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!

I absolutely loved everything about this book! So many great references to The Hate U Give. The Concrete Rose made me want to go back to read The Hate U Give again! I loved the silly jokes that Angie slipped into the book, especially with the Jordans from Red. I’d recommend this book to anyone and everyone that loves a great read. I finished it in a day and I’m a slow reader. We will definitely be buying this book for our middle/high school library.

Damn, Angie trying to break me into little pieces again and succeeding. I freaking loved Maverick as Starr’s dad—to see him as a broken and struggling new teen dad was freaking killer. He’s such a dynamic character and you want him to succeed so bad—you also know he will succeed, which makes it all the better. There’s also a real sly cameo during the college visit that about had me hitting someone. I was incredibly impressed with her ability to channel a teen boy’s voice believably and emotionally. This was a read I won’t soon forget.

I was expecting something amazing and Angie Thomas did not disappoint. Learning more about Maverick and what he was like as a young adult really helped me better understand his motivations in The Hate U Give. I feel like there is still more of his story to tell and I’ll be ready for it if that happens, but I’m also glad we got to know Maverick.

I read Concrete Rose almost in a day -- it's hard to put down and like Angie Thomas's other books, grabs you from the first word. The book is actually the prequel to The Hate U Give, and provides the reader with a history of Maverick, Starr's and Seven's father. Many of the characters from The Hate U Give are present in the book, in their younger selves, including King, Iesha, Lisa, Khalil, and others. We meet the young Maverick when he has just learned that he will become a 17 year old father to Seven, and soon after, to Starr. He narrates his story with humor, authenticity and heart.

Maverick's life is hard - his father is incarcerated, his mother is his rock but overworked and underpaid, and he struggles with his decision to be part of gang life and what he sees as a better choice for his family. We follow his thoughts as he deliberates, as well as his emotions as he finally realizes what is the right thing to do. Concrete Rose, like Starr's life in The Hate U Give, is a coming of age story, and provides much context to the people, places and events that we meet as we get to know Starr and her family and helps us to develop empathy for Maverick. The way that the book is written, it can be read before or after The Hate U Give..

I highly recommend this book for the YA audience, but it is a very entertaining and necessary read for adults as well. The book highlights real life themes such as teen parenthood, gang life as a surrogate for family, parental incarceration and the demands on the lives of young Black men.

#Netgalley #ConcreteRose