THIS TOWN IS ON FIRE

A bomb goes off—literally—in the midst of a friendship that’s falling apart over the complexities of race, and a small Southern town is ground zero.

Awkward Black 17-year-old Naomi and White, borderline mean girl Kylie have long been inseparable. Naomi’s mom nannied for Kylie and her twin brother, Connor (whom Naomi crushes on), and the kids grew up together. Now seniors, the girls are trying out to be flyers on the Windsor Woods High varsity cheerleading team. But it’s Naomi’s secret interest in dance that reveals how much she’s struggling with who she is in ways that often oblivious Kylie, Connor, and the rest of their markedly racist Virginia town may not be equipped to support. A viral video of Kylie making wild accusations and threatening to call the police on two Black boys pushes Naomi into a spiral of self-reflection, too distracted to be what Kylie—dubbed “Parking Lot Becky”—needs. Their subsequent falling-out is both straightforward and complicated by how interwoven their families have been as well as by Naomi’s struggle to navigate her Blackness. Joining the school’s all-Black dance team and kissing Connor lead to more complications. These interpersonal tensions mirror townwide issues as Kylie’s father’s business becomes mired in a scandal over racism. The book attempts to take a critical approach to coming-of-age into Black adolescence, but ultimately, too many elements, both plot points and relationships, feel contrived and unconvincing for it to succeed.

Explosive but lacking cohesion.