Thank you, NetGalley, for the digital ARC in exchange for review.

When the heat causes a blackout in New York, you never know what might happen. Follow six different couples as they navigate their way through the blackout and find more than their way to their destination. The stories weave together and have you hoping for the best for each of the characters.

Black love!! 💜 I enjoy short stories, but I love them even more when they are all connected. I believe having an event that all the characters are working their way to was a great way to weave the stories together. The six stories in Blackout showed so many different types of love and all the emotions that come along with it. From listening to old stories of love, discovering new love, being reunited with love to confessing love, the point of view of teens being stuck in a New York City black out showed what can happen when the world slows down. Can't wait for my students to read these amazing stories!

I love love loved this book and the authors! I know so many students that I will be recommending this to next year!

I loved that all of the stories were connected and it wasn't just a collection of random short stories. I think Tiffany D. Jackson's and Nic Stone's were my favorites, but they were all great.

A set of short stories set in Brooklyn, New York as different characters of each story try to make their way to a block party during a city-wide blackout.

This was such a cute, fun read for fans of YA romance. The authors came together in this collaborative book that has a distinct voice for each story and character without feeling disjointed. Very much similar to Love Actually but with Black, Latinx, and LGBTQIA characters. There were some storylines I like more than others, but overall a very sweet book!

Very fun, cute, and clever. I liked seeing elements of stories in the other stories and how they all fit together as a full book but also as separate stories. An easy read!

I was very excited for this book from the moment it was announced and it lived up to the hype! These Black authors can do no wrong in my eyes. I loved the theme of the blackout bringing all these couples together, and they tied together seamlessly. The Tiffany Jackson story that was interspersed throughout the rest was my favorite. I really felt invested in Kareem and Tammi and what had happened between them and what was going to happen. It was such a different type of plot than Jackson’s typical work! Kudos to the authors. This was a home run!

Amazing! Love that the stories were written by six oft favorite YA authors. As I read, I kept rooting for each character to make it through the blackout, not just waiting for the lights to come back on, but to have a light turn on inside of them. I would love to read another story where they all come together at the block party.

Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, et all was a great summer read! Blackout is a compilation of six stories tied together by the setting, New York City during a summer blackout, and the inter-story character connections. First of all, I loved the epigraph “To Black kids everywhere: your stories, your joy, your love and your lives matter. You are a light in the dark.” This is the essence of this unique book written by six fabulous authors who got together during this pandemic to write this book. I remember listening to Nic Stone talk about the book during an NCTE convention panel and being like “Wow! This is going to be interesting!” I was hyped for it before it was even written lol!
This novel is unique for several reasons. First, the obvious: it has six authors and not just any authors. Bestselling and brilliant writers who can each stand on their own set of work. Second, you can call it an anthology, but I would probably disagree with you a little. These stories each have characters that connect one story to another. Third, it’s not just a romance novel, it's a BLACK TEEN ROMANCE NOVEL, with different types of romance and representation, including LGBQT+.
The inclusiveness of the types of couples included in the stories, it features two gay couples, is important because it gives a chance for all teens to see themselves in a love story. The book captures the joy, confusion, disappointment and growth that happens in relationships. It also addresses mental health and more than one character has a therapist.
My favorite story from the bunch was hands down Tiffany Jackson’s “The Long Walk.” The characters and the language had me from the start. I was cracking up because when Tammi and Kareem were arguing it was like I was immediately transported back to New York. When Tammi said, “Yo, you done? Or are you gonna mumble some more s*** under your stank breath?” That line took me out!
I liked Nicola Yoon’s story, “Seymour and Grace.” It was an interesting and hopeful way to end the book. I also loved the ending of “All the Great Love Stories...and Dust.” So sweet and swoony! It was amazing and refreshing to read a book whose focus was Black Love and Joy together.

I think the authors' names alone speak to the quality and powerfulness of this book, but I'll do my best to emphasize its brilliance and importance.

When I was growing up, my dad always told me "Nothing good happens after dark." And honestly, he has been pretty spot on with that statement. Bad things happen in the dark. But Blackout reminds us that good things can happen as well. That you don't have to hide in the shadows, that the shadows can be a place of growth and rebirth. To see Black joy on the page made my heart happy, and I will gladly put this book into the hands of any and all students, regardless of gender, identity, ethnicity, etc. It's a must read for everyone - YAs and adults. The stories activate both your heart and your mind and dare you to reconsider your judgements, values, and experiences.

I love each of these authors individually, but my gosh - when their powers combine - they are an unstoppable force of genius.

This was such fun light summer read full of black teen love. It was so nice how the authors blended the stories into one. You couldn't help but root for each couple and smile along with them. ♡

This book was everything I hoped it would be. I'm not always a fan of short stories in one book, but these authors delivered a book full of short stories that were somewhat connected, but you could hear each individual author's voice in their story. A blackout hits New York during a heatwave and the characters are all dealing with their love lives during the blackout. No story really stood out over the others, which is a sign of good writing and collaboration between the authors. A love triangle, a meet-cute in a rideshare, a closeted athlete, exes, a girl who doesn't think she deserves a great love there is something for everyone. The authors accomplished what they set out to do create a book of love stories with Black teens.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

Adorable love stories set during a New York blackout. Super real and cute. I liked the way the stories intertwined in small ways.

A sudden blackout hits all of New York City on a summer evening. These six interconnecting stories tell of six different romances in different stages happening across the city. As with any collection, I preferred some stories to others, but overall I'd say it was worth the read.

The Long Walk: One of my two favorites in this collection. I enjoyed the characters and their stubbornness and their tenderness. I've never read anything by Tiffany D. Jackson before, but this makes me want to go searching. 4 stars.
Mask Off: This one was okay. I liked that Stone tried to lay a good foundation for these characters, but I didn't love how it jumped back and forth. 3 stars.
Made to Fit: My least favorite of the collection. I'm not a fan of insta-love, and the set-up was super obvious.
All the Great Love Stories...and Dust: I greatly enjoy Dhonielle Clayton's writing. This was no different. Her romance has a wistful sweetness to it and I thought it was charming.
No Sleep 'til Brooklyn: I liked the confusion and flaws in these characters, and I thought the ending was pretty smart.
Seymour and Grace: My other favorite. I like how the characters interacted and how clever they were, and it made me happy. I wished we had seen more of a wrap up of all the stories since this was the last one, but this romance itself was great.

This is a delightful anthology of linked stories from six of the biggest powerhouses in YA today. Each story has its own vibe and tone, though I thought they flowed beautifully together (and Tiffany D. Jackson's interweaved story bound everything together well too). I particularly loved Nic Stone's m/m romance and Ashley Woodfolk's sapphic story set in a small retirement home, but they were all pretty great. I definitely recommend picking this up if you want a fairly light-hearted read about Black love and joy set in a blackout in NYC, culminating in a huge, joyous Brooklyn block party. (There are discussions of grief, dead parents, dead grandparents, fear of homophobia, toxic masculinity, and panic attacks for claustrophobia and heights. The characters are all generally very supportive and get through things together, though.)

Great summer read by some superstar Black women who write for teens set in New York City during a blackout . Each story was distinct but they were all connected. I especially loved reading something lighter by Tiffany Jackson - I love her but her books can be brutal to read. Totally appropriate and accessible for students in grades 7 and above.

Blackout is an anthology about black teen love written by six amazing, black authors. A summer heatwave causes a blackout throughout New York. What makes this anthology different is that each of the stories are interconnected, and ends at the same party.

I found this book charming. It is a perfect, light summer read (something that is different for many of these authors). Despite being light reading it isn’t fluff. The authors manage to cover some heavy topics such as coming out or choosing yourself over a relationship in a funny and satisfying way. I also appreciate how diverse this book is both racially and with queer characters.

The format of this book is what I appreciated the most after reading it. Each of these women is so talented and that can be seen in how flawlessly each story fits together. I don’t think I can choose just one story that is my favorite. That being said, No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn by Angie Thomas stuck out in my head because it was not a traditional love story. Instead, it showed that sometimes breaking up is a way to show yourself, love. This quote really resonated with me “Your heart will never lead you wrong, but it can be hard to hear it. You have to give it space to speak. That’s a form of love too.”

I have never seen a book like this one. The way the authors worked together to tell interconnecting stories was AHHHMAZING. I plan on encouraging as many people as possible to read this book.

While I tend to not think of myself as a romance reader, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed how character focused the stories were and how each character felt real even if we were only with them for a short while. The layout of the book with one continuing story and some overlapping characters was very well done and enriched the experience of reading.

I absolutely loved this perfect summer romance! With not just one story, but SIX beautifully woven together by six of THE best YA authors of our time.