Starred Review ALA Booklist (Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2020)

Starred Review Watson's unforgettable new novel contains a heart-warming love story about a girl who has to learn to love herself first before she can find true love with another. Fun-spirited Nala Robertson attends an open mic night for her cousin's birthday and meets Tye Brown. Tye would be the perfect beau except he is too serious about everything. He's an activist intent on spending the summer entrenched in one community outreach project after another, and Nala just wants to binge movies and yummy ice cream. Tye and Nala couldn't be more different, so, to impress Tye, Nala lies about her interests and claims she's a hardcore activist too. However, when the lies start to pile up and the truth gets increasingly harder to hide, Nala is forced to confront who she really is. Only by looking at herself honestly and embracing her true self can Nala hope to keep the love she's found with Tye. Watson's story is a delightful, joyous coming-of-age tale that features dynamic characters and a sweet romance, and it doesn't shy away from weighty social and political topics, all the while spinning the magic of Black Girl Joy.

School Library Journal Starred Review (Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2020)

Gr 7 Up-Nala Robertson has a three-pronged plan for the summer before her senior year. OneFind a new hairstyle. TwoSpend time with her cousin and best friend, Imani. ThreeFind love. When she attends a talent show hosted by the community group that her cousin is involved in and meets the beautiful Tye Brown, it seems like Nala's summer is shaping up the way she intended. Who cares if she tells a few white lies to get the civically minded Tye to think more highly of her? But as the summer progresses and Nala's relationship with Tye deepens, she feels her cousin pulling away from her and starts to wonder how long she can keep up the ruse. This book explores many different forms of love: family, romantic, and self-love. Will Nala find the courage to love herself? The protagonist's subtle humor pulls readers in, and while she occasionally muses on what it might be like to be wanted by others, she never wallows in self-pity. Notably, Nala's self-image issues are not physical. She's big and beautiful and comfortable in her body. Instead, her concern lies with her accomplishments, or what she perceives as a lack thereof. The cast of Black characters shines; each character is well-developed and relatable, even when they're not particularly likable. VERDICT In a time where books about teen activists, including Watson's own Watch Us Rise , are plentiful and teens try to make the world a better place, this title sends the necessary message that sometimes it's okay if the person you save is yourself. Mimi Powell, Lib. Systs. and Svcs., Kissimmee, FL

Horn Book (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

All Nala has on her summer agenda is to pick a new hairstyle, spend time with her "cousin-sister-friend" Imani, and find love. Nala is not very inspired by Imani's activism or her activist friends, finding them pretentious -- that is, until she meets Tye, a new member of Imani's Inspire Harlem group, with whom she has an instant connection. Nala tells a few little white lies about her own activism and volunteerism to help stoke the embers of attraction, but soon finds that being anyone other than your truest self makes real intimacy difficult. With her carefully created masquerade revealed, Nala is challenged to expand her definition of love. Watson (Piecing Me Together, rev. 7/17) offers a rom-com that is as much an ode to New York, especially Harlem, as it is to Black love. As Nala soon finds out, love is more than romantic relationships and extends to her family (she lives with her aunt's family due to a strained relationship with her mother), friends, and community, and most of all, to herself. A rare "fat" protagonist, Nala is "not down with the Say-It-Loud-I'm-Fat-and-I'm-Proud movement" but grows to embrace her body. Watson's deft ability to write characters that are relatable yet flawed offers readers a nuanced, non-saccharine love story. Monique Harris

Kirkus Reviews

A summer of lessons on love of all kinds, particularly self-love.It's the summer before senior year for Harlem resident Nala Robertson, a 17-year-old Black girl of Jamaican descent. Nala's list of things she wants to accomplish over the summer includes hanging out with her best friends, Imani and Sadie, and falling in love. Nala soon discovers that life does not always go according to plan. While some surprises may turn out better than she imagined-like the entrance of her new crush, Tye-some of life's twists have her questioning her dreams and herself, forcing her to face new and uncomfortable realities. Nala's world is made up of family and friends who are mainly strong, inspirational Black girls and women of varying sizes, complexions, and complexities. Nala's journey of self-love and acceptance comes with emotional bumps and bruises, and Watson's well-paced writing puts readers in Nala's shoes with a delivery that consistently feels like a warm hug, supported by a throughline of love. Touching on social issues like racism, environmentalism, and body positivity, this story will resonate with readers who have questioned who they are, tried to change themselves to fit in, or are seeking their own voices.A beautiful love story about finding one's way back to one's self. (Fiction. 13-18)

Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Through the misadventures of Black 17-year-old Nala Robertson, Watson (Ways to Make Sunshine) pens a love letter to community, family, and self-love. Tired of being compared to her overachieving -cousin-sister-friend- Imani, Nala, who is plus-size, just wants to be loved. But when Nala meets Tye at a function for Inspire Harlem-a community service organization where Tye and Imani are members-Nala fears Tye won-t like her if she acts like herself. So she lies, getting her close enough to her dream boy that sparks fly. But the more time Nala spends with Tye, the more she wants him to love her for who she really is-just as soon as she figures out what that looks like. Watson excels at creating well-meaning teen characters laboring under peer pressure and parental expectations. Interspersed with Nala-s heartfelt lists for living and resonant song lyrics by her favorite fictional musician, the messy complexity of Nala-s internal life, including her deception and judgement of others, makes for a read that-s simultaneously relatable and frustrating. While Nala-s unwillingness to be authentic makes her relationship a hard sell, Nala herself has the makings of an appreciably flawed character blazing her own distinctive path, however many mistakes that takes. Ages 13-up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary. (Feb.)