Week 40 Review: Let Me Hear a Rhyme

From Goodreads:
In this striking new novel by the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly and Monday's Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson tells the story of three Brooklyn teens who plot to turn their murdered friend into a major rap star by pretending he's still alive.

Brooklyn, 1998. Biggie Smalls was right: Things done changed. But that doesn't mean that Quadir and Jarrell are cool letting their best friend Steph's music lie forgotten under his bed after he's murdered—not when his rhymes could turn any Bed Stuy corner into a party.

With the help of Steph's younger sister Jasmine, they come up with a plan to promote Steph's music under a new rap name: the Architect. Soon, everyone wants a piece of him. When his demo catches the attention of a hotheaded music label rep, the trio must prove Steph's talent from beyond the grave.

As the pressure of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only, each has something to hide. And with everything riding on Steph's fame, they need to decide what they stand for or lose all that they've worked so hard to hold on to—including each other.

My Review:
This book was so great to read. I was really intrigued by the concept of friends bringing their dead friend's music to the public. It's such an interesting idea, and given that there are secrets, well, there was conflict, so that was fun to read!  

I was a thrown a bit by the slang, it was pretty heavy at points, and I didn't have much of a point of reference for translating-I was 4 in 1998, and I'm from a part of Canada that's pretty far from Brooklyn. But while I don't know if this slang is what they were saying then, well, from my limited cultural impression, seems pretty authentic. 

We did get to be in all 3 of their heads, as well as some chapters from Steph, from about a year earlier. I loved how we got to see all the sides of the story-how they got to that point, why they were doing what they were doing. It was really great!

And oh, man, that ending! It was fantastic to read, and I really enjoyed how things worked out. It is bittersweet, but they have grieved for Steph, and it ends on a really satisfying note. After everything that happened in this book, it was just a fitting ending!

This book was fantastic, and I need to read more by Tiffany D. Jackson! 

Author: Tiffany D. Jackson
Read: September 30th, 2020
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2020 Book!
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Published: May 21st 2019

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars