Title: Thirsty
Author: Jas Hammonds
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication date: May 14, 2024
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Summary
It’s the summer right after graduation and Blake and her girlfriend, Ella, have been invited to join the elusive Serena Society. The Serena Society is a sorority that promises lifelong networking and community to women of color. While Ella’s acceptance is given, since her mom is an alum, Blake has to work harder for acceptance.
However, as the pledging gets more intense, so does Blake’s drinking. Soon, she notices that it’s slipping into every other crevice of her life. With success on the horizon, Blake has to decide how far she’s willing to go to make it happen.
Review: Thirsty
Thanks to NetGalley and Roaring Brook Press for an advanced copy of Thirsty by Jas Hammonds to review! This is Hammonds’ second book, and since I absolutely loved We Deserve Monuments, I was excited to pick this one up.
Tone wise, this book feels different than We Deserve Monuments, while still dealing with heavy issues like addiction, relationships, mental illness, and race. Blake is mixed (her dad is Black and her mom is white), and she struggles a lot with her relationship with her mom because of this. She realizes that a lot of her struggles stem from this relationship, which seeps into other aspects of her life.
This book also deals heavily with alcohol addiction. Blake becomes addicted to the way that alcohol makes her confident, but her close friends notice that it is not doing good things for her mental health. She goes through a process of realizing the roots of her issue and eventually gets on the way to getting help. Though alcohol is the main addictive substance for Blake, her emotional journey can be applied to other types of addiction as well.
We also get a lot of complex relationships in this book, which Hammonds seems to excel at. I remember a lot of that in their debut novel as well. It’s important in showing that relationships that seem good on the surface might have other problems happening underneath.
All in all, if you like books that might deal with heavier topics and enjoy strong writing and characters, definitely pick this one up when it comes out in May!
4.5/5 stars