My name is Venus Black tells the coming of age story of a young adult who is thrust on her own into the world after she is released from prison. The story goes back and forth between the past and present and builds a crescendo of the fateful night that turned Venus from a Straight A student to a murderer and the ramifications on her family not just emotionally but physically as well.

I loved the premise of the story. Venus is a complicated character who you root for at the same time she frustrates you. Some of her characters aren't as well drawn out and I would have loved to have seen what motivated them to act and do what we see in the book.

All in all I highly recommend this book. It is a fast read and it helps a reader answer the question can we ever escape our past?

This is the story, obviously, of Venus Black. When we meet her, she’s a straight laced young adult of 13, who gets good grades and is a wonderful older sister to her brother, Leo, who falls somewhere on the Autism spectrum. However, things absolutely fall to pieces after one horrible evening, when Venus commits a crime (a big one). Right after her arrest and right before finding out her 5 years juvenile detention sentence, Leo disappears without a trace. Years later, after Venus’ release, she decides to start over clean and new – planning to create a new identity, move to another state, and leave her mother and the memories that one tragic night and her lost brother behind. However, as she meets new people, including a friendly coworker, a possible romantic prospect and a young girl who reminds her of her own younger self, Venus starts to realize that perhaps a new future isn’t as easy as it sounds. Perhaps she will have the face the past, confront her own anger and guilt, and make some amends before she is able to have that fresh start she’s looking for.

This book is exactly what that blurb says it is. But it was also a lot more than I was expecting and it really got its hooks into me. Venus was such a compelling character. The parts narrated by her, both at 13 and at 19, were convincing and perfectly crafted to her age. She is prickly and defensive and angry and scared and so much more. And it comes through so clearly in her actions and her dialogue, exactly in the frustrating but realistic ways that it would for any lost girl at those ages. Her growth throughout the book is realistic as well – full of repressed feeling and memories, naïve reactions, fearful and spontaneous decisions, but with just enough insight into her thoughts that you can see her efforts to overcome these more difficult parts of her personality and give new methods a chance. It’s slow growth, but it’s there…and that’s real.

The other narrators for the story include Leo himself, Venus’ mother, and Tinker, Tessa and Tony, who play a large role in Leo’s life post-disappearance (I know that’s vague, I’m attempting to avoid spoilers). First, I want to make a blanket statement – with that many voices telling the same story, you’d think some character development details might get lost or under-done. That is not the case here. Each of these voices, their role in the story and the decisions they make are full, three dimensional and very believable and understandable…to the extent that, even when you cringe at a character’s decision or thought process, you can absolutely see where they are coming from. And for all but one (I won’t say who, but I’m guessing it’ll be obvious for all of you as you read), you can sympathize and understand that they are doing what they felt was best under the circumstances. It’s actually, at a few points, so heartbreaking as a reader. Because you cannot see how things can end happily for everyone, but you really want it to since you know why they did what they did. I was super impressed by the author’s abilities on this front. Relatedly, I really enjoyed a few relationship developments in particular, including Tessa and Leo, Venus and Piper, and Venus and her mother. They were just really precisely crafted and I enjoyed watching them progress and deepen.

The one perspective (other than Venus’) I want to specifically call out is Leo’s. I have read a few books written from the perspective of (or about) Autism-spectrum characters. And I cannot truly speak to how any of them do, because I am not in that situation myself, nor I am especially close to anyone that is that I could ask or compare to. But from my limited background knowledge, I have to say that I was very impressed with Leo’s voice. It felt deep, nuanced and illuminating. And it addressed some issues/topics that are not normally covered, either in books or in life, like explaining the meanings of many different interactions, from little things, like the “please”/”thank you” back and forth, all the way to larger things, like feelings of attraction (sexual and emotional). If any readers have recommendations for other books that do this successfully, or even better (perhaps own voices?), please tell me. But it seemed, to me at least, this was well done here.

As far as the plot itself, it’s a simple and straightforward sort of story, pretty much all summed up in the book blurb. But it is the perfect storyline vehicle for a novel that is built around character growth in the way we see it here. And there is, as the book progresses, the growing build towards the denouement we know if coming: what was it that pushed Venus to commit her crime? And how will the circumstances around Leo’s disappearance and future unfold? The increase in tense-ness as the story moves forward pulls us in dynamically but still leaves the focus on the characters.

The one great issue I took with this novel was, unfortunately, the cleanliness of the ending. I mean, I won’t lie, I definitely wanted that ending. I even mentioned that earlier – I wanted it to be, more or less, positive for everyone. But I am just not sure it was that truthful of an ending. And considering the reality in the character growth to that point, the changes in their relationships with each other, and everything else the author did to make sure a “truthful” story was told…it just didn’t completely fit. Maybe I’m wrong and cynical. And since it didn’t necessarily happen all of a sudden, there is definitely a chance that time allowed for enough adjustment/acceptance to make it possible. And there are some special situations, like Leo’s personality, that make this more possible than it might otherwise be. But I just am not sure this ending is all that likely, considering the way life works.

All in all though, I was really blown away by how good this book was. Venus is such dynamic character, with an incredibly sad, but ultimately hopeful, story. This is a book about what family is, what support from family looks like, and how possible it is to create and repair some very difficult relationships. As a reader, there is definitely some dread that piles on while reading, but there is also a lot of anticipation for a more positive ending than start for these characters that become tangible as you read.

I’m generally not a big fan of YA, but this is one of those young adult books that won me over. I love the web of characters that Heather Lloyd has weaved, each with their own flaw that is mercilessly public at the most inopportune time. You love and hate each character for what they have done, which makes the fact that each one is redeemed by Leo, the most unlikely of heroes, all the more sweet. The character with the most outward flaws helps heal the inner struggles of each of the other characters without even trying. He is their joy, and he is their healing.

Throughout the book, the reader gets to experience each character’s point-of-view. I LOVE that she included Leo’s as well. It’s not easy to write for an autistic character, and I think many authors would shy away from the task. She not only took the risk, but did so successfully and in a way that makes Leo seem very authentic.

My only complaint is that I wish the author would have stated what happened the night of the crime at the beginning of the book. By the time the reader reached the end, you understood the jest of the crime. It wasn’t a surprise. As a result, being fed little tidbits about that night throughout the book frustrated me at times. I kept checking what I had already read to see if I missed the story. I would have preferred the author to either commit to making the crime a surprise until the end of the book or to state the crime upfront. Essentially telling the story, but not really including the details until the end, took away some of the luster from the end.

I would definitely recommend this book to my YA-loving friends. 4/5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. The best part of this book was the characterisation. The characters seem to come alive, and strangely I felt myself wondering what was going to happen to them even when I wasn't reading the book!

Venus Black is a 13 yr old girl who is incarcerated for about 5 years for killing her stepfather. Meanwhile, her little autistic brother is kidnapped. Most of the story takes place after she gets out of prison. She changes her identity so that she can start her life over. We see Venus trying to live her life as an adult woman for the first time in her life after prison. There are many twists and turns throughout the whole book. The reader finds out what happened to the brother and is taken into the life of the brother's kidnappers. Venus finds a place to live in a house with a man and his young niece. Venus develops a mother-daughter type relationship with the young girl only to have her ripped from her life by the girl's aunt. There is even a possible romantic relationship between Venus and an attractive man she meets at the diner where she works. When Venus finds out he is a cop, she thinks there is no way she can continue with him.

Throughout the book, the author never truly reveals what led Venus to take the life of her step father, although the reader is given a few hints. When we finally find out Venus' motives, we are faced with the moral dilemma of siding with Venus or the law.

All in all, this book is entertaining and full of emotion. There is suspense, laughter, and tears wrapped up in this book. Highly recommend!!

I enjoyed this book even though it hurt my heart to read it. It was way more powerful than I though it was be at the beginning.

Venus Black is a smart, hardworking 13 year old girl. Until the night she is arrested and her whole world changes. She faces many years in prison, but refuses to talk to anyone about what happened and why. Shortly after, her brother Leo goes missing and her mother blames her for it.

It took me a little while to realize that this story is really more about Leo than Venus. I felt like I was the most connected to Leo and everything he is going through. His world is turned upside down so many times during this book and I am amazed by his coping skills. Even though he is developmentally challenged, he is still extremely smart and I think that helps him. His story gave me hope and made me cry, it was such a rollercoaster.

After a long time with Leo, we are suddenly thrown back in to Venus's life. She is released from prison and thrown back into a world that isn't always kind. I could feel her stress and her fears, but also her strength and determination. I loved reading about her time with her housemates and how her relationship with them grows and changes.

The ending had my heart racing and wanting to scream at everyone. No one really knows the "whole" story, except Leo and he is not sharing. The last chapter had me tearing up and filled with hope.

This book was ultimately about family (in my opinion). Who is family and what qualifies someone as family? Do they have to be loving or loved just because they are related to you? And also, of course, about forgiveness. Everyone in this book needed forgiveness from someone for something, and it was interesting to see how each different person handled it differently.

The writing was really well done and gripped me completely. There were parts I found frustrating and parts I could not stop reading. I definitely recommend this book!

When Venus is convicted and sent to jail for a serious crime which she committed, her younger brother who is autistic disappears. When she gets out of jail, she wants to start a new life as a completely different person and find out what happened to her brother. This is a really touching book that will grip you by the heartstrings and won't let go from start to finish. While, of course, not every character in the book is likable, there are so many wonderful beautiful really good at heart characters in this book that reading it will reaffirm your faith in humanity.

This book was part mystery, part thriller, part tangled-relationships-and-coming-of-age. The strands resolved in an unexpected and yet optimistic and natural way. I really enjoyed the journey. GREAT JOB!

'Venus Black' is really a book about families and what binds us together. There is a crime at the center of the book, but it is really about how what happened before and after that incident tore a family apart and slowly put it back together again.

There are a lot of wonderful, fully-developed characters in this book. Venus is complex and troubled, unsure if she can forgive her mother or move on with her life. I loved the relationship between Tessa and her father, and the love they had for Leo. Inez, Venus's mother, is very conflicted but ultimately driven by the love for her children.

This is quite a beautiful book, sensitively written about complex and tangled issues. Recommended.

Gripping tale about trauma, families, forgiveness and moving on.

4.5 stars

Venus is only 13 years old and kills her stepfather, but we do not know the reason why. She blames her mom and is very angry at her. It tears her family apart and it creates a national media firestorm. She is sent to juvenile prison for 6 years.

Her brother, Leo is kidnapped a few days after her arrest and disappears without a trace. Her brother Leo is autistic.
At the age of 19, Venus is released from juvenile prison.

She is so worried about her brother. She now has a fake identity and is determined to escape her painful past. She makes a fresh start in Seattle. Leo's face appears on milk cartons as a missing child and Venus helps her mother find him.

This was hard to believe that this was a debut novel. I loved this book and had problems putting it down. I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. The book was traumatic at the beginning, but it wasn't graphic at all, but there was lots of suspense.

This book was about family and forgiveness. I thought it was beautifully written. This is a YA novel and thought the subject matter was a little tough.

The characters were perfectly well done. I loved Venus, Leo and Piper.

This was a simple fast read and it ended just the way I wanted it too.
I highly recommend.

I want to thank, Netgalley, Random House, and Heather Lloyd for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Venus Black committed a shocking crime. She changes her name to escape the past until she realizes that running will not help her find happiness.

Wow.
I may have book hangover from this book for days. Maybe even weeks. This one will never leave me.
It is a story of childhood lost, it is a story of pain and anger and regret and it is a story of love and redemption. And forgiveness. And just what you are able to do when you are allowed to finally be free.

Venus is one of the best voices I have read in a long time. She is honest and raw and brutal at times. She is hard and fights for independence all while thinking she can walk away, change her life and not have to find room for love and redemption and forgiveness.

Leo, Tessa and Tony are a beautiful example of what can happen when people who aren't all family, choose to be family. AND in the end, what everyone can be when they choose to be family and chose love and forgiveness.

At times angry and frustrating [you SO wanted to know the whole truth at the beginning and you are not granted that wish] and sad and lonely, this is still one of the most beautiful and fabulous books that I have ever read.

You will not be sorry that you read [or listen as I did; the audiobook was amazing and the narrators take you to the very places the author wants you to be and you totally feel all the feels] this book.

Venus is a thirteen year old very intelligent girl that is interested in astronomy. In the beginning of the book we learn that she has committed a crime, but the details are not explained until later. She has a young brother who is mentally disabled and goes missing shortly after her crime. This book details her life after serving her time as she assumes a new identity. The characters are very complex and riveting. I read this book straight through as I couldn’t put it down!

Young teenaged girl Venus Black is smart and strong and certain. And she's just seen her family implode. She picked up the gun and pointed it, but she let fate take care of the rest. Unfortunately for her, the bullet found its way into the head of her stepfather, who wasn't supposed to be in gun's trajectory. But he was, and she is immediately arrested. In trying to figure out how to piece her family back together, Venus' mother asks a friend to look after Venus' younger brother, Leo, whose autism makes communication difficult for him. But more devastation befalls the family when Leo goes missing and cannot be found. 

More than five years pass as Venus does her time in a juvenile facility. When she finally gets out, she has little more than the clothes on her back, a stolen identity, a heavy burden of bitterness for her mother, and the strong desire to move away from Seattle and start over. She finds a job serving coffee in a diner and a small room to rent where she can save up to buy a car. But the room comes with a caveat--she has to help babysit the homeowner's niece, Piper, a bratty nine-year-old who makes an instant connection to Venus, even when Venus tries to discourage her. 

As the weeks pass, Venus works, hangs out with Piper (who starts to grow on her), and tries not to flirt with the cute customer who keeps coming in the diner and sitting at her tables. She stays true to her plan to save for a car so she can move to California. With her new identity, she blends in, keeping her head down and her customers happy. But it's only so long before her past comes calling, and Venus has to face all the anger and bitterness, all the worry about her brother Leo, and all the guilt she feels for what happened to her family. 

My Name Is Venus Black is a surprisingly heart-warming story of love, family, starting over, and making peace with your past. Venus is such a smart and amazing kid that you want to stick with her to the end, to find out what really happened that night and what her future holds. Although terrible things happened to this family, the years also brought love, friendship, faith, and healing. Venus and her mother have both found ways to move forward, and reading their story is a beautiful reminder of the capacity of the human spirit. 

This debut novel from Heather Lloyd is set in the 1980s, which brings several fun surprises, and the beautiful writing just keeps the pages turning. What could be a maudlin, dark novel is instead a lovely experience of warmth, humanity, and compassion. I strongly recommend this one for adults and teens. It's definitely a keeper. 



Galleys for My Name Is Venus Black were provided by The Dial Press (Random House) through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I love finding a debut novel such as My Name is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd that keeps me mesmerized and turning pages. Readers learn the reason behind Venus’s name in the prologue and learn whodunit in the first chapter. If they should decide there was little else of interest, they would be very wrong.

Soon after her arrest, Venus’s developmentally challenged brother is kidnapped for no apparent reason. Much of the story centers on Leo who has obsessive compulsive traits as well. Just when one is engrossed in Leo’s path, the author switches back to Venus and vice versa. The reader feels compelled to turn the next page.

The title hints that Venus will come back to her name after she takes an alias to hide her identity when she is released from prison. Other secondary characters include Inez, the addicted mother; Danny, who would like to be more than a friend; and Tony and Tessa who wind up taking Leo in when he is abandoned by the original kidnapper. These well-drawn characters flesh out a story of blame, love, loss, and a need for forgiveness.

The problems of Leo’s disability and Venus’s abuse add color and authenticity to the novel. Yet they do not call attention to the issues but add dimension to the tale and linger as things you think about when you are finished. I found the ending satisfying but hated for the book to be finished. Maybe Heather will write another one.

What a hauntingly beautiful story. So much sadness and emotions it had me teared up at times. Take a dysfunctional family, tear it apart with a murder, child abuse, a missing mentally challenged son and a convict daughter, then try and put it all back together again. This story does just that, kind of like Humpty Dumpty, it tries to put the pieces all back together. Not possible to go back the way it was, so they must forge a new normal, one that works 7 years later for the survivors. This is their story, told from each of their viewpoints. Just read it already!

The Dial Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of My Name is Venus Black. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

A straight-A student with a bright future, 13 year old Venus Black commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart. Because she refuses to explain her actions, Venus is convicted and sent to juvenile prison for five years. Her autistic brother Leo goes missing while Venus is incarcerated and, despite the efforts of the police and volunteers, no trace of him can be found. After her release, Venus assumes a new name and attempts to start her life again. Will Venus be able to escape her past or will it have a way of finding her? Will she ever get the closure she needs to move forward?

My Name is Venus Black is a character driven novel with a good premise and well paced plot. It was so easy to become engrossed in this book, with the compelling story of a young girl who had to face unthinkable circumstances. As she tries to move forward with her life, Venus faces very realistic struggles. I really liked how the author treated the very sensitive subject matter and went into just enough detail to make the story complete. Readers will have no trouble finding a character or characters with which they can forge a connection. My Name is Venus Black is a book that I would recommend to readers who enjoy YA realistic fiction and I look forward to reading more by author Heather Lloyd in the future.

Venus Black was sent to a juvenile justice facility when she was 13, where she remained until she was 19, for a crime that is not explained until the end of the book. I think that was a mistake on the part of the author because knowledge of the crime might have made me more interested in Venus. On the other hand, I probably would have stopped reading this book early on if it weren't for my curiosity about what happened, so maybe the author had a point. Soon after Venus is incarcerated her 7 year old, autistic brother Leo is abducted and never found. Venus is estranged from her mother, also for undisclosed reasons, until near the end of the book when they reconnect in an attempt to recover Leo.

I found the Venus story less compelling than Leo's. However, the entire book was marred for me by its simplistic sentence structure and vocabulary. Everyone in the book talked like a 10 year old. I assume that the book is designed to convey lessons in loyalty, friendship and forgiveness to very young adults, but the writing really got on my nerves. There was an odd mix of first person and third person narration. The ending was also way too saccharine for me. I have mixed results with YA books and in this case I was definitely not the intended audience.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This is a lovely gem to discover. It is so good. A “I know it’s 2 in the morning but I don’t want to stop reading this” book. It’s heart wrenching and heart warming on so many levels. You will root for every single character. I could feel each and every character’s anguish. The two strongest emotions from this story are sadness and anger. I don’t think I could praise this book enough!