Are you looking for a book that's going to make you cry? Because that's this book. You think from the synopsis that this is just a mystery book, maybe some kind of thriller, it's very vague on that topic, but really it just was sad and made me hysterically cry and honestly is one of those books that maybe they should have a trigger warning on for the harsh topics discussed in the story. Does that make it a bad book? Absolutely not. It's just intensely emotional and upsetting at times. But the silver lining is that you know the character made it out on the other end, alright, but shaken.

This is going to be one of those books that sticks with me for a while. The story while interesting in premise and promise dragged in certain parts for me because there were a lot of tells and not show segments, but also because I found myself drawn more to the interactions between certain characters and less so between others. However, even in the segments that didn't draw me in as readily there were moments of beautiful prose. Bianca has a unique and poetic outlook on the world that helps to bolster an almost dreamlike quality to the text. However, I doubt that is what is going to stick with me. What is going to stick with me is a discussion surrounding mental health that could be had with this book. People with mental health aren't any less deserving of love, but it does take a specific person with a whole lot of patience to give them what they need. They need support, space, and time to heal, but then also it's important to remember that you can never 100% know what another person has gone through or is going through. This book is depressing on the surface level, has interesting psychological aspects in the middle, and at its very base is about hope and healing. It's complex and wavers back and forth between being beautiful and being ugly, but ultimately that's life isn't it?

DNF halfway. I thought this premise was really interesting and I wanted to explore the mind of Bianca with Jubilee. But reading it I just couldn’t get into it and it felt disjointed.

I can see why people were enthralled with it but I couldn’t quite get there

This book covers the subjects of loss, abuse, trauma and how this effects people

I really enjoyed the dual perspective/timeline which helps to make it is such a moving and riveting story that makes you symphatize with the main characters.

I had a really hard time getting into this one. It just wasn’t for me. I’m not sure why I just couldnt get into it.

Jubilee is a story of a young woman’s suffering and abuse, and also of redemption and reflection that showcases the capacity to love and heal. It is a very well-written and captivating book, although sometimes uncomfortable to read about the sadness and turmoils.

Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc.

Are you looking for a book that's going to make you cry? Because that's this book. You think from the synopsis that this is just a mystery book, maybe some kind of thriller, it's very vague on that topic, but really it just was sad and made me hysterically cry and honestly is one of those books that maybe they should have a trigger warning on for the harsh topics discussed in the story. Does that make it a bad book? Absolutely not. It's just intensely emotional and upsetting at times. But the silver lining is that you know the character made it out on the other end, alright, but shaken.

Told in alternating chapters of before and with, and occasionally letters to and after Jubilee, this story is about a young woman named Bianca who after a suicide attempt and some kind of horrible trauma causing her to bleed down her legs, finds herself with her dog and her baby doll Jubilee, at her brothers house with him and his husband. Very confused at why she's so hysterical, he's desperate to help her, and calls their mother over to help. She then finds herself in the hospital, crying for her baby, Jubilee.

And this begins an emotional journey of finding yourself and living your life after trauma, and hard memories of an abusive boyfriend, and lost pregnancies. Bianca has always wanted someone to love her, but has had a hard time finding that without getting hard love instead. An abusive and alcoholic father who turned his life around a little bit too late, a mother who refused to accept things that were happening in front of her eyes, and a brother who gets angry basically because he can't control how she feels about her now ex boyfriend.

If you're really affected by story telling including rape, lost pregnancies, and suicide attempts, than this might not be the book for you. That being said, I did get through the book and come out on the other side, but I did cry for a bit there. That's just the kind of book it is, though. It was amazing and emotional and just so much more than I ever expected it could be. It's a story of feminism, and continuing to live after immense trauma, even when you don't think you can. I'm really glad I got to check this book out, even though it was hard at times, and I think that's how it's going to be for a lot of people to read.

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

got this one last October from NetGalley and I haven’t seen much of this in the bookstagram community.
It took me sometime for me to read it and wonder why I did not read it sooner.

SUMMARY
One night, Bianca (Bee) appears at her brother’s house with Jubilee, dressed and buckled into car seat. Bee takes care of her, feeds her, bathes her, carries her and puts her to sleep. Jubilee is a doll. The story in alternating point of views - Before Jubilee shows her struggles with high school sweetheart Gabe and the things they went thru that leads to the present with Jubilee. With Jubilee, Bee with her new love, Joshua, who helps her in coping and unearthing her trauma while risking the stability he sets with his little family.

THOUGHTS
This is not an easy and happy read as it discusses love, loss, abuse, trauma and mental illness but it is such a beautiful story. It is told in two timelines - Before Jubilee and With Jubilee and it depicts what happened to Bee and why she acts that way. It’s a long and hard process when dealing with trauma and each of us has their own coping mechanism. Some might breeze through it but in Bee’s case, it takes lots of courage, deep understanding, acceptance and unconditional love on her part and her loved ones. There are hard parts in the story and there are some characters I want to know more, but it is such a moving and riveting story that makes you symphatize with the main characters and feel their heartaches, losses, frustrations, fears and their being human.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest view.

I am a huge fan of Givhan’s poetry. She’s a rockstar poet. And I think she brings her beautiful poetic insights here. That said, I’m not sure they’re as effective in this prose as in her poems. It feels like the poetic moments slow down the movement of the story, and have us looking through a mirror instead of directly interacting with the characters as much as we could be. The premise and occasion fascinates me, and the elements are all there, I just find the pacing a little too slow for my taste. That said, I don't read much literary fiction these days, so this very well could just be on me. I want a little more to propel Bianca through this story—more outside force or something pushing her to make choices. Still, a good read, and I definitely, definitely recommend folks check out her other books.

Have you ever seen Lars and the Real Girl? It’s about this guy who believes a life sized doll is actually his girlfriend. It’s been several years since I saw the movie but I remember liking it. It took more of a comedic approach on the topic but this serious truth was clear: The doll served as a coping mechanism for Lars.

Jubilee is similar to Lars’ girlfriend. She is a doll and she is keeping Bianca afloat. Bianca needs her, and no one knows how long that need will exist, but she genuinely believes that Jubilee is her daughter. We, the readers, know that something devastating has happened to Bianca, but we don’t know what that is at first. We simply observe her leading a relatively normal life, with this one exception, and then we get glimpses of the past that brought her here.

Aside from the similar belief about a doll, these two stories have very little in common. Jubilee is a heavy book that includes content that could be extremely triggering for some readers. It is brimming with poignant passages that made my heart ache relentlessly. It is a tragic tale, yet never pessimistic, promising the possibility of something that resembles healing with every turning page. Jennifer Givhan explored the impact of trauma beautifully throughout Bianca’s painful story.

While I never disliked the book, I did find it a little difficult to feel invested in initially. I’m glad I didn’t let that deter me from pushing through, as it was worth every second devoted to it and every tear I shed.

Jubilee is literary fiction with dark, distressing themes. I know it won’t be for every reader, but it’s currently an underrated gem that deserves a bigger audience. I hope it will get all of the attention and love that it deserves.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital review copy.

Well that was a punch in the gut and then a hug (that I needed bc I'm just wrung out with emotion). Water cleanses and gives life but also destroys and takes life. I thought about that throughout the book; along with the snippets of poems and holding my breath as to what really happened to Bianca and Jubilee. What a heartbreakingly beautiful journey.

Bianca is a naïve young girl, who has a set view of the world, and challenges it when it doesn’t mean her expectations. I confess that I didn’t like her as a character, but she still went through an incredibly traumatic time, and the story that follows does that time justice. When she finally moves on from someone she never should have been with, we get an outsider’s look into what is happening with Bianca, how easy it would be to dismiss her, and the power of sticking by someone in their worst of times.

For me, I accept that I don’t really care for Bianca. She is merely a child, stuck in an impossible position, going through things she isn’t ready to handle. What she goes through is hard at any age. She’s not prepared to cope with what is going on, and she doesn’t have the right support to help her cope either. With Josh, I felt the writing was sloppy. I think his reaction and insight into what Bianca was going through either glossed over things or raced through them. It all summed up too neatly for me. But just because this book wasn’t the right fit for me, doesn’t mean it won’t be the right for others. It’s a heavy book and an emotional read, and I’m grateful Blackstone Publishing sent this along.

A beautiful haunting story that I won't soon forget. I loved the writing. Felt for the characters. A hard to read novel that brought tears to my eyes. Highly recommend this one

How far and to what lengths can you go to survive trauma and still come out on the other side has a whole and positive human being? A poignant story of a young woman’s suffering and abuse and her amazing tale of redemption and reflection. A wonderful emotional story of one family’s capacity to love and heal. Great story.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy, thoroughly enjoyed it.

First the bad: I was very tempted to give this 3 stars because of the writing in many places. I had the advance reader's copy, so hopefully the published version clears up a lot of the confusing parts. I don't mind poetic, beautiful language (being a huge James Lee Burke fan), but there are so many instances where it was so over the top and flew right over my head. I had to just try to ignore the parts that made no sense to me. Also, I enjoy literary references as much as the next gal, but there are way too many here. Quote Dickinson all day long and I'll love it, but add in a million other authors, singers, lyrics, poets...and none of them will be able to resonate because it is too crowded. (Except Emily...she always resonates.)
That being said, I still gave 4 stars because despite all my frustrations ^, I loved (or loved to hate) all the characters. I loved the story. I mean, a seemingly sane person thinks her doll is real...what's not intriguing about that? I still have unanswered questions...about Bianca's father's death (and life) and her mother. And Lilly gets so much told about her, but only makes a couple appearances really.
All in all, a consuming novel.

Jubilee was quite a surprise for me. One of my Goodreads friends read it, raved about it, and I was convinced. Once again this friend did not steer me wrong. When Bianca arrives at her brother’s house, he and his partner immediately know something is terribly wrong with Bee. Baby Jubilee in tow, Bee is feverish and quite ill. A trip to the hospital helps her heal physically, but Bianca has a long way to go to heal mentally and emotionally. Told in alternating chapters of before and after, we begin to know Bee, and feel for her as we experience her trauma. I loved the mingling of Spanish and English. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader.

I liked it a little, it wasn't entretaining for me, it was more like a fast reading although I got bored in some point of this book, and I didn't wanted to continue, but I did it and I just liked that it just finished, I think it wasn't my book.

I went into Jubilee blind with the only knowledge of the cover being gorgeous. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I ended up loving this book.

The story is about Bianca being a devoted mother to her beautiful baby girl Jubilee. The only thing is that Jubilee is actually a doll. (I went into this not reading the synopsis so this is not a spoiler however I was actually surprised by this reveal in the first chapter). It’s told in alternating chapters of Bianca’s past, “Before Jubilee” and “During Jubilee”. We learn about Bianca’s traumatic past and the path that led her to Jubilee. The during Jubilee chapters are current where Bianca meets Joshua and they fall in love. I’m not going to give anymore on the story but I thought the story was absolutely heart breaking but beautiful.
Jubilee is a story of mental illness, love, loss, strength, and hope. I was completely invested from the very beginning to the end. Bianca’s pain is just so raw and it felt absolutely real. My heart hurt for her and this book actually made me cry.

Now the only thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars was that the writing in the beginning didn’t have the greatest flow. It felt disjointed and a little arbitrary. For example, I felt that it would hone in one a specific detail and go off on a tangent about it. There was a lot of telling rather than showing when I just wanted to hear about the story. However towards the middle, I’m not sure if I just got used to it or if the writing improved but I found the writing beautiful and poetic. This book actually had me in tears at one point. My rating is a strong 4.5 and I plan on buying this book for my collection. I will be thinking about Bianca's story for a very long time to come.

Trigger warnings: abuse, suicide, miscarriages

Thanks so much to Netgalley and to Blackstone publishing for advanced copy of this book, it is now available!

CW: Infant loss, abuse and sexual assault

I was drawn into this book only 20 pages in as I had to know what happened to Bee. When I finished the book, I really needed to sit with it a bit. This psychological drama was incredibly heartbreaking throughout. It's a story about love, loss, abuse, trauma and mental health. You know how you can read a book and it just stays with you... well this is that type of book.

It was so interesting how the author developed the story and went back and forth between "Before Jubilee" and "With Jubilee" until the complete picture of what happened came into view. Although this book was difficult to read at times (due to the sensitivity of the story) I could not put it down. This emotional and gripping story was so well done! I highly recommend picking up this book!

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC e-copy.

I really loved this book. It was fascinating, sad, happy, and beautiful. I was apprehensive at first since it sounded so sad - a young woman comes home, bleeding and traumatized, believing that a doll is her newborn child? Ooph.
However, the moment I started the book I felt the recognition of something special falling into place. This book is special and if it doesn't win awards I will be throwing a huge fuss.
The author is a poet and it comes through in this novel.
Bianca is so real, as is her childhood home and neighborhood.
I was amazed how the author wrote on this thin line between delusion, trauma, and mental health, without messing it up or making one more important than the other. I was nervous that Bianca's state of mind could be trivialized or made into a stereotype of "the crazy girl" and decisions being made for her without her input. The treatment of her mental health in the novel was so well done, I loved it.
The book is definitely a heartbreaker but so worth it!