Synopsis: Venus Black is a straitlaced, straight-A student obsessed with astronomy—until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, suddenly goes missing. Five years later, Venus emerges from prison with a suitcase of used clothes, a fake identity, and a determination to escape her painful past. Estranged from her mother, and with her brother still missing, Venus sets out to make a fresh start. But as new people enter her orbit, old wounds resurface, and Venus realizes that she can’t find a future while she’s running from her past. 

The book starts off when Venus is thirteen years old and has just been arrested for killing her stepfather. She is pissed at her mother, pissed at the people who brought her to the juvenile facility, and pissed at the world. The book goes on from there switching between Venus's and her developmentally challenged brother, Leo's point of view. Soon after Venus is arrested, Leo is kidnapped from a family friend's backyard. We follow Venus through her first days in the facility and Leo during his first days with his kidnapper. Venus tries (and fails) to escape her new residence and Leo meets Tessa, the girl who lives next door to where he is staying.

Five years pass, Venus is nineteen and newly released from the facility and Leo is now happily living with Tessa and her father, Tony. The book takes the reader through their journeys as Venus tries to adjust to a life outside in the real world and Leo adjusts to a life after what happened with his sister. More point of views come into the mix and we get to see the inner thoughts of Inez, Venus and Leo's mother and Tony, Tessa's father. Now, this may seem like too many points of view for one book but I promise it works out beautifully. We get to see how all these characters live through uncertainty, tragedy, misunderstanding, and even happiness. '

 This is one of those books I didn't want to end. I wanted to stay in the world Heather Lloyd created forever. I fell in love with every character. The character development is honestly astonishing. The amount of change each character goes through and how their personalities develop as the years go by is purely magical. Watching each character grow, especially Venus Black, was a joy. Venus is funny, smart, and vulnerable through the good times and the bad (and holy hell are there some bad times).

While there are multiple points of view, it is clear this is Venus's story. She is either narrating or brought up in almost every chapter. Venus is the thread that holds everything together and she is a magnificent main character. Through her, the reader gets to examine that sometimes there is an ambiguity between right and wrong and that good acts don't always have good consequences.

If there is one critique I have of the book, it is that some of the changes happened a little quickly for me. I appreciated that certain events (angsty events) weren't prolonged unnecessarily, but showing a little more of the time where the characters were in limbo, not sure which way they were going to go, would have been nice to see. But, other than that, this was a truly brilliant book and I honestly can't wait to see what else Heather Lloyd has to offer.

My Name is Venus Black is beautifully written and emotionally-fulfilling (a very important aspect for me). I was crying once I finished because I didn't want it to end, but it could not have ended at a more perfect spot. I really recommend you pick up a copy. I've already read it and I'm going to pick up a hard copy when it's released. My Name is Venus Black will be out February 27th, 2018.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Random House The Dial Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 -- I liked this book, and I think fans of YA fiction will enjoy it. It wasn't a stand out, but it was well written and different than a lot of other books in the genre.

This novel captivated me with the characters. They are flawed, but it is easy to like them. It is a little bit of a fantasy at how easily Venus is able to re-enter society after her incarceration, but setting the novel in the 1980s makes it a little easier to believe. Highly recommended.

Venus Black is 13, an A student, beloved by her teachers and friends, devoted sister to her autistic brother Leo and a murderer. When she is sent to juvenile detention, her brother Leo disappears and when she is released, years later, Leo is still missing and Venus is trying to hide her identity from nosy reporters. This amazing story is told from several different viewpoints and explores parent child relationships, the strength of sibling bonds and how are families fail and save us. The was a beautifully written novel with truly captivating characters. It was suspenseful and heart-warming - a hard feat to accomplish. I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and cannot stop thinking about it. I loved it and really look forward to more books by Heather Lloyd.

I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it. For whatever reason, I just couldn't engage fully in this book. Some parts felt like they didn't really flow together well.