I have been wanting to try a Buddy Read since a while now, and me and my friend – James on Goodreads decided to go with Let Me Hear A Rhyme . I decided to pick up the Audio book for this one since oh well, I desperately needed to justify my subscription to Storytel 😛 And boy, did I love the audio book? Hell Yeah! I think trying out a buddy read and listening to this on audio was a real good decision. 😀
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
The story of three Brooklyn teens who plot to turn their murdered friend into a major rap star by pretending he is still alive.
Enlisting the help of Steph’s younger sister, Jasmine, Quadir and Jarrell come up with a plan to promote Steph’s music under a new rap name: The Architect. Soon, everyone in Brooklyn is dancing to Steph’s voice. But then his mixtape catches the attention of a hotheaded music rep and—with just hours on the clock—the trio must race to prove Steph’s talent from beyond the grave.
Now, as the pressure—and danger—of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only each has something to hide. And with everything riding on Steph’s fame, together they need to decide what they stand for before they lose everything they’ve worked so hard to hold on to—including each other.
THOUGHTS
PLOT
A story about loss, friendship and the lengths you will go for the people you love.
There is a lot going on in the book – friends figuring out their friends death, friends on a mission to make their dead friend famous, exceptional song lyrics , racism, sub plots for each character and for those who love the 90’s , a sweet walk down memory lane in the hip-hop culture of the 90’s.
SETTING
This book is set in the late 90’s and gives a lot of subtle 90’s vibe with its hip hop culture along with the neighborhood hustle in Brooklyn. On a second thought, that was a perfect setup for the story.
CHARACTERS
Let Me Hear A Rhyme is a character driven story that sheds light on themes like honesty, looking out for each other as a community and justice for black lives. This book isn’t about racism, it’s about brotherhood.
Steph took after his father, and encouraged people to live a life that doesn’t harm the society in any way. He was constantly motivating people to do better and not be dictated by their current situation. As a 16 year old boy, his life was cut short and he ended up being another black person that was shot for a reason too little.
While Steph’s death lies at the heart of everything they do in this novel, they don’t really mention how they are coping with his death itself, which I think would have been an important addition. I would have liked to see some more commentary on the grief that all the characters were experiencing throughout this.
However, I loved how each character was struggling through their own problems and how invested I was in each of them. I really hoped the romance ended the way I wanted it to .. but oh well!
I just really hoped succeed in getting their life together and the ending is just so comfy and happy but obviously sad in a way.
So many feelings!
Overall, the characters were well developed and I sure do recommend to read this book if you loved On the Come Up by Angie Thomas.
RATING: ★★★★
DETAILS
Published: 21.May . 2019
Genre: YA | Contemporary
Pages: 384
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
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