Avery Anderson’s family has just relocated from Washington, DC, to rural Bardell, Georgia, and she is none too happy about it. The pandemic robbed Avery of many classic high school moments, and she has recently broken up with her first serious girlfriend. Now her maternal grandmother has terminal cancer, and over Mama Letty’s objections the Andersons are moving in to be present for her final months. Avery starts her senior year at Beckwith Academy and quickly bonds with her next door neighbor, Simone, and her bestie, Jade. Meanwhile, things remain tense at home. Avery’s mom and grandmother clash constantly and Avery has questions about her grandfather that no one will answer. Avery’s motto (“Get in, get out, no drama, focus forward”) becomes more difficult to maintain as a crush on Simone blossoms into a secret romance. Brief interstitial chapters from an omniscient point of view add depth of perspective on Bardell and its inhabitants throughout the years. Add in two unsolved murders and this debut novel undeniably has a lot going on, but Jas Hammonds pulls it off beautifully. We Deserve Monuments offers a timely commentary on racism and homophobia as well as the unparalleled joy of first love, intergenerational connections, and the cost of keeping secrets.

THIS BOOK. This is an astounding book of family history, generational trauma, the intersection of identities, and self-discovery.
It's one I want on my shelf for my children to randomly pick up and then be astounded by ... the type of book people pass along because it's just so good and that's all they can say. It's one that I, for sure, will be recommending to anyone who simply wants a book that they can't stop thinking about.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am so glad I read this book! I've been moving away from YA in the past year, but this book really sucked me into the story. I loved how it handled and balanced the combination of a sapphic romance and such an intriguing mystery that kept you interested in the story the whole way through (I usually like having an extra element to the plot rather than just a romance, so this was perfect!) It was also extremely hard-hitting and dealt with a lot of important and difficult conversations. A very complex story that I feel lucky to have read.

A story of grief, generational trauma, and learning that you don’t have to have everything figured out or fixed to live a full life.

This is beautifully written and an interesting story that came together perfectly. Hammonds is a writer to watch.

Truly original and beautifully written, this was a striking debut that deserves a place on any and every year end list.

Hands down one of my favorite books of the year. I will be recommending this book to everyone from here on out – definitely a must read! By far one of the best debut novels I’ve ever read. Immediately after reading it I wanted to read it again to experience it all over again. I went through all the motions with this one. So Happy I read this mostly in the comfort of my own home, in bed, late at night. Because your girl was a HOT MESS – ugly crying and heartbroken.

Don’t worry though, there are multiple topics discussed throughout the book that won’t just focus on grieving. Despite all of this heaviness, Jas found a way to also fill the story with love, romance, friendship, healing, and coming of age. Hammonds found a way to seamlessly interweave so many complex topics such as: sexuality, racism, grief (cancer), generational trauma, and socioeconomic status. I’ve always felt that YA books capture complex topics better than adult fiction books most of the time. I loved all the characters and their top notch character development. Hammonds amplified Black queer voices through it all! They were able to show multiple ways parents can react to their child coming out as queer. I thought this was so beautifully done (and cried some more). Avery’s story is full of layers focused on coping with familial death, generational trauma, being queer in the rural south (U.S.), and racism all while navigating being a teenager. If you are comfortable with all the content warnings then I highly recommend if you enjoy coming of age, LGBTQ+ representation, and small town mystery.

Jas Hammonds is officially an auto-buy author for me! I can’t wait to read what else they write in the future.

Wow! What a book! I was immediately hooked and was hooked the whole time.
I really enjoyed the relationship that developed between Avery and Mama Letty, especially towards the end of the book. I definitely had tears in my eyes as I finished the book.
I do wish there were more loose ends tied up but maybe the author wanted some loose ends, as it seemed to be the vibe throughout the story.

I don't read as much Young Adult Literature these days, but I'm glad I chose We Deserve Monuments.

In the interest of time and clarity I'll copy the description here because I think it does a better job than I can at describing the main plot ideas:

Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family―whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.

As the three girls grow closer―Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance―the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty's health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she's built in Bardell―or if some things are better left buried.

We Deserve Monuments gave me a lot of "feels." The teen romance was sweet, although the realities of a lesbian relationship are also apparent. Mama Letty was a great character, and I must admit I shed a tear for her (which is unusual for me.) The mystery aspect didn't intrigue me as much, but still added to the story.

YA reads are usually quick, and We Deserve Monuments is no exception. So if you are in the market for a brand-new YA story, you should pick this one up. But you don't need to take my word. It is a current bestseller.

Part romance, part coming of age, with some mystery thrown in, this is simply a fantastic book! My only quibble is that the ending felt MUCH too rushed, but overall - amazing!

I really appreciated the conversations about the cycles of abuse in this while not making it about the discussions on queerness that also are happening.

Early reviews of this novel praised it as a gripping story of family secrets, love and small town mysteries. Avery’s transported from her home during her senior year to live with her terminally ill grandmother, who she never got a chance to know. Her mother refuses to discuss the rift and traumatic past that left their family estranged. Unmoored by all that’s left unsaid, Avery befriends two girls and together they begin to uncover the racist history of their small Georgia town and how it contributed to her broken family.

I haven’t stopped thinking about We Deserve Monuments since I tearfully read the last page. This book has some of the most beautiful writing that I’ve read in a long time and Jas Hammonds creates a vivid world for their characters. This YA debut is part mystery, part romance, and part coming-of-age story that will make you cry and feel a whole lot of feelings. I can’t recommend We Deserve Monuments enough!

I absolutely loved this book! As I think about trying to capture what it's about and how to summarize it, I realize that it is an incredibly layered and complex story. Spectacular!

Avery moves with her parents to her mother's hometown of Bardell, Georgia to help take care of her grandmother, Mama Letty, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Avery hasn't been to Bardell since she was five and her memories of that visit are negative but blurry. She feels immediately drawn to her next door neighbor, Simone, who has known Mama Letty for her entire life and whose mother, Carole, seems to have some feelings or judgments about Avery's mom. As Avery spends more time in Bardell, her priorities start to shift. She feels less and less connected to her old life in DC, the college-focused, achievement-driven hustle and bustle, and she feels more connected to Simone and her best friend, Jade. She also starts to become increasingly sad and curious about Mama Letty, despite her tough outward attitude, so she makes efforts to spend more time with her before she is gone from her life forever. As her relationships develop, Avery learns about a host of family and town secrets that range from secret relationships to kidnappings to conspiracy theories to murder. And it becomes clear to Avery that the closer she gets to Mama Letty, and the more she is drawn to Simone, the more complicated her life will become.

:spoiler below:
I was absolutely loving this book and so on board, but the surprise ending with what happened to Jade's mother and how Mama Letty was involved felt too rushed. It seemed like such an important crux to the story and I almost missed it. I wish that revelation had been given the same time and care that all of the character development and beautiful scenes had been. But this book is still a winner for me, even with this one issue.

This is a powerful story set in Bardell, Georgia in the present day as well as around the mid-1970s. There is generational trauma, racial violence, and fear of being LGBTQ in a small rural town during both time frames. Avery Anderson gets uprooted from life in DC to spend her senior year in Georgia with her terminally ill estranged grandmother. In DC there was a level of pressure and expectation that followed her everywhere she went. In Bardell, she planned to keep her head down and just make it through the year, but a special friendship develops with Simone, her next-door-neighbor, and Jade, the daughter of the most prominent white family in the town. Avery is openly gay and stands out in Bardell, but her friendship with Simone and Jade make it the most comfortable place she has ever been. Secrets of the past continue to come out from beneath the rocks and Avery struggles to keep her anger in check. Peeling back the layers of Mama Letty, Zora, and Avery, this is a family that must find a way to love again. An incredibly powerful debut novel that kept me wanting more during both of my reads.

- WE DESERVE MONUMENTS is a knockout of a book. This book covers everything from the annoyances of being a teenager to generational trauma, and it's delivered in a story that's both beautiful and page-turning.
- I loved watching the relationships between the women of Avery's family untangle and grow. Hammonds doesn't gloss over how painful it can be to uncover family history, but also that love can still be buried under all of it.
- On top of all this, there's also an exploration of what it means to be young, Black and queer in the South today. I'll truly be thinking of this book for a long time to come.

As I do with all books, I went into this blind. I don’t know why I was thinking it was going to be a romance that made me laugh and swoon. It was more like a coming of age murder mystery that also had a romance in it. And as you know, because it’s a coming of age book, there’s a lot of stuff the main character learns and finds out about themself. And let me just say, this was the most fun I’ve had with a coming of age book in a long time.

Hands down, the best part of this was the characters. I LOVED Avery. She was angsty and serious and so so authentic. I really loved it. She was so mature for her age! I loved the way she took no ish from anyone, including her mom lol Then there was her mama, her grandma, her dad, and of course Simone and Jade. Every single person in this book brought something to the book. I hate when you can automatically tell what each character is there for. But this wasn’t like that at all. Her grandmother brought the drama, her mom and dad were there for the angst (she IS a teen after all), and Simone is there for the love inerest. And every time, no matter who was on the page, I was stuck to the pages. (Ear phones? This was the audio lol)

The plot of this was immaculate. I would have liked it a bit more, if we had a little more focus on the murder mystery. I also think the reason it wasn’t written that way was because it would take some of the focus away from her grandma’s story, so I guess it was ok the way it was. Because Lordt knows she needed all the front page time she could get. Now the pacing tho, I think could have been a little better. For it to be less than 300 pages, it seemed awfully long. I think spreading some of the info out and adding more to the story could have helped a tiny bit.

I know I like a book when I go through all my emotions while I read it. And this is one of those books. I swooned, I laughed, I SOBBED, like I’m being so serious, I felt all the things. I cannot wait until more of y’all read this book and tell me more about how you also cried. Because if you don’t I will think something is broken within you. Because yo, I was sobbing into my lunch. I thank goodness for working from home still because I don’t think I would have been able to make it if I had read that part in public. But I don’t want you to get caught up in all the parts that deal with grief like the look at the generational trauma that started with Momma Letty and Ray. I also swooned when Avery and Simone transformed from friends to something more, when her grandma was talking about Ray, even when her parents were just dancing in the kitchen. I definitely laughed when Simone was saying what she smelled like after work and how they made fun of Jade’s parents. Hammonds had to have put their heart into this book because the vice grip this book had on mine was crazy.


I dare say this is one of my favorite books all year. I really need more of you to read this book. I guess I’m just going to have to yell it from the rooftops now because Y’ALL NEED TO READ THIS! I really hope you get it in your hands soon. I need more people to talk about it with because days later I am still thinking about this book!

I had the pleasure of meeting Jas Hammonds at Yall Fest in Charleston, SC where I also was able to grab a signed ARC. This book deserves more hype, and it is by far the best debut novel that I read in 2022 which makes me quite frustrated by Goodreads which doesn't include YA authors in this category.

Anyway, not only did the book have a fast-paced plot with mystery to keep the reader intrigued, but it also had expertly crafted characters. Jas Hammonds had me captivated from the beginning with the beautiful prose, and I couldn't put this book down. The complicated family dynamics were perfectly portrayed along with the powerful teenage friendships. I especially loved how Avery's relationships with her mom and grandmother evolved throughout the story as she sought to better understand them, and I appreciated how the teens fought for their town to reckon with racial injustices from the past; it was definitely a reminder of the power that our students hold within our classrooms.

This book should definitely be on more people’s TBR!

While I was reading the beginning of this book, there wasn't enough to hook me or keep me interested in reading. I only did so because I knew that I had an ARC and that I should be reading it before it came out. (Though I forgot to write a review until now, my bad.) Once the book picked up in pace, it was very good!! Though I don't generally like to read books that have a tone that leans more on the sad side, I think this book did it well. We Deserve Monuments covered heavy topics in a way that I felt was not only appropriate for a young adult audience but would also appeal to an older crowd as well. Though there are things that I could not relate to that took place, I could relate to others, which I feel is a strength of this book.

I would definitely pick up another book by this author.

An incredibly moving story of a queer teen coming to terms with her life. When she moves with her parents to live with her dying grandmother in a small souther town her world is turned upside down. She discovers new friends and learns new things about herself and her family. An emotionally driven story that will stick with you long after the last page is turned.

We Deserve Monuments is a novel that focuses on family, history, secrets and a little bit of mystery. This was a well crafted young adult debut that looks at how generations of racial prejudices, violence and grudges can affect family and lives alike.

What I enjoyed most was the character development between Avery, Simone and Jade. Each one of these characters is fighting against a stigma that is so richly relevant that I almost neglected to recall there was a mystery entangled in this novel. I can't forget the years of mother/daughter estrangement due to a massive family secret and the inability to accept a daughters representation. Such a beautifully explored look at queer representation over time and the difference between small town lives and city living.

There is so much in this novel that was easy to fall in love with. My emotions and heart were triggered more times than I could count. Even at my age when high school issues seem mundane, this novel made it so much more deeper across decades of family strife.

The audio is narrated by Tamika Katon-Donegal wonderfully if you're an audiobook lover like me. I loved the different voices from grudgy Mama Letty to sassy Simone. Tameka keeps in character with a captivating voice from start to finish.

In the spirit of family generations, embracing differences and enjoying every last difficult moment.. We Deserve Monuments is that and so much more.

Thank you RB Media, Recorded Books, Fierce Reads, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Roaring Brook Press!