i was so excited when I first heard about this book but it didn't live up to my expectations.

i love reading about queer poc because of how relatable and interesting their stories are but there are some exceptions, this one being one of them. i thought the overall story was interesting enough and despite not being anything special, I found myself enjoying it.

the main problem I have with this book is the polyamorous representation really just being cheating. i love seeing poly rep in books but this toxic ideology of what polyamory is just horrible.

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This thoughtful book, with its focus on grief, survival, and identity, was definitely one that I got more and more invested in as the story developed. The book used multiple perspectives and narrative voices, whilst mostly centering on that of Jade, as well as a non-linear timeline, which meant that as the story continued I understood more of the background and influence. This worked especially well as the story was based around how the past influences and infiltrates into the present day. The relationships (the romantic, platonic, and familial, the serious and the casual) in the present are a particular evidence of that influence of the past, and as the story evolved to give more details of the other characters, I felt increasingly invested in this whole community.

One thing that worked really well for me was in the way that we saw how a brief encounter- a fellow bus traveller, a chat in a coffee shop - could have a significant impact on Jade as she sought to find her place in the world. I felt this was one of the most effective and persuasive parts of the book for me.


*I received an ARC from NetGalley and I have chosen to leave a review*

Beautiful book on a young black woman's grief and journey in opening herself up again to life and love. It's very much a slice of life kind of book, that focus mainly on Jade and her friends in this short amount of time. There's so many beautifully written scenes that they felt almost like a gut punch.

My only grief with the book, is that I wish the characters could've been more fleshed out. I wish we had gotten a bit more of her sister and her lover's as they sometimes felt as if they only existed to bring Jade further along in her story, without much of their own agency. Not to say that they didn't have beautiful scenes of introspection, just that I wish there was more.

Overall I did enjoy this book. I loved how easily it was to identify and relate to the protagonist mainly due to how the author was able to describe and write her her characters' feelings.

Sometimes I read a book I really, really enjoyed and savoured, but I can’t put a lot of words to it. This is how I’m feeling about Jade Is A Twisted Green. It was a beautiful story about finding oneself again after a devastating loss, without erasing the loss. The main character is ultimately searching for a way to weave grief and current joy, friendship, and self, into the everyday so these feelings can coexist. The characters are so complex and exciting, I wanted to be their friends, and the experiences they have and the flaws they possess are so real worldly I almost feel that they have come to life off the page. Thank you Turton, for this charming tale of love and loss.

The writing was very beautiful, I thoroughly enjoyed the picture it painted of the city and living in a community that feels like home away from home. The heroines grief was so palpable and I commend the author for that. My heart almost breaks for the author because of it, it was that powerful I have an overwhelming desire to say “if you know you know”. I wish the author all the best.

I REALLY REALLY wanted to love this book. I was really looking forward to the premise as a Black queer woman. Jade is a Black queer Torontonian woman overcoming the lose of her sister while tryna navigate life and love.

However, much of the story seems to take a different course and seems inconsequential to the premise. I struggled with some of the grammar and writing style took away from the story. The multiple POVs takes a long time to get into and could’ve used some streamlining. There was poor characterization which made it harder to connect with the characters. The author did make some good points about grief but much it was lost due the aforementioned issues.

My biggest issue was with the way polyamory was portrayed. Exploring and being free can be apart of polyamory as long as there is informed consent from both parties with consistent communication when things arise. The story was more centered around polyamory than I expected. I wish the author took a different approach to a poly Black character and let this cheating trope go.

To this end, I think the book was advertised poorly and poorly aimed, clumsily executed.

*Arc provided by publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

After a mysterious tragedy takes the life of her twin sister, Jade must find the strength to move on without her, a task she has never had to complete on her own; however, she lacks the will, stamina, and drive to live life without her other half. For seven years, Jade lives in a purgatory-like state, where her survivor's guilt prohibits her from living life the way her sister, Roze, would have hoped. On the eve of her 25th birthday, Jade begins to unpack the trauma from her youth, so that she can stop existing and start living. In Jade is a Twisted Green, author Tanya Turton explores honest and transparent representations of black love, life, and trauma. Jade may not know who she is or what she wants, but she slowly finds a way to live authentically without guilt or shame while honoring the memory and legacy of Roze.

"Her arms were covered in tattoos, because in undergrad she'd decided to create a second skin for herself. One with a little more grit than the one God gave her."

Jade's growth in this novel is so profound, as evidence back our lack of knowledge into the cause of Roze's death. She cannot communicate with her 4th wall audience how Roze died, let alone speak it aloud to her loved ones who are also processing this loss. As she becomes more aware of who she is and what she wants in life, Jade peels back the layers of her grief and shares more about Roze and their life together. I loved the cast of characters who make up her friends and family, as well as the small backstories of each character. We easily understand why each of them brings their own specific trauma and coping strategies to help Jade heal. This trauma is written through a decided-black voice, a tone that we don't frequently hear in fiction. Turton's voice is matter-of-fact and sincere as she brings these issues to light. I hope that many white women listen to this voice so that they can understand there are specific issues that occur more frequently in black and POC communities, like the care Morgan's mother received while giving birth. When we fight for women's rights, we fight for all women's rights, even ones that occur disproportionately in underserved communities.

There are some awkward transition moments, like in Jade's first dream sequence about Tay and her solo trip at the end of the book. I would have liked for Turton to dig deeper into the challenges black women face while traveling, as it is still such a problem, and young black women have earned the right to a perfectly flawed adventure artist like Jade. If Jade can figure out bus routes across international borders, meals in segregated cities, and flights to remote islands, other black women can too. I do hope this turns into a series that follows Jade along her path to self-discovery as she travels both physically and metaphorically, especially with Jade's dreams of being a writer. I would follow along with her on many trips.

Thank you to Dundurn Press for the ARC. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Jade, and I hope there is plenty more to come from Turton!

This is a coming-of-age story about a Jamaican Canadian woman who comes to terms with her identity, her sexuality, her career, her friendships, and the loss of her twin sister.

I honestly can't believe how much this book achieves, there are so many things going on, and instead of feeling like too much, it all works together phenomenally.

I liked that we got to learn about each of the characters in the book, I think that understanding them all individually really helped me to connect to the characters. This entire book was a masterclass in character development, and all of the characters felt so distinct and unique. It took me a little while to get to grips with who the characters all were because there are quite a few, but once I got into it, it was easy to follow.

I really enjoyed the representation of LGBTQ+ relationships, and how varied and different they can be, and I liked how much casual queerness there was.

Overall, I really really liked this book, I think that it's completely different to everything I've ever read before. I wish it had been a little bit longer, so that some things could've been explored more, but I was still really satisfied by the ending.

I would give it a 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I think you have to be in certain headspace to read this story but it can also be informative if you haven't experienced this type of grief in your life.
I enjoyed the Jamaicain patois and the love letter to Toronto as it's not setting I usually see in novels.
Jade is going through a lot and I felt bad for her love interests because at a certain point you do have to realize that you can’t rush a person’s recovery from grief or survivor’s guilt. So yes, some may be disappointed in Jade for not knowing what she wants but her love interests knew what they were getting into.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Jade lost her twin sister in their senior year of high school, and she has been feeling that loss for years. Now in her mid twenties, she's starting to realize that everyone around her has changed, but she hasn't. She's trying to fill the spaces in her life, but how can she do that if the one she lost can never be replaced?

This is a story of love, grief, acceptance, adventure, and growing into who you are. It's hard to truly put into words, but this book was hard to put down. As I got closer to the end, I realized that it wouldn't be enough - no matter how it ended, I would want more. I don't know what more could possibly be added, but I feel like I'm not done with Jade.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up

I found the first half of this book rather slow and it wasn't until the last third or so that I really wanted to keep reading. Nevertheless, I enjoyed learning about Jade, the people in her life, her past and her future and I liked that many of the main characters got their own chapters to show their roots. This wasn't just a coming of age story, this was also a glimpse into what it can be like to live in Toronto as a Black, Queer woman of Jamaican origin, and both were well delivered.

Jade is a Twisted Green by Tanya Turton is a really interesting piece about grief and healing. It’s about trying to move forward whilst still being tethered to the past.

We follow the main character, Jade, as she tries to navigate life after the death of her twin sister. I think Turton does a really fantastic job at showing grief, especially the type of grief that comes with not expecting a massive loss at 24.

I found the alternating perspectives a little bit jarring and also ever so slightly pointless. I wanted to stay with Jade the entire time so it felt a bit weird to be yanked out of her life occasionally.

I did actually enjoy this book and I think it would be the perfect book to give someone going through a loss. There are so many great lines that really encapsulate feelings you never feel like you can sum up.

This book might not be for everyone but I think it’s the perfect book for when the reader is in a particular head space.

Jade Is a Twisted Green is a book that's really different from any other books I read. I usually read books that have commitment and stable relationships where the two people are only with each other. So this is definitely new to me, but new is not necessarily a bad thing. But I felt like I was getting tugged into so many directions, I was just expecting Jade to get with her ex-girlfriend, but there was so much more than that, and I kind of liked it.

I learned about family and changes and grief. The book contains so much information that you're expected to take in and keep with you in such a short time. Like with the different POVs it seemed really sharp and there was not a way to ease into it, which might just be a, it bothering only me thing, but it seemed a little out of nowhere, and some of the POV changes seemed unnecessary to the story.

Overall, I liked it, but it's not my type of book, but that's not to say that other people won't enjoy it, because I'm sure they will. I liked the adventure and the moving on from the past and focusing on just living in the moment thing. The book itself made me cry, laugh, and even more just from how well written it was and how I felt the characters emotions as if they were my own. I liked learning about the characters, but sometimes I felt like a warning was needed due somethings that showed up in the book, especially in Tayja's.

Not much else I can say but this was a well-written book, but it's just not something I was majorly into.

⭐⭐⭐ / 5

So well written and definitely a recommended read!

I loved this book, Jade is a fabulous character, this is a is a wonderful book about grief and healing.

This is also about finding your sexuality, yourself and life. It's about Black culture and Jamaican culture.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing this arc!

"The spine of a book keeps the pages together, tells you the title and what to expect. Like a book, if you could ever get close enough to Jade, her spine would tell you what you needed to know"

This book follows the main character Jade as she navigates grief after tragically losing her twin sister whilst discussing sexuality and race.

This is a book I have often found myself thinking about often since after reading. Tanya Turton has a beautiful writing style and I particular liked the different perspectives from the characters. This is a hard hitting book but you will come away learning something from this! An empowering and eye opening read!

4/5 stars- if you are in to character development lead books, this is one for you!

I should start this by saying that this book was not for me. It probably won’t be for a lot of people. It is short, character focused, dialogue heavy, and written with a very unique voice that may be off putting for some people. I think there is a certain time in your life that you’d benefit from reading this book, but when you get there it’ll be one of the most rewarding things you can read.

(Arc gently provided by NetGalley)

I don't feel it's appropriate to rate Jade Is a Twisted Green in stars or percentages as I wouldn't say this book is for everyone: it must come at the right time of someone's life in order to strike and leave a mark– but when it does, it can truly help to have a better insight of how we process our feelings and our (both past and present) journey.

[Mild spoilers ahead]

"Grief comes in waves", as the author writes, and isn't that true? Having recently experienced loss, I'm probably not prepared for the next waves, and I could sympathize with the protagonist's neverending process of living with the pain that came with her sister's death: the words that were spoken to her and the way she slowly got out of her post-loss limbo gave me the opportunity of looking at my inner turmoil from a different point of view.

It's a very spiritual read, in many ways.

This review is available on goodreads at the link https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4591067293

Another factor I appreciated was the depiction of the many shapes that love can take, and the many ways it can feel like: love is caleidoscopic, and it's enlightening, especially when is comes to wlw love, carrying with it a deeper feeling than what modern society wants to make us believe.
"She sat there with James watching Vashti and Imani take off Shayna's swimsuit and cover her in such gentle kindness it was unclear if this was a sexual act or an act of honouring. (Maybe it was both.)"
Never have I ever read truer words when it comes to sapphic love, and I felt it in my bones.

Having said that, on a grammatical level I found some small technical issues, repetitions in primis, that broke the flow of the narration. The text didn't flow as much as I wanted, which is a pity. Still, there were no huge mistakes.

Having said this, would I recommend this book?
It really depends on who's asking. I think a read as Jade Is a Twisted Green wouldn't grow on people that haven't experienced what Jade is going through in her life. On the other hand, people who did and that would find comfort in seeking a guide or a character to reflect themselves in may find the protagonist's journey inspiring and/or motivate them to question their own, in positive ways.

This review is available on goodreads at the link https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4591067293

Let me start by saying, I had high expectations for this book because the concept sounds amazing- a black queer woman named Jade in Toronto dealing with her grief over her sister Roze passing while still trying to love and live life. However, this summary of what the “main plot” consists of is actually very misleading because these things that the story revolve around seem to be inconsequential to the actual story.

Besides the actual storyline lacking heavily compared to the description, Jade is inconsistent and doesn’t know what she wants. Sure, you could say this is purposeful but she was written like her motives in the previous chapter were completely forgotten. Speaking of chapters being inconsistent, the use of alternating point of views is completely inefficient. The point of multiple POVs is to make you care about all the characters and connect with them but because of poor placement (and honestly, poor characterization) you don’t connect with anyone and just want more. Additionally, this book has a lot of great points about grief, but a story can’t be built around a few good lines and that is what this book seemed like to me.

This may be more of a personal pet peeve, but polyamory is not cheating and never will be. It wasn’t cute that Jade consistently cheated on her partner under the pretense of ‘exploring’ and ‘being free’; polyamory involves consent on both sides and even if they both eventually consented… it was awful to read. Also, this book seemed more centralized around ‘polyamory’ than what it was advertised to be. I’d like to explicitly state, I do think Jade should be polyamorous- I just wish the author had more of an understanding on what non-toxic polyamory is.

In the end, this isn’t the worst book I’ve ever read- instead, it was just horribly advertised and clumsily written. I’m not mad, just disappointed. I wanted much more.

Thanks to Netgalleyand publishers for a copy of this ebook.
This study of the grief we hold after losing a loved one was a great read.
After the MC loses her twin sister, life ends up at standstill.
During the story, she reflects on the choices she has made, the lovers she holds in her heart, and grows to heal and realise who she is.
I struggled at first with the different pov's but quickly adapted. They provided insight into the feelings of the people around the MC, as well as their experiences and trauma behind their choices and their life.
I really enjoyed watching the growth and the knowledge that things don't need to be perfect, grief is a process, and you don't have to make decisions that don't sit right for you in order to make others happy.