e-Audio, 11:54:50
Narrated by: Mela Lee
Release Date: March 7, 2023
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Read from: February 25- March 2, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Gentrification, Murder, Gun Violence, Racism, Abandonment
For Readers Interested In: YA, Social Justice, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Mysteries, Ethnic/Racial Diversity, Squad Goals, Socioeconomic DiversityFifteen-year-old Rhea and her best friends, Zeke and Malachi, are South L.A. born and raised, but a recent wave of gentrification has been transforming the place that they call home. When an eviction notice from a greedy landlord threatens to split up the crew, Rhea and her friends manipulate social media to form a fake gang in hopes of scaring off developers. Their scheme appears to work at first… until a murder is pegged on the nonexistent gang. Yikes.
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD is a love letter to communities of color everywhere, a middle finger to the destructive powers of gentrification, and a hilarious adventure about three teens who have the best intentions, if not always the best solutions. Perfect for fans of Tiffany Jackson’s Let Me Hear a Rhyme and Netflix’s On My Block, this is an uproarious novel about power, friendship, and what really makes a neighborhood.
*MY THOUGHTS*
It literally took only the first line for me to be hooked to this story. And being honest with you, I still think about it. This book is still living rent-free in my head. And I think anyone else that reads it will have the same problem. This book is just that good.
Now I did have one issue with this…. So let’s discuss that. The main character Rhea was annoying lol I had to keep reminding myself she was a teen. I knew she had something going on and I knew that there were deeper reasons behind her actions. But geez, it was never addressed until the end of the book. Usually that doesn’t bother me, but when you’re able to recognize the faults of everyone else, it just makes you seem stuck up and mean. And it made her mad annoying. All the other characters were fine. They all needed a stern talking to, but they were teens. But she was the only one that I found myself yelling at through the book.
Now everything else about this book was good. Starting with the plot. I LOVED what they did for their friend. To be honest, it was something I would also do. The lengths they went through to save their friends and their families was amazing. For them to be kids I was amazed that they came up with this type of scheme. And the way they executed it was just, *chef’s kiss* They were only looking out for each other, but they learned so much about gentrification (and each other) through this process as well. Did I wish they had chose something other than a gang? Yes. But this entire thing was genius. It was truly something that would divert people from wanting to live there. It was also enough to get me hooked.
The mystery was very cool. But I did think it took too long to get there. And then it was a bit too spread out. Like it took too long for each clue to come up. And it didn’t really start making serious moves until it was almost the end. But it wasn’t boring or anything like that because of the entire gang thing that the characters were trying to pull off. I was never bored because there is literally something happening all the time in this book. I could not put it down. But when it finally gets to the mystery, you’ll never guess who it is. I thought I did, but I did not think it all the way through. So basically, once you think you’ve got it figured out, you don’t.
There’s also a romance in this. And although I thought it was a part of what made her annoying, I thought it was still cute. I didn’t care for it, but I know the plot called for it. To throw a little more confusion onto the reader for the mystery. And tho I didn’t really care for it, I know it was necessary. Well, it’s not that I didn’t care for it. It’s more like I didn’t like she made the lives of everyone so much more messy when all she had to do was just open her mouth to ask or say something and not be rude. But again, this was a teen so I let it go. I know they’re moody. There’s another romance in this that made me smile from ear to ear. It’s an LGBTQ couple and one of them is autistic.
This is the other thing that made me fall in love with this book. There was so much diversity in this. The main characters are Black and LatinX. (They could also be Afro-Latina, but it’s never confirmed) And there’s another character who is a wheel-chair user, someone else is autistic, like I said there’s an LGBTQ relationship, and more. It’s filled with representation and that made me so happy. Another reason I was so immersed into this book.
The narrator was also good. Their accents were good, their pronunciation was good, and the way they did everything else was good lol No matter what gender, how old the person was, or whatever, they did a really good job. I found myself wanting to do nothing but listen to this book. It was really great. I really enjoyed this more as an audiobook than I did when I was actually reading the book.
Now that I’ve rambled about all the things, I just want to say this is on track to being one of my faves of the year so far. Like Top 5. I really hope more people read this and love it as much as me! It and Jade deserves all the hype!
Overall, I give this
