It's 2020, why is it so hard to find contemporary romances featuring black teens? And two black teens at that. I don't mind interracial love stories but black people date each other more than anything else. I asked people to name some contemporary love stories featuring black teen love released last year and could only come up with Opposite of Always and I Wanna Be Where You Are. Black teens deserve more than 2! So imagine how happy I was when I saw the cover of A Love Hate Thing. Two black teens on a cover! And it's published by a major publishing imprint.
A Love Hate Thing releases 1/7/20 but I received an advanced reader copy from Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review. To begin my review, I'm going to give you a brief summary of the plot of this book. It follows Tyson Trice who ends up moving from Lindenwood(the hood) to Pacific Hills(the rich folk area) to stay with a family his grandfather used to be close with back when he was 7 years old after an incident where he gets shot. The other main character Nandy Smith is the town golden girl. Everyone loves her and all the girls want to be here. She's a spoiled rich girl with her biggest care in the world being cotillion. This story was described as inspired by the teen show The O.C. and the book Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles(who also did the blurb for the cover). The similarities are definitely there so if you loved those then this is probably the book for you.
I grew up in the inner city and used to take a bus to the suburbs to attend private school with mostly white kids. So Nandy who was born rich and lives in a huge house drives fancy cars wasn't someone I could relate to. She's prissy and looks down on Trice for being from the hood and getting his hair braided on the front step (a particularly eye roll worthy scene). But I also couldn't relate to Trice. Because while we kept reading about how he wasn't like those other boys in the hood and deserved better I failed to see why. Trice loving to read Roots and The Color Purple doesn't excuse the fact that he associated with people who maybe have killed someone and that he did illegal things. And no, I don't care that some of the people Nandy knows do and sell drugs. I'm tired of black people from the hood being portrayed as only acting a certain way. Why couldn't he just be an actual good kid who had a hard life without the unnecessary extra stuff that reminded me of the gang drama from Perfect Chemistry?
This book read like a story published on Harlequin's Kimani Tru line back in the early 2000s. It had the pop culture references of those books too. Clearly the editor was white because I refuse to believe a black editor would've let all these dated reference slide. These characters are 17 yet there's references to watching The Proud Family and Static Shock at age 7 which was before their time. There's also so many references to the music of B2K and the movie You Got Served. B2K's fanbase are now in their 30s so these references felt like our author was trying to relive her teen days. A couple Lana del Ray and Kendrick Lamar references doesn't make this story feel current. I would've found the teens listening to Kpop more believable than the remix to Touch it by Busta Rhymes.
There's a love triangle or more like love quadrilateral but it's pretty one sided as love triangles usually are in young adult books. Nandy has a boyfriend who is the stereotypical rich white jerk. He's really just there to make Trice look good and we never see the sides of him that attracted Nandy to him in the first place. She was just with him because they were the two most popular kids at a school it seemed. And her best friend has a crush on Trice but this is just to make Nandy jealous and possessive.
The author kept trying to sell this idea of Nandy and Trice having been in love since 7 years old. At one point Nandy reflects on Trice being her first kiss and heartbreak back when they were 7. It's a little creepy. And this idea that they held a flame for each other despite not seeing each other in 10 years is ridiculous.
Every once in awhile there was potential for meaningful discussion like when Nandy and Trice were discussion the label African American and the connections they felt with Africa as well as their blackness. But those were pushed aside quickly so we could relieve the early 2000s.
Over all this book was a no for me and I don't advise any one to waste their time with it. There was potential here but the execution was horrible. I certainly hope the other black YA contemporary romances offering this year are better. Here's a list of other Black YA Contemporary romances releasing this year.
