The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
Jackson really gets better with every book! I was hooked from page one on this updated version of Carrie, and I think Stephen King would be proud to have inspired this. Maddy is biracial and outcast from her peers and miserable at home with her abusive father. Racial tensions dividing the town of Springville come to a head on prom night, and the results are…explosive. Do not miss this amazing YA thriller!
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson, (List Price: $15.95, Quill Tree Books, 9780063029156, September 2023)
Reviewed by Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
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Last Chance LIVE’s premise was inspired by real-world death penalty reform efforts to raise the minimum age for capital punishment. Last Chance LIVE’s protagonist, Eternity Price, was inspired by a little girl I met during my undergraduate years at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, I volunteered in Head Start classrooms in a West Philadelphia public school, and met a fouryear-old girl whose vivacious spirit deeply impacted me. I spent years contemplating how she was growing up in an impoverished neighborhood right next to an Ivy League university, but she would likely be unable to access most of its privileges and resources—and the trajectory of her life would likely be very different than the lives of most Penn students. To my knowledge, that little girl has not experienced or done anything like what Eternity has, but she and Eternity both grew up in the shadow of power and privilege. My hope for this young girl, and all children, is that they have what Eternity never did—confidence in who they are and what they are worth, and a community that reinforces this truth. I hope seeing America’s reflection in Last Chance LIVE! helps us ascribe more value to these children, and less value to “great television.” 
A Gardin Wedding allows readers to take an emotional journey with Martha—one where she drops her tough exterior and heals the hurt inside. While this heartwarming family and friendship drama with romantic elements is the second book in my Gardins of Edin series, it can also stand alone. I welcome readers who are familiar with the Gardin family because they enjoyed The Gardins of Edin as well as those who haven’t read it yet.
