Can you guys believe January is already over? I have had so many people tell me they feel like January has been dragging, but I felt like this month came and went at quite a reasonable pace, haha. Anyways, Christie and I are back again with yet another ARC review (I know- we have been on the roll!).
We would like to thank Bloomsbury, Netgalley, and Renee Watson for providing us with an eARC in exchange for our review of Love is a Revolution.
SYNOPSIS
From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Rene 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.
Firstly, can we all take a moment to admire this beautiful cover?
Okay, now that we have, we can dive in. Love is a Revolution follows Nala as she tries to find love for the summer. With this book being quite character driven, we get to witness Nala’s actions every step of the way. She is young, flawed, and trying to discover herself. One thing we love about Nala is her positive body image. She truly embraces her body and natural beauty. She also makes lists and we are here for all her lists!
One evening, she attends an activist event hosted by an organization her cousin-sister-friend, Imani, is a part of, and meets Tye, a passionate teen activist. Not being a teen activist herself, Nala fabricates some information to impress him. The biggest issue is while Nala morphs into someone she is not, she is still trying to figure out her own identity. So when she is finally forced to confront her lies, Nala uses this time to learn how to love and accept herself. This story wonderfully weaves the struggle of belonging, acceptance, family, and love.
This review also would not be complete without mentions of the rest of the cast. We thought Renee Watson did a great job with the family dynamic. While her relationship with her mother is quite strained, they still try to be in each other’s lives. However, that does not take away from her relationship with her extended family, whom she is close with. We love Nala’s grandma and the whole senior community. They impart so much wisdom to helping Nala accept her flaws and unconditionally love herself. Some of our beloved quotes in this story are from them!
We do also wish we got to see some of the other characters a little more. The only major issue we had is the girl hating on girl aspect of the book. It honestly did not seem very logical; however, that did not take away from the overall message of the story!
Love is a Revolution is about being and accepting your most authentic self. We are both so glad this book will be on the shelves soon for everyone to read!
Book Details:
Title: Love is a Revolution
Author: Renee Watson
Publication Date: February 2, 2021
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance
Thank you again to Bloomsbury, Netgalley, and Renee Watson for giving us the chance to read this book in exchange for our review. And as always, thank you all for stopping by our blog. We appreciate you!
A Court of Books and Brews 