clear: self-love is radical love.

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Lukas Robertson

Amelie

Tina

Sarah Carr

Jessie Winchester

Jeanie Cha

From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Renée Watson comes a new YA--a love story about not only a romantic relationship but how a girl finds herself and falls in love with who she really is. When Nala Robertson reluctantly agrees to attend an open mic night for her cousin-sister-friend Imani's birthday, she finds herself falling in instant love with Tye Brown, the MC. He's perfect, except . . . Tye is an activist and is spending the summer putting on events for the community when Nala would rather watch movies and try out the new seasonal flavors at the local creamery. In order to impress Tye, Nala tells a few tiny lies to have enough in common with him. As they spend more time together, sharing more of themselves, some of those lies get harder to keep up. As Nala falls deeper into keeping up her lies and into love, she'll learn all the ways love is hard, and how self-love is revolutionary. In Love Is a Revolution, plus size girls are beautiful and get the attention of the hot guys, the popular girl clique is not shallow but has strong convictions and substance, and the ultimate love story is not only about romance but about how to show radical love to the people in your life, including to yourself.

Love Is a Revolution

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