Will be coming back to this one as the cover is great, the premise is super intriguing and I'm really excited to give it a read, but I don't have the focus for it right now. Not a DNF, just a not-for-now.

Lighter by A. Aduma is a very quick read - it sweeps you up into the story and keeps you drawn in the entire way through. The characters are loveable, even if they are a bit stagnant for me. Neither Adam nor Rasheed change much throughout this novel, they start out at one spot and ultimately, end up in a similar place.

There are a lot of beautiful bounding moments in this novel, which I cannot help but praise the book for, situations were handled with the respect that they deserved, the epilogue was a beautiful conclusion to something set up early on in the novel and I enjoyed it majorly.

The only feeling I cannot help shaking is that I just read a fanfiction somewhere on the internet and sadly, that I have already read the fanfiction. While this is a great little novel for young readers, I feel like it falls very deeply into a specific format - tragic event, love interest appears and helps deal with traumatic event, love interest shares something of theirs, family issues, they become a couple and immediately get told off on by their parents, but they're together and take every chance in school to make out and then the novel ends. That is a format that does not really work well for me outside the world of a small 20.000 word fanfiction, but I unfortunately found being used here

One aspect this book lacks is some information about the author. Maybe, it is just me who struggles sometimes when books do not provide any information about the author - no pronouns, no idea if they're queer or not (which can be important especially when the book very specifically deals with coming out), if the author is actually a poc or is this a white person writing about Kenyan culture and the experience of growing up Kenyan in the US?

I think there is a lot of room to grow in this author, but I do look forward to seeing more of their work.

Rasheed lives with his grandmother after his father died and then he suffered neglect. Rasheed grandmother ends up in hospital and Rasheed absent mother turns up. Rasheed then has to share a home with her even though their relationship is very strained. While this is all going on Rasheed gets back in touch with his old friend/crush Adam. Rasheed realises his feeling for Adam have never gone away and his feeling maybe are not one-sided. Will Rasheed be able to begin his new relationship with Adam or will certain issues in his life get in the away. 

This book was a perfect balance of romance and serious issues. Both the romance and Rasheed problems were both balanced out in the book and didn't overtake each other. 

My only complaint with the book is that the characters actually sounded younger than the age they were actually meant to be. 

I received a ARC from Netgalley and NineStar Press, LLC for an objection review.

Thank you to A.Aduma and NetGalley for the free review copy of Lighter in return for an honest review.

This is the kind of family-focussed LGBTQ+ YA Romance that I'm really happy to see, It falls a little into the trap of the one narrative that all LGBTQ+ books of fiction falls into with the obvious tropes. The weight of these tropes isn't given the bulk of the content luckily. It's a cute little MLM romance read.

Lighter is a wonderful novel about Rasheed, an incredible own voices story about a young adult struggling with the aftermath of losing his father as a child and being raised by his grandmother due to neglect. In this story his grandmother has a stroke and this causes Rasheed’s mom to come home, stirring troublesome feelings and present trauma and emotional distress, while he witnesses his grandmother find love after an abusive relationship and how he deals with feelings for his ex crush. 

This story was short and beautiful. While the writing style was simple, the dialogue flowed effortlessly with great character. The characters developed well, and although since there were so many side characters un many situations, I later came to adore them as much as I did our MC. 

The MC reminds me of how I have felt for years, after feeling neglected by my own mother. I understood the experience of seeing abuse, experiencing trauma, and being somewhat in denial and angry. I completely resonated with the character and his story and adored seeing how it played out. 

I adored the cute relationship Rasheed formed, how he righted his wrong, due to neglect, realizing he was running away. These choices, feelings and experiences are natural and often the first response. I love how the author handled it so well and carefully. 

This was a splendid novel, i recommend it for everyone, and I hope you all can enjoy it as much as I did! I look forward to reading anything else this author puts out.

I was happy to discover this title by A. Aduma via netgalley, as I’m always looking for diverse YA reads (and I’ll admit, as I’ve been soothing pandemic stress with fun romance books these days). Lighter is a queer YA M/M romance with a very likable main character, Rasheed, and a range of well-drawn supporting characters. Rasheed and his grandmother live together in Texas after emigrating from Kenya earlier in his childhood; he’s since adjusted to his new home and has also had an overall positive experience coming out as gay to his family and friends. Aduma gives us a story that absolutely is enriched by the specificity of Rasheed’s experience as an immigrant and a gay teen, but I liked that we meet Rasheed at a point in his life when he’s already comfortable and confident in his identities. He’s had a few romantic relationships already and is on the cusp of true adulthood; he’s a mature teen character who is turning his attention to some nuanced, difficult issues in his personal relationships. 

In the story, Rasheed navigates renewed romantic feelings for his former best friend, Adam, who’s recently been brought back into his life. He’s also dealing with a complex family situation, with several issues coming to a head all at once following his grandmother’s hospitalization for a stroke. Her new romantic relationship with a man named Paul brings up traumatic memories for Rasheed of her abusive ex-husband, whose threats were the main reason she and Rasheed fled Kenya for the United States when he was a child. His perennially absent mother is also back in the picture all of a sudden, and he has to fight to move past the silence surrounding all the hurt she has caused in his life. As Rasheed works through these challenges, he must confront painful moments from his past and determine the lessons he’ll take from them in shaping his future. 

Ultimately, Rasheed’s hard-won insight feeds back into his romantic life, leading him to interrogate his own toxic behavior in recent relationships. This, along with Rasheed’s growing attachment to Adam, brings about a transformation in him. By book’s end, he is a more emotionally courageous young man, not only able to claim the love that he deserves, but also willing to acknowledge his own agency in his relationships - his responsibility towards others.

As a romance, Lighter provided some steaminess in a way that was authentic to the characters and that tied in seamlessly with the other parts of Rasheed’s personal journey. Rasheed and Adam are imperfect but genuinely likable, fun characters and the chemistry is definitely there; their romance makes sense. I love a good friends-to-lovers storyline, and this one was extra cute due to the way they were already close with each others’ families. 

Although I enjoyed this book overall, a couple of things led me to lower my rating from a full five stars. First, some of Rasheed’s internal monologue as he ogles Adam in the first half of the book didn’t sit right with me. I understand that he’s a teenager and obviously it’s a romance, but at times his comments crossed the line from good-natured appreciation to a kind of over-the-top objectification, which didn’t quite match the tone of the rest of the book.

Another issue I had with the book concerns the pacing. I liked all the author’s choices for wrapping things up, plot-wise, but the ending itself came very abruptly and felt underdeveloped. Again, I had an advanced reader’s copy of this book, so hopefully it’s something the author was able to rectify in the final draft. 

Overall, I think this book was fun, sweet, and it also had some important things to say. The issues I had with it are things that could easily be resolved with further revision. I appreciate the author’s point of view and I hope he continues to hone his craft. I look forward to seeing more of his work!

It is a very entertaining, funny and enjoyable book.  Reminded me of "Whatever by S.J. Goslee”
I hope read more from this autor.

This was such a beautiful story! I loved learning more about the Kenyan culture through Rasheed’s experiences as an immigrant. I thought this novel did really well as it portrayed Rasheed and Adam’s relationship, but also showed his familial struggles and the way that trauma affected him. This novel was the perfect balance of light and serious. By the end, the characters all felt really distinct and fleshed out and I never felt like the story moved to quickly, even though this is a short novel. 

My only critique is that sometimes I felt that the characters were speaking word by word from a self-help book and not speaking like their characters, but I understand why the author did this as well. 

I really enjoyed reading this novel and I hope to read more from A. Aduma in the future!!

Well, it's was not the everything I was waiting for. I've liked the characters, their friendships and how they support each other. I've been waiting for a Adam's and Rasheed development, a little more about their past.  It's was a great experience reading this book, because it makes me feel a connection with Rasheed, all the mother's stuffs and I fell connected with all those characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lighter. What a impactful story. Strong, dynamic characters. Interesting plot. Characters you want to love and hate. Overall, I really enjoyed the story.

3.5/5 stars

🐻 Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc!


✨It was only fine. Not that good of a novel but i wouldn't mind reading more from the author

This took me a while to get around reading because I had a lot of commitments to do in real-life, but finally, I managed to finish it. First, I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Lighter, by A. Aduma, is a relatively casual read for me about a young guy named Rasheed, as he navigates through his teenage life, and reconnecting with people he'd been detached from after certain setbacks and him sorting through his own emotions. 

The story as a whole is really lighthearted, and I like how the author brought some very unique bits of the Kenyan culture through Rasheed and his family dynamics. From his clear attachment to his grandmother and complicated relationship with his mother, I liked how the story centered more on Rasheed's personal growth and coming in terms with his fears and anxieties, especially with forming concrete relationships with those that care for him.

His relationship with Adam was also extremely adorable, and while Rasheed did lack on that parental love, the tight-knit bond he has with his friends made the story worthwhile to venture through as Rasheed comes to terms with the changes in his home. Though I did somewhat feel like I would have appreciated this book a lot more if I'd read it back when I was a teenager, there were plot points that I've felt could've been expounded further, especially when it came to the Kenyan tidbits here and there. 

Overall, I'm giving this book 4-stars, because, its a really good coming-of-age kind of story that truly does fit its title. I felt Lighter at how the story concluded on a more positive note and gave Rasheed that inner-peace he'd wanted from his parent, and one of his childhood friends.

A Netgalley review copy 

Lighter by A. Aduma
2.5/5

After a bad breakup Rasheed wanted to get through the last year of school with little to no drama as possible. 
But his grandmother has a heart attack, his distant mother returns back home and his old friend Adam whom he used to crush on has come back into his life. 

This was a cute little read, this book focuses on family drama more than the romance so at parts I just kept losing focus and kept putting the book down. 
The characters in this book were around 18 years old but it read more like they were 15/16. 

There’s great representation in terms of sexuality and race if you ever need to pick up a diverse read!

3.5 stars

This was the unexpected highlight in a recent batch of YA arcs. I picked it up on a whim, but I was really impressed with how much I liked it.

It's a very gentle coming-of-age romance with likable characters that feel very grounded and realistic. The plot and relationship developments all moved at a realistic pace, and it maintained a pretty positive, uplifting atmosphere even when the MC was dealing with unpleasant circumstances. He has a couple of smart, steady women (his grandmother and her younger best friend, who has kids his age) watching over him, providing an environment that remains consistent and caring regardless of anything else going on around him. It made for a pleasant change of pace and a nice balance to the issues he has with his mother.

The romance and friend group were still the highlight, and I really liked the little glimpses of their history and the way the ups and downs of the MC and his love interest played out. They ended up being a very sweet pairing, and I much prefer it when that's something they grow into over time, like these two did.

Highly recommended if you like YA, especially if you're looking for POC characters. The MC and his grandmother immigrated from Africa when he was 8, and I loved how the cultural details are woven into the background without ever becoming a plot point. I think that was a big part of keeping the story grounded.

I LOVED this book. It's a super fast read, both in terms of length and plot. You can invest as much or as little of yourself as you want into this book; personally I finished it all in one sitting, which took me about four hours. The story is heartfelt, adorable, and shows character depth in all the right moments. You'll fall in love with the main character, the love interest, and everybody else in the book. I highly highly recommend this book if you're looking for something lighter, fast-paced, or something to get you out of a reading slump. I will definitely be buying a physical copy of this when it comes out. 4.8/5 stars :)

3.5/5🌟: this is a nice example of your typical ya romance/ coming of age story, which inherently isn't bad at all but don't expect anything mind-blowing to happen content-wise. i do want to mention though that there's a queer love story between two boys of colour, so that's really cool! the side characters were kind of plain, i kinda wish they would have had a bigger role. i loved the cultural aspects of the story and thought it was really nice that some Swahili was featured in conversations and there was a glossary at the end of the book. while it's cool that there was a lot of talk about bisexuality, the characters constantly used a very binary definition (only men and women) which was a little disappointing..

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing company for this eARC!

I really enjoyed this book, I believe that it depicts the LGBTQ+ community very well and it was refreshing to read a story that wasn't centered around the main character coming out while still having some of that play into the storyline. I also thought that it handled the challenges of having an estranged mom come back into your life, high school, past trauma, etc. in a realistic and not annoying way that you can sometimes find with YA books that have a high school aged lead. I also thought the interlacing of both Rasheed's cultures was seamless and taught me a bit more about Kenyan culture which is always a positive for me! I also didn't think this book was too slow or fast paced, it felt like a natural flow and ending.

However, I did debate between rating 4 or 5 stars because the characters outside of Rasheed, Adam, and the family seemed a bit one dimensional. I often found that I was forgetting which friend was which and aside from one scene they just weren't that memorable. I think the friends should've played a bigger role because the times where they were really involved (like the hospital scene) it made an impact for me! In the end though I went with 5 stars because I would reread this book, I would recommend it to others, and it did keep me up wanting to keep reading and find out what happened!

I smiled through this entire book. It's exactly what I was looking for in an escapist romantic read: delightful POC and LGBTQIA+ representation, a simple and genuine writing style, and a plot that explores difficult topics (CW: <spoiler> sexuality, domestic abuse, neglect of a child, among others </spoiler>) without becoming too heavy.  

It was pure delight to see the world through Rasheed's eyes for a time. A. Aduma did a wonderful job of imbuing him with both charming adolescence and a deep sense of compassion for others. It can sometimes be a struggle to read about teenage protagonists as an adult because of their self-centeredness; not so with Rasheed and the other young folks in this book. I was sad to leave their corner of the world when the story was over. 

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review!

'Lighter' is a really lovely book about Rasheed, who emigrated from Kenya to the US with his mother and grandmother when he was a child. At the beginning of the story, we find him grappling with several big issues. His granma, who raised him, has a stroke; his estranged mother returns home; and his former crush, Adam, reappears in his life just when he has more than enough to handle. 

This gentle book shines in its portrayal of relationships. Rasheed's affection for his granma, and the parallel hurt he feels around his mother, are very touching. His chemistry with Adam feels real and their slow dance towards each other, as Adam deals with his own issues, is super romantic and heartfelt.

I also love Rasheed's connection to his Kenyan roots. It's a very powerful aspect of the book, with lots of swahili, food, clothes and memories of life in Mombasa. Rasheed's realisation that he is losing his swahili is sad. But he has made a place for himself in the US too.

I haven't seen much promotion around this book so I'm here to say it is really worth seeking out if you like heartwarming fiction featuring black boys in love. 

My review is based on an ARC. I hope the finished book went through a final round of editing for a bit more polish.

This was a very cute read! This book follows our main character Rasheed as he navigates his way through some hard times in his life. His Granma being hospitalized, his absent mother returning to his life, and a childhood crush rekindling. 

Overall, I thought this book was sweet and very feel-good-y. I found myself smiling a lot and once even cracking up (it's very rare a book makes me LOL). I'm a sucker for friends to lovers and I felt like it was done really well in this book. I also really liked that there was a bit of a found family aspect to it. I also appreciate that coming out was not a main plot point for our main character, Rasheed. The topic was discussed a bit later on in the book, but not a major plot point. It was really nice to read about someone who was so certain and comfortable with their sexuality. I also HIGHLY appreciated the content warnings at the start of this book! Petition for all books to include those!!! 

Now, the things I didn't enjoy so much. I had a hard time with the characters, mostly the side characters. It's not exactly that I couldn't connect with them, I just felt like I didn't <i>know</i> them, if that makes sense. I felt like descriptions weren't really offered for them so I had a hard time picturing pretty much all of the characters. Personally, when I read a book, it plays out in my head like a movie (I saw on TikTok that not everyone experiences this?), so having detailed visuals for the characters is a must for me. And finally, I felt like there was a little bit of an emotional block with the heavy subject matters. I felt like when an emotional scene was happening, the level of emotional intensity that puts me over the edge was allllmost there, but not quite. I think this is another issue with just not going into enough detail for my tastes. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book a lot, and the positives outweigh the negatives. I would definitely be willing to read Aduma's work in the future!