A beautiful story about coming to age story but in verse! Beautiful! I really loved this story and would recommend! Very emotional read!

This book was honestly so beautiful. I loved the language and the flow. I think the main character was written really well and felt realistic. I also enjoyed reading the growth of the relationship between Samira and her mother. Readers that enjoy realistic novels in verse (similar to Acevedo's books) will likely love this one. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

I read a physical ARC for a panel at the ALAN Workshop. It's a text that I've continued to recommend to my students (practicing teachers) to pull excerpts for class that will then invite students to read the whole text. I find novel in verse hard to sell to my teachers, but this one is so complex and offers so many entry points for teaching, that it's been an easier sell than others. A phenomenal book. I really loved the friendships in this book.

I enjoyed this book for what I could. I love book told in verse, I have enjoyed reading them from when I was in Jr. High and discovered Ellen Hopkins. I like all the emotional experiences that authors write about in book told in verse. They stick with me long after from how its told in verse and the experiences and emotion the characters go through. What the characters experience is so real that it stays with me for a long time.

This book is phenomenal. I wasn't sure I'd like it based on the blurb, but wanted to read it anyway because I loved Home is Not a Country, and I'm so glad I did. This book also addresses the complexities of immigrant mother/daughter relationships so perfectly, and the writing is, of course, gorgeous. The topic of predatory adults using teenagers is handled thoughtfully and honestly, and, without getting too specific, the ending feels realistic but still positive enough to keep the book from being too dark and depressing of a read.

Really enjoyed this novel in verse. Samira's culture prevents her from being a carefree young woman and she starts to rebel against the rules but not for nefarious reasons. She just wants to date and perform poetry and be a teenager.

Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo is an honest coming of age story. I enjoyed reading this book which was told in verse with bright characterizations and lyrical prose. If you like Poet X you will love Bright Red Fruit.

Safia Elhillo's latest, Bright Red Fruit, is an exquisite novel in verse. The main character, Samira, lives in DC with her mother. Her mother is from Sudan and she imposes on Samira many of the cultural pressures that she grew up enduring. The close-knit community at their church has decided that Samira is a bad girl, and she internalizes it so deeply that she doesn't know who to talk to about it. When she meets Horus, an older poet in an online forum, she finally feels seen. Tamadur and Lina are her dear friends, but she puts everything on the line for Horus, including their friendship. This story is an incredibly quick read, but it will linger with the reader for a long time. The characters are exceptionally depicted, the poetry is beautiful, and the story is heart-wrenching. It is very much a story about finding and using your voice.

Verse novels provide a unique insight into a life, giving a person's thought processes and impressions more than events. That can be interesting but is tricky to engage with. It's reflective and worth dwelling over as Elhillo examines the pressures of family and culture.

I cried....... it's so beautifully written. This is a coming-of-age story about Samira a Sudanese teen in New York who is struggling and rebelling against the strict cultural expectations as well as attempting to heal the fractures in her relationship with her mother.

She finds herself in poetry, unfortunately an opportunistic older man uses her new interest as a means to groom her, use her, take advantage of the fact that she is desperately seeking validation and love.

Every part of me felt connected to this story. Highly Recommend for those of us who have ever felt alone in a crowded room, prejudged, or was ever blinded by sweet words and a devious smile.

Bright Red Fruit is coming of age novel written in verse that, through Samira, a Sudanese-America, explores cultural identity, freedom of expression and how easily minors can be exploited.

Samira is a teenage through and through. She wants to live life in a more American way and doesn’t understand why her mother is as suffocating as she is. Samira feeling suffocated leads her to getting creative to try and live the life that she wants too, which also leads to a sticky situation.

As an older reader, it became clear, quickly, where this was going to go. It left me anxious to see if I was right and exactly what was going to end up happening with Samira as she starts to explore a life and relationship she had been sheltered from.

Elhillo had a lovely way of tangling Persephone’s story with Samira’s which only added to the anxiety of what was going to happen to her. I really ended up enjoying this part of the novel.

Bright Red Fruit is a novel I would definitely recommend for female teens as I think there really is a good lesson here. But, honestly it could be great for anyone, especially thoughts who are aspiring writers.

Wanted to read this because I really enjoyed "A home is not a country" by Safia, and this one is even better. The story flowed so seamlessly and beautifully. I enjoyed the mixture of it being told in verse and also being told in more traditional ways. Samira was so easy to root for, and I loved the development of the relationship between her and her mother. It starts fractured and seems beyond repair, but they're able to get it back. I also enjoyed the exploration of community. Samira is part of a close knit Sudanese American Immigrant community and that can be a bad thing when it comes to rumors spreading and reputations being demeaned but it also ends up being this powerful thing that saves Samira. The Horus relationship was a great example of grooming and emotional abuse. All in all, it is a powerful, impactful, and beautiful story.

Wow! This book was so poignant and full of emotion! This book is written in prose and tells I love the main character, Samira. I saw so much of my teenage self in her…looking for love from older men that ids really manipulation, and seeking love and attention from her mom. Her initial fragile relationship with her mother brought up so many emotions in me that I have tried to bury.

Elhillo wrote a beautifully crafted masterpiece. Her words came to life and jumped off the page, and the characters’ emotions were so palpable. We got to witness Samira on a journey of pain and heartbreak, and then we see her come into her own as she ends her journey discovering herself and coming into her own. This story was extremely relatable, entertaining, and deep. Elhillo narrates the audiobook, and she did a great job! I am a new fan, and will be reading all of her books later this year.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for this beautiful ARC in exchange for my honest review.

On god, this was the single best in-verse novel I've ever read. Congrats to the author for possessing this much skill!

BRIGHT RED FRUIT is a strong novel and even stronger example of a novel-in-verse. Although I could see what was going to happen with Samira's relationship, it felt like steps teens need to see play out so that they may know what to avoid in their own lives. The author delivers a compelling story without being preachy or didactic.

An excellent example of how a novel in verse should be done.

The writing is beautiful and the plot was interesting and well presented despite the challenging form.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is a powerful story written in verse. I think the fact that it is written this way makes it even more powerful because less words are used to convey emotions. I felt every emotion Samira, her friends, and her family experienced.

I look forward to reading more from Safia Elhillo.

This was really beautifully written. It was a captivating story; I could really feel the emotions the author conveyed and felt like I was there. I don’t often read novels in verse, but this was a really wonderful change of pace for me.

4.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. I'll begin with the fact that I already love this author's poetry and prose. This novel in verse of is beautifully written and speaks of the challenges and finding one's own identity as a teen. We meet Samira who has already gotten a bad reputation. She is part of a Muslim community and has already been gossiped about - wrong clothes, wearing makeup, around boys, touching boys and who knows what else. But Samira is just a teenager finding her way in a culture and religion that can feel restrictive while wanting to experiencing a life in America. She also loves poetry and is quite good at it. Her mom is lenient enough to let her join a poetry writing group but is always concerned about her daughter ever since they came from Sudan.

Samira meets another poet online, is warned that he's trouble but she is drawn to his mystique and reputation as a known poet. Needless to say, things go wrong with the poet, her mother, and her friends, and she's at the lowest point. Can she find her way to make things right with all the people she cares about, take a risk and get her reputation back, and live her dreams of becoming a poet?

A

Even though the plot was entirely predictable, I absolutely loved this coming of age novel told in a mix of poetry, text messages, and emails. I was attracted by that gorgeous cover and my fascination with the world of slam poetry, but it was 16-year-old Samira’s relatable voice that really drew me in and kept me reading. It hurt to watch her making such foolish mistakes, and yet, I remember doing comparable things when I was her age. The author captures the agony of being a teen drawn in different directions, intensely longing for approval and belonging as well as a sense of independence.

I especially love how the myth of Persephone was woven throughout the story. I also appreciated the glimpses of Sudanese-American culture.

I would particularly recommend this book to teenagers, but also anyone who enjoys poetry, myth retellings, and coming of age stories.

I received an ARC through NetGalley, and I volunteered to provide an honest review.