Angie Thomas has outdone herself again! Concrete Rose was every bit as amazing as I envisioned it would be. Thomas goes back to the late 90s to allow readers' to see the life of Maverick, Starr's father, as he navigates his own young adult trials in Garden Heights. I loved how the books connect but are independent of one another and it's not necessary to have read The Hate U Give first, although it definitely made it all the more endearing to watch this earlier generation knowing what was to come. Because Concrete Rose is from the perspective of Mav, it's told through his first person narration, a male narrator's voice being something so often missing in young adult literature. Thomas's writing is clear, concise, and heartfelt; you feel for the characters in her stories. I cannot wait to share this with my students once it's released!

Concrete Rose had me shook from the first page. I started reading and couldn’t put it down. It was great to be back in the world of The Hate U Give and get the origin of Maverick. The writing is flawless and the storytelling will have readers clamoring for more. I alternated wanting to hug Maverick and smack him upside his head! A definite purchase! It stands alone but is a great companion story.

A worthy prequel to The Hate U Give, focusing on Starr’s dad Maverick during his senior year of high school. He’s navigating the legacy of his own father, who’s in prison, the hierarchy of the King Lords, unexpected fatherhood, and his relationship with Lisa. The authentic dialogue and fully-fleshed characters will draw teens in, and Mav’s fraught journey into manhood will keep the pages turning.

Thanks to Balzer + Bray and NetGalley for the electronic ARC.

Even though this technically happens before The Hate U Give because it's about Starr's father, I think it was definitely meant to be read after. Maverick wants to stop dealing drugs but he feels like he can't stop because he needs to support his babies and help his mom pay bills. His part-time job at the local grocery store doesn't pay nearly as much as dealing. When his best friend is shot right outside his house, and he feels he needs to figure out who did it and get make them pay. And yet if he keeps doing what he's doing, he just may lose the girl that he loves.

It's an emotional gut punch to see Seven and Khalil and Starr as babies, long before the events of The Hate U Give knowing what is going to happen in that book.

Anyone who loved the first book, will definitely love this one too.

Another amazing book from Angie Thomas! She can do no wrong! Taking on the stereotypes of young, black fathers and how they deal with fatherhood, we learn about Maverick's life before Star was born. I absolutely loved getting to see how Maverick and Lisa come together while facing many forms of diversity. I absolutely loved this book, and I cannot WAIT for the next one from Angie!!

Y’all. I really liked The Hate You Give, and I loved On the Come Up. But Concrete Rose blows both out of the water.

I don’t know if it’s just that I loved learning more about Starr’s dad, or the connections to Dear Martin and Long Way Down, or the loving relationships between Mav and his mom and dad and cousin.

Seeing such growth in a seventeen year old boy was beautiful, but crying with him through the heartbreaks was even more powerful.

This isn’t a book I would recommend for my seventh graders, but it’s a definitely a must read for secondary teachers and high school students!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

WOW! I had such high expectations for this book, and Thomas did NOT disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and just about cried several times, too. I loved the family relationships in the book: Mav and Dre and Mav and his mom especially. Also loved the casual inclusion of characters from The Hate U Give and On the Come Up! The writing is inviting, real, and raw. The story is the same way. I am obsessed with this book.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy of Concrete Rose. Angie Thomas continues to shine as an author and Concrete Rose is no exception. The following may contain some spoiler-type information, so skip if you feel the need.


Many fans will compare Concrete Rose to The Hate U Give because it tales the story of a teenage Maverick Carter that recently found out he was going to be a father. Fans of THUG see Maverick Carter as a solid figure offering guidance to his family and daughter surrounding the events of THUG. In Concrete Rose, we meet a seventeen-year-old student, Maverick, that wants to hang out with friends and catch the eye of his girlfriend, Lisa. Typical American teenage living in the 1990s. Young Maverick makes some poor choices and must now live with the consequences of his actions. What he decides to do drives the novel forward. Several moments should leave readers speechless while awaiting what happens next. Some of the topics explored during Concrete Rose include gangs, abortion, drugs, prison, employment, death, revenge, teenage sex, and others. This is real life. And Angie Thomas speaks about it. She fully expects this book to be banned, and she is right in knowing that this will probably happen. But it will provide content for conversations about these and other topics to take place. Angie Thomas continues to impress me with her ability to create an authentic atmosphere for her readers. I felt the dialogue in Concrete Rose was nearly perfect for the time period and age of the characters. And humor. I think you will be surprised that the amount of humor in Concrete Rose. Readers will continue to root for a younger Maverick and appreciate him more in The Hate U Give after reading Concrete Rose. Angie Thomas has said that Concrete Rose was a love letter to Maverick and she nailed it. Fans of THUG will love Concrete Rose and seek more answers from Garden Heights. Pick it up when it is released.

This book is, in a word, a masterpiece. I was so excited (both for me and for our students) when I read that Angie was writing Maverick prequel, but at the same time I wondered how she could top THUG. She did. I fell into the story and it was hard to get anything else done until it was finished. Then I had to immediately re-read THUG in order to revisit all the connections and mentions.

I'm so excited for our students, particularly the guys, to read the book and see themselves and their lives on the page. My mind is practically reeling with the possibilities and it's going to be so hard to wait.

Thank you so much for the preread. Well done, Angie!!!

Thank you so much to Angie Thomas, Balzer + Bray, and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I loved The Hate U Give and I was so excited that Angie Thomas would be telling Maverick's story. I did not reread THUG before picking up Concrete Rose and that did not affect my enjoyment of the book or its impact. I do not think you have to read THUG at all to connect to these characters, but I think knowing the future selves of some of the characters made traveling back with them a little more special.

There is a small crossover with a character from another big YA book that readers may catch. It made me tear up and also packed this quiet bit of power that I felt in my chest.

Concrete Rose is so good—I truly do not have the words for how much I loved this book. I laughed, I cried, I lost my breath in several places, and I felt a lot of things.

The Hate U Give is one of my very favorite books and I was anxiously awaiting Concrete Rose. It definitely did not disappoint - I LOVED this book! In THUG, Mav was one of my favorite characters and Concrete Rose provides the perfect background and foundation to help empathize and understand him even more. You see how much he wants to do the right thing and be a person that his family can be proud of. Despite all of the obstacles he faces, you consistently want to root for him.

I also loved the glimpse at Garden Heights before THUG. We see Uncle Carlos when he was just an overprotective big brother, we see King before he takes over the gang, we see Seven as a baby and Mav learning to be a father and we see Khalil as an infant before Brenda gets addicted to drugs and the actions of those around him directly impact his future. Like THUG, Concrete Rose also provides an authentic portrayal of the challenges faced by young black men like Mav and how intersecting and complicated the factors and motivations can be.

As an educator, I assign THUG every semester to students in my writing classes and my courses on Gender, Race & Class. I can't wait to assign Concrete Rose in future semesters.

Now I hope that Angie Thomas writes another book that addresses the time between Lisa's getting pregnant with Starr and Starr's high school experiences in THUG. Pretty please?!?

It sure was good to return to Garden Heights again for this story. Concrete Rose is "The Hate U Give #0" or the prequel that comes BEFORE that story. It tells us the background story of Maverick, father to Starr. We also find out how Mav ended up sleeping with Iesha to produce his first child, Seven, who is Starr's older half-brother. This story is set in the late 90's when Mav is a seventeen-year-old high school student.

If you've read The Hate U Give, you'll see all of your favorite characters back on the page, although younger. A baby Khalil, Lisa (Starr's mom), Uncle Carlos, and even King. We find a teenage Mav working in the corner grocery, which we know he owns later and pretty much find out how he got that job and how it leads him to owning it later. A great read for fans of the original book.

Angie Thomas has knocked it out of the park again! I absolutely loved this book. It grabbed me from page 1 and never let go. I can only hope that there will be a sequel. The character development was top notch and the storyline is very relevant. I could see using this novel in a high school classroom. I think students would be 100% engaged with this book. I highly recommend reading this book!

Thank you, NetGalley, Angie Thomas, and Baltzer and Bray for the opportunity to read Concrete Rose in exchange for my honest review.

First of all, EVERYONE preorder this book immediately. This book is a prequel to The Hate U Give and is about Maverick as a teen and a young father who is trying to do his best to raise Seven and be there for Lisa when she finds out she is pregnant with Starr. Mav is struggling to do what is best for family and trying to get out of life and go straight. When tragedy strikes it is even harder for Mav to leave the life behind. This book is exactly what the readers of THUG need to go back into the world of the Carters and Garden Heights one more time. This book leaves you wanting more for Maverick and his family and rooting for him to do the right thing when it is all stacked against him. You can see the internal struggle he fights with every day to do the right thing, but also the desire to make money and support his family. These children change for him and he wants to be a better father to them than his own. Everyone needs to read this book!

This is Maverick’s story, set in the late 90’s.
Maverick has a beautiful girlfriend Lisa, and his boys from the Kings back him. He sells a little weed to have some money, but it’s not a big deal to him. He doesn’t really want to claim a gang, but has no choice. His father, who is serving a lengthy jail sentence, left him a legacy and he has to claim in order to be protected in the neighborhood.
Life is still pretty sweet until he finds out that he has a son by his best friend’s ex-girlfriend. With the support of his mom and older brother-like friend Dre, he starts to understand how to be a dad.
When his Dre is murdered outside his home, Maverick becomes obsessed with revenge. His life spins out of control and he starts making poor choices. Choices that make his tough life even harder.

This book was everything! I loved walking through life with Maverick as a 17 year old. There is so much light shed on his past/experiences, and it was enlightening in a lot of ways.

I loved this book. I’m so glad NetGalley let me read it early. I honestly didn’t think I’d be approved!


Maverick doesn’t have a life like mine, but he matters, and I’m honored to have be a small part of his world. This book was amazingly well written and intriguing. I loved it.

Thank you Angie Thomas for being the creative wonderful writer you are!

Taking place before Starr is born, this book delves into Maverick and how he got out of the King Lord gang. It intertwines the difficulty of being a Black boy who becomes a father, not once but twice before he turns 18. Angie does an amazing job of portraying Mav’s voice and teaching the hardships of not only being a gangbanger, but a teen father and the choices to make for his family. I can’t wait to introduce this to students.

I have read all of Angie Thomas' books and they are all so good! Maverick was such a great character in THUG, so I was really excited to see more of the back story.

This was a great story with a little bit of everything: love, mistakes, drama, and some big epiphanies for Maverick. I feel like a lot of the relationships in THUG are more clear to me now, and even not having all my questions overtly answered didn't change how much I liked the story.

I'll need to get more than one copy when this comes out - I can't keep these books on my shelves.

*ARC though Netgalley for an honest review

Head back to Garden Heights to hear Maverick’s story.. I felt like I was visiting old friends and it was so good to see them! You don’t want to miss this one!