Read: May 17 – May 22, 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5 stars)
I absolutely loved this book. This book is considered the Prequel to The Hate U Give.
If you read The Hate U Give, then you already know a little but about the main character in this book. This book takes Starr’s father, Maverick, and gives us insight on his life before Starr was born. If you are like me, after reading THUG, you may have had a lot of questions about Maverick and his past life when it came to him being in a gang, selling drugs and going to prison early in Starr’s life.
Just like THUG, Concrete Rose will definitely get you in your feelings. While journeying through Mav’s life, you get to understand him more and it explains some of the things mentioned above. Mav was a 17 year old struggling to truly figure life out and learning how to become a man. With him feeling like he had a lot of pressure to live up to what his father was before his father went to jail, to becoming a father and then learning that he was going to have another baby, he had a lot to figure out in his journey of growing up. Since Mav’s father was in prison majority of his life, he didn’t really have a father figure in his life to teach him how to be a man.
I like how it really gets into Lisa and Mav’s relationship and shows how it definitely wasn’t easy in the beginning. This didn’t get too much into the scenario of Mav taking the charge for King, but it definitely insinuated that Mav did it not only to get out of the gang, but he owed King a favor. The reason why I’m giving it 4.5 stars is because I wished it would have really gone into when Mav actually got arrested and what actually led up to it.
If you liked THUG, then I would definitely recommend this book.
-Tiffany<3
Chillin' With Books 