'We Deserve Monuments' is a really bittersweet read or, in this case, listen :) The narrator had a really pleasant voice. It is a great emotional rollercoaster of a book, especially the scene of Mamma Letty's passing to another world was very emotionally charged and it made me cry. This book is really helpful to me as a white person to better understand what hardships black communities face.

So much more than a "high school" novel.

Seventeen-year-old Avery moves with her parents from Washington, D.C., to small-town Georgia. Instead of beginning her senior year set on getting into Georgetown - and spending time with "friends" who aren't all that supportive - she's starting at a new school and getting to know her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty.

I thought Avery was a great main character, and really enjoyed rooting for her. This was a fast read because I was entirely swept up -- I think it's more character- than plot-driven, but I was so taken by the characters that the pages kept turning. Avery is queer and develops a crush on the girl next door. She's also biracial, learning more about her Black grandparents and the history of this new-to-her small town.

Tamika Katon-Donegal's narration of the audiobook is excellent.

What a fantastic YA book with an important social commentary on sexual orientation and race.

When Avery moves to her mother's small hometown in Georgia, reminiscent of deep-south attitudes, Avery longs for the big-city life she left behind. She ends up meeting her neighbor Simone and Simone's friend Jade who help her to come to grips with her own identity and her internal struggles with history and ingrained beliefs.

I love when books have titles that are tied intricately to the novel's story line. This connection is not subtle: the discussion of monuments is both literal and figurative, and definitely leaves the reader much to ponder.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this early audio arc copy. I was very excited about this book.

Firstly, I LOVE the cover. I find it to be so beautiful and represents this story perfectly. Our main character is Avery Anderson and she is biracial, queer, and has so many family secrets. This is 100% my kind of story and I enjoyed every part and piece of it, which is not normal for me in a YA book. But this one is worth the read, even if you aren’t normally pulled towards YA books. I highly recommend and can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on this!

We Deserve Monuments is a gorgeously written story about family, secrets, forgiveness, friends, love, and the harsh realities of racism and homophobia. As a native Georgian, I was instantly fascinated by the setting - a small Georgia town that's seen hard times but has been kept afloat through tourism, even if that tourism is tied to the history of slavery and plantations. There's a big divide in the community between the affluent white families and the majority of the Black families, as is seen in the inequalities between the mostly Black public school and the mostly white private school that was founded in response to integration. Avery and her new friend Simone are the only Black students at the private school and are often subject to micro aggressions and blatant racism. As Avery digs up secrets, she uncovers horrific truths about the town's leading family and their role in her family's tragedy. Interwoven with this story is one of family trauma and abuse, of conflict left unresolved and words left unspoken. Avery struggles to keep her focus in her new life and finds refuge with her new best friends, Simone and Jade. Their friendship is joyous and affirming, and was one of my favorite parts of the book. My other favorite part was the visits to the Renaissance, an in the know restaurant and dance club that's a haven to the Black queer community. Side by side with the stories of loss and heartbreak is the narrative of falling in love, finding yourself, and granting forgiveness. Honestly, I can't recommend this book enough. It's intense, cathartic, and deeply moving. I listened to the audiobook and loved the narration!

Thank you to NetGalley and Roaring Book Press for the ARC.

Avery is forced to move with her family to Bardell, Georgia to be with her grandma, who is terminally ill. Family secrets cause deep tension that Avery doesn't quite understand yet. Through conversations with her grandmother, she begins to learn the troubling truth of her family's past. While struggling with her family drama, Avery builds new friendships with Simone and Jade, who have familial issues and secrets of their own.

Tamika Katon-Donegal was a wonderful narrator for Avery's story, and made this an interesting listen.

We Deserve Monuments is carrying a LOT. Avery is a young, biracial girl thrown into southern living as her family temporary moves to help care for her grandmother.

Avery quickly realizes she’s in a web of family secrets and misunderstandings but is pleasantly distracted in her own coming of age story as she further explores relationships with a potential girlfriend, and addresses her relationship with her own mother and grandmother.

I found this to be a book about family and relationships between women in our families above all else. So many necessary topics are shared beautifully in this novel and I’m glad for it. Hammond nails teens, the emotions, the power they can possess that can often be overlooked. I’m so thrilled for what I know about her time spent on this book and what it’s becoming. So much love found here!

When 17 year old Avery gets the news that Mama Letty, her grandmother is dying, her family uproot her from DC to Georgia to go take care of her until she's gone. She quickly realizes her mother and Mama Letty's relationship is very strained. As she spends more time in Georgia, she learns more about her family history and its connections to the town and the deep secrets held there.

I listened to this on audio, and I think that the narrator did an amazing job bringing all of these characters to life. I really enjoyed Avery and her voice in this story. I think she was a very three-dimensional and relatable character. I loved Mama Letty and her complicated relationship with the entire family. I think she was such a complex character, and I loved learning more about her and her past as I read on. I liked the discussions on the cycle of abuse and how its broken, generational trauma, homophobia and racism in this novel. I also really enjoyed the discussions on queerness, and how it looks different for everyone. I love the girl next door trope, and I thought the relationship between Simone and Avery was sweet. I liked how they had to navigate things together, and learn how to communicate with not only each other but those around them as well. The book is sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and sometimes sweet... definitely recommend.

This is a very entertaining book with an important message. I will absolutely recommend it to teens at my library.

It's about a modern teen who moves from DC to a small town in rural Georgia because of her grandmother's cancer diagnosis. Her mother and grandmother have been estranged for years and their relationship gets in the way of Avery getting to know her grandmother. As Avery attempts to understand and heal their relationship, she gets to know her grandmother and learns about the trauma and racism she has faced and how her grandmother's pain effected her mother while she was growing up. While she learns about the racism in her family's past she experiences more subtle racism, and homophobia, in the present.

This is a great story with many layers of narrative. It is the story of a family coping with the impending death of a matriarch, of the impact that trauma can have on generations, a story of what it can be like to be queer and black in the rural south of the US, and a look at racism in this country both past and present.

I listened to the audiobook of We Deserve Monuments and really enjoyed the narrator. She gave a great voice to Avery's thoughts and actions and was a very compelling speaker.

Wow. Just Wow. I binged this audiobook in a half of a day. The narrator was the best fit and portrayed Avery and her story perfectly. This was a heart wrenching story of a modern teen who's found herself caught up in the trauma of her mother and grandmother's relationship. Can she break the cycle of generational trauma while also learning that the town her family comes from may still harbor the same sentiments about race as it did when her grandmother was young?

This book is necessary and important. Racism isn't something that was going on fifty plus years ago in small southern towns but rages on still to this day. It may be quieter in some areas as before but ultimately you will find it often. I liked how this story brought the past and present together to show the reader that the struggles that people went through because of their race still go on today.

Avery's character was strong and beautiful. Confident in who she was and finally found a place where she felt accepted. She had her struggles and the family dynamics between her and her mother were really tested. I thought the story was well developed and the mending of relationships was at the forefront of it all. Avery never understood why her mother never wanted to go back to the town where she came from but as she got to know her grandmother in the last few months of her life, her eyes are opened in many many ways.

This is definitely a book about race, family, love, building new friendships, and mending old ones across generations and how the trauma's of our past can affect those in the present. I definitely recommend this one, especially the audiobook. It was well produced and puts your right into the story.

FIVE STARS - this is a must read!

Let me start by saying that the cover art for this book and the title drew me in immediately. I had the audio version (narrated by Tamika Katon-Donegal) and I honestly took my time listening out of pure enjoyment. The story is thought-provoking, emotional and heart-warming.

Avery is a senior in high school and she, her mom and dad have just relocated to Bardell, GA - a small town with a lot of racial history - from DC. They've come because her Grandma Letty is terminally ill and doesn't have much longer to live. However, tensions are high between her mom and grandma. They already had a strained relationship and Avery just wants to get to know her grandmother, but they're constant battles make it difficult. Meanwhile, Avery becomes friends with Simone & Jade and is navigating these new friendships when a romance blossoms that adds extra stress to their group.

I truly enjoyed this debut novel and highly recommend!

Ever since I first saw the cover and title of this book, I couldn't forget about it! From reading the synopsis I wasn't immediately hooked but still something kept drawing me back. So when I saw this become available as an audio-book on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to read it! It's definitely not what I was expecting but that ended up being a good thing as it hit so much harder than I could've imagined.

The narrator did such a good job of evoking the emotion of the characters. With the main character, Avery, especially, there were so many ups and downs. Over the course of the book she tries so hard to do good things for her family and her friends but, because there were so many things she hadn't been told about her family history and ancestral home, she never seemed to get it right. Her frustration was contagious and the brokenness and grief that had been passed down through three generations of women was so raw.

I was at first upset when Avery's new friend group was disbanded because I wanted her to be happy and it wasn't fair that she had to go through this again right after leaving her toxic friends in DC. But what I realized was, friendship is messy and this is just the reality of the world which was really sobering.

The ending destroyed me! The last hour or so of the book I listened to while I was out and there were multiple parts where I was afraid I was gonna lose it while walking down the street! I lost a grandparent recently and, going into this book, I knew what to expect from the ending but how are you supposed to prepare yourself for those kind of emotions? The author tackled it so well and that was one part that I unashamedly shed some tears. The way everything came together was beautiful. Imperfect, but beautiful. And isn't that just the way humans are?

One thing to be aware of going in is that there is a lot of mature content to be found in this one including: same sex relationships, drug use, strong language, death of family members, murder and racial violence. It's all handled very well by the author but definitely something to be aware of going in.

Overall, this is one that will stay with me for a long time and I'm so thankful to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy! Happy Reading :)

We Deserve Monuments follows Avery, a black high school senior who moves to Bardell, Georgia with her parents to care for her estranged, sick grandmother. With deep tension between her mother and grandmother, Avery is determined to get in, get out, no drama. But then she meets Simone Cole and Jade Oliver, and Avery quickly becomes part of their little group and they quickly become the best of friends.

But little does she know just how intertwined they three of the them are, and to what extent. For devastating secrets are alive and well in Bardell, and they span generations. Just what will Avery uncover in her pursuit to know her Mama Letty, and will she survive their deadly truths?

So close to being 5 stars but I need to round 4.5 down to 4 because of the disappointment I feel! I feel like I was robbed. To not find out something that's been talked about the whole book, to be left guessing or to be forced to make up my own truth with the pieces I was given, I don't like that! I like definitive answers! Because honestly, if what I am thinking is correct, then it would be 4 stars anyway. If it's what I hope and NOT what I'm thinking, 5 stars. But I'll never know so 4 stars it is. There's a mystery that is not solved.

This book was MESSY. In the best way possible. The emotions, the feelings, the choices, it struck me in the heart. There were beautiful points and grotesque points and truly it was such a heavy but quick read. I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to stay in the feelings because they were just so raw and believable. The hurt was palpable.

The narrator did a fantastic job!

This was an amazing story. The characters felt real, it captured my attention and held it to the end. Avery was an appealing protagonist and Simone was a great character, too (though all the characters were interesting!). The various relationships felt realistic and I never knew quite what to expect. The story with Avery’s mother and grandmother kept me guessing, and I enjoyed the development of Avery’s relationship with her grandmother- I wanted to know more about her tragic past and wanted them to have more time. Rennie and his place were unexpected, heart-warming, and just precious. The questions about identity, family, and trauma gave me a lot to think about and I think this would be appealing to a wide audience. I had already ordered it from my library when I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook. The narrator did an amazing job with every aspect of the story, she really brought it to life. I hope to hear her do more in the future and will definitely be following this author.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me listen to this book early! I really enjoyed this book despite finding myself frustrated with the main characters for acting their age! (I guess I’m an old person at heart.) The author did an amazing job pulling together a bunch of different subplots and making them all fit together—I’m a little disappointed they didn’t do more with them because they made them so real with only a few pages of exploration, but they also said all they needed to so it makes sense.
As an almost-social-work-grad, this book touched on so many important things that made me want to hug the characters and refer them to a family therapist. This was an excellent example of intersectionality and considering the ways our multiple identities influence our life experiences and our perspectives around events. I loved that the author didn’t shy away from the serious topics like racism, homophobia, abuse, inter-generational trauma, murder, and how all of that influences your development, but also gave the opportunity for hope and healing. If this doesn’t become a movie or a miniseries one day, it is a crime.

Also, the narrator was excellent! I’m super picky about narrators but they really brought the characters to life and made me feel like I was listening to an audio documentary instead of a fiction novel.

This is fucking beautiful. Like there's really not much more to say. A wonderful generation story for teens. There's so many great conversations while also being fun, heartwarming, and entertaining. I cannot wait to see what Jas Hammonds does next because this is a phenomenal debut!

Avery’s family just moved from DC to live with her terminally ill grandma, Mama Letty, in the small town where her mother grew up. Her mother and Mama Letty can hardly look at each other without getting into arguments, and Avery has a difficult time connecting with her ornery grandma. Despite everything, she’s able to make a couple of friends, though family secrets from all three threaten their friendship and their peace.

This was an excellently written work that explored topics of generational trauma, sexuality, racism, friendship, and family secrets. The characters were beautifully written, and Avery was a relatable and realistic protagonist. The relationships that made up this work were wonderfully done. I really enjoyed how the author depicted the broken relationship between mother and daughter, as well as the different ways that manifested itself in negative and positive ways in both their lives.

The author couldn’t have done the ending better. It wasn’t a perfectly wrapped-up ending, but it was realistic and still positive. I listened to the audiobook version of this work and think that the narrator was absolutely perfect. I highly recommend this incredible debut work! My thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to read and review this work, which will be published on November 29, 2022.

This book was freaking AMAZING!!!! Listening to the relationship between Avery and her grandmother was very heartbreaking at times because all she wanted was to know about her secret family history and everyone kept it hidden from her. Being a girl who is biracial and moving back to her mothers hometown in the south parts of history in her family really affect her. The narrator did such a wonderful job bringing life to each person as well. I would listen to this multiple times!

Thanks to RB Media, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of We Deserve Monuments.

This is an incredible debut novel about a girl named Avery who moves to her mother's hometown to spend time with her grandmother, Mama Letty before she dies. Avery soon discovers that this small town has a nefarious past. There are unsolved murders and plenty of family secrets. This book has something for everyone - LGBTQ+ characters, a multiracial cast, and lots of drama.,

#WeDeserveMonuments #NetGalley