Review of BLACKOUT by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk & Nicola Yoon

 Thank you to Farshore for the ARC

Themes: Love, relationships, LGBT, identity 

When a heatwave plunges New York City into darkness, sparks fly for thirteen teenagers caught up in the blackout.

A first meeting.
Long-time friends.
Bitter exes.
And maybe the beginning of something new…

When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths, love blossoms, friendship transforms and new possibilities take flight.

Six of today’s biggest stars of the YA world bring all the electricity of love to a collection of charming, hilarious and heartbreaking tales that shine the brightest light through the dark.

I got sent an email from Farshore if I wanted to review Blackout. I don't even know why they asked me—just send it over! Blackout was put out as the YA blockbuster book with some of the biggest voices in YA. I mean that's not a far stretch. I've heard of pretty much all of them and love their books. I got sent a press box and let me tell you it was STUNNING! I did an unboxing on my Instagram if you want to count the amount of times this I said, “This is so nice!”

Blackout is 6 short stories based around a blackout in New York. The stories are entwined within each other which I love and really liked that Tiffany's one was broken up throughout the book. I can expect a love story from Nicola Yoon but not necessarily from Angie Thomas, so it was really good to see a different side to the authors usual work. 

The timing of this book is perfect. I read it during the George Floyd trail and it just felt good to read something that was positive amongst all the shit of the world. Celebrating Black love—which we still need more of—is just a perfect read for me. 

There is a story for everyone in Blackout and it's been interesting to see what stories resonated with different readers but my fav stories were from Nicola Yoon, Tiffany D Jackson and Nic Stone. Blackout is truly a love story to Black readers and I loved the book. 

5/5

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