Oooh this one was so hard for me to read. I have seen a couple movie adaptations of this title, which I enjoyed; I love Tiffany D. Jackson; but I will admit to never having read a single Stephen King book. I can admit to maybe being a little extra sensitive when I read this one, but it was just so difficult to read about the abuse our main character suffered through, and the romance was a little too problematic for me as well. I thought the racial spin on the story was brilliantly done, but this won't be the Jackson title I promote most enthusiastically in my library.

THIS BOOK. I love a good retelling and this is exactly that. The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson takes the bones of Stephen King's Carrie and fleshes them out with themes of racism, privilege, and the claustrophobia of a small town. I listened to the audiobook and would highly recommend it. There's a true crime podcast element to this story that really works in audio format.

This isn't my first Tiffany D. Jackson book, but it is my favorite. Maddy is such a compelling character and her story is really nuanced. I could easily see myself rereading this one. There are trigger warnings for racism, bullying, and child abuse. This isn't an easy read, but it's an important one. The Weight of Blood got my vote for the Goodreads Choice Awards in the Young Adult Fiction category even though there were a few others I adored and would love to vote for too. I'd highly recommend putting this book on your TBR if you haven't read it yet!

I enjoyed this, but did not find it to be quite as much of a thrilling page-turner as Tiffany D. Jackson's other books. Maybe it was because even knowing only a little about the source material pretty much sets you up for knowing what's going to happen.

i love the approach and podcast that she took. I wish she wouldve stayed with the toxic mom rather than the father, but overall was an amazing book

Another amazing book from Tiffany D. Jackson. Pitched as a retelling of Carrie, but even someone like me who hasn't read Carrie and is scared of horror LOVED it! I loved the history of racism and schools/school events. Truly a gut wrenching read on many levels.

First off: the cover is GORGEOUS, I love it

Second off: big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eArc of this book!

Third off: I recommend checking out TWs on this book if needed, off the top of my head we have the following: child abuse, religious fanaticism, use of the n-word, racism, bullying, racial segregation, blood/gore/death, and police brutality (I may have missed or inadvertently not included one, so I would peep a few other reviews just to be sure!)

Now, on to the review...

Maddy did it.

Maybe I will get hate for admitting this, but I have never read nor have I seen any iteration of Carrie. I don't live under a rock, so I know the premise - it's not that I have anything against the story, just haven't gotten around to it.

With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I am a fan of mix-media storytelling, although it can either be really good or really bad (looking at you, Illuminae on the former of the spectrum and Sleeping Giants on the latter). So I was immediately drawn in on that aspect alone. Now a note here is that the entire book isn't mixed-media; the "present" day is told through mixed-media, and the flashes back are told in third person from a variety of viewpoints. I thought this worked really well for the storytelling.

We got this sort of detached view from the "present" day, and a very personal look at the characters, especially Maddy, leading up to the events of the prom. I really like when books give us these inside glances to characters and how they feel, and I think Jackson did a really stellar job of bouncing between several different characters while still making each "viewpoint" impactful and purposeful.

I also really enjoyed KNOWING what was coming and just waiting for the comeuppance, to rip the band aid off, while also dreading it. Certainly, particular characters deserved what they got, but it was hard to see, for instance, Maddy experiencing happiness and belonging for the first time, knowing it's about to be ripped away from her.

My only teeny tiny nit-pick about the book might have been fixed by the time the final copy was published, so take this with a grain of salt: the events of the book (in the past) happen in 2014, but one character is reading Between the World and Me by Coates.

Listen, it doesn't even matter, because in this world a teenage girl can have telekinetic powers, so in this word certainly the book could have been published a year earlier than in "real life", but it's something I feel like an editor should catch and question. Didn't take away from the story at all, but being the asshole I am it did stand out a little bit to me.

I loved this book and I will be tracking down a signed copy STAT to add to my collection because I loved it that much.

Tiffany D Jackson does it again! As usual, this book is a heart pounding page turner. With a nod to Stephen King, Jackson writes a compulsive story about race and secrets.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Weight of Blood is an update version of Stephen King's Carrie but with a Tiffany D. Jackson's twist. The ideas of generational racism and "high yellow" are explored with the town's first integrated prom. This is horror and racism blended perfectly.

This was both an HCC pick from our fall showcase AND the pick for my local bookclub, so I've had some great conversations about this book. Prior to reading it, I actually listened to the audiobook of White Smoke, also by Tiffany D. Jackson, and thoroughly enjoyed the story. However, by comparison, this story fell a bit flat for me.

It feels like a story that has been done before: outcast at school gets ostracized and bullied in a Southern American town that holds onto racist ideologies until something causes them to snap. It was a retelling of Carrie with a racial twist, but this caused it to be fairly predictable, taking away from some of the suspense and thrill.

I didn't really see too much character progression for Maddy or any of the other players, except for maybe Wendy? Yes, she starts coming out of her shell with Kenny, but at the same time there were some pretty quick changes from being a suppressed girl who was isolated from society for most of her life and living under the thumb of her controlling father to going out for social calls with a boy and seemingly not having any issues with trauma from her upbringing.

I think the part of this issue is that the story is told from SO many perspectives, including podcasts and news articles, that it became hard to follow intentions and plots. I think it would have been more intriguing to follow the story more closely in Maddy's head or experiences, since this was about her navigating life, school, and her new abilities.

I'm curious on how she wasn't called out for hiding her lineage - I'm not a POC, but I have highly humid-reacting hair that even a moist day will cause my hair to balloon. The events of this book are in Georgia, a notoriously humid state, so I'm curious on how she was able to hide her hair. I'm most likely being ignorant - and I can admit this - but even with the measures her father takes to make her hair smooth, there would HAVE to be more than a couple of instances where her hair had a mind of its own.

I know it may seem a bit inconsequential, but I always have a bit of an eagle-eye for pop culture references. The book is based in May 2014. At one point, Kenny states that one of his favourite movies was John Wick when that movie didn't come out until fall of 2014 felt a bit sloppy to me. I think this was just an after effect of poor research into when things happened. Also. ALSO! To see The Matrix related to as a CLASSIC hurt my poor millennial feelings.

I know, I know, I'm ragging on it a bit, but like I said - my book club had a really in-depth discussion about the themes that have really stuck with me. Onto the things I DID like.

The book highlighted a lot of the racism and discrimination that was and is still present in the deep South. These discussions are very relevant today, and I think more authors need to bring them forward. It feeds off of the practice of segregation in the 1960s prior to the Civil Rights Movement, but apparently Springville is still stuck in the past. Despite the racist overtones, it was interesting to see someone like Kenny still being accepted by white society, even though he was black himself. He did keep to himself and avoided making waves under the gaze of his overbearing parents, but it just felt a bit off to me.

Tiffany writes fairly well. I do recognize that I was reading an eARC, so it was peppered with some grammatical errors or incorrect usage of words, BUT these could have been corrected in the final proof. Much like my experience with White Smoke, she describes scenes well and does set the stage for some unreliable narrators and tense scenes.

The use of telekinesis and the heritage attached to Maddy's powers was an interesting dive - and as we know, I love anything witchy based. The twist involved with her story was not what I was expecting, so it was nice to be surprised. Since the South was very much the bible-belt, the relationship between Maddy's "ailment" and her father's reaction felt very realistic.

The latter half of the book definitely fed more of the horror thrill that I was looking for in the book. Overall, it was a good book. It's a quick read, has very relatable themes, and gives homage to some of the best horror writing in history.

💢Content Warning: Racial segregation, racism, police brutality, gore, death, bullying, passing white, and child abuse.💢
•
Thank you HCC Frenzy for the eARC! This book was absolutely amazing and I could not put it down. I was shocked to hear that there are still places that have racially segregated proms and I think the discussions about it in this book are really important to have. The characters were all very compelling and you learn a lot about them since this book is written in multiple POVs. This book also has some bits formatted as a podcast script which was an interesting addition. There are some parts of this book that were quite hard to read due to their emotional impact, like the part of what happens to Kendrick after prom. Overall, this is a really poignant retelling of "Carrie" and I highly recommend it! I hope @writeinbk writes more horror cause everything she writes is 🔥

The town of Springville, Georgia still is recovering from a tragedy everyone knows Maddy Washington is responsible for causing. In fact, there’s now a podcast “Maddy Did It.” But before the climactic event that changed the town forever, Maddy Washington is a high school student who keeps to herself and generally is considered a loner. At home Maddy lives in fear of her father, who owns an antique shop and enjoys reruns of favorite classic movies. Maddy, who secretly is biracial, has passed for white her entire life. Under the glare of her father’s watchful eye, she can’t imagine anyone finding out her secret and works hard to hide the truth. Avoiding the sun, wearing long clothes – even in the summer – Maddy stays home on rainy days and has a strict beauty regimen. When Maddy’s gym class gets stuck outside in a sudden rain storm, she is devastated that her secret is out. Her peers are shocked, and Maddy’s father is furious. When racist bullying, played off as a “simple joke,” is caught on camera, Springville is labeled a racist community. Hoping to prove the world is wrong about them, student leaders attempt some damage control. But with a history of segregated proms, this small town seems to be stuck in the 1950s instead of modern day.

THOUGHTS: With masterful skill, Jackson gives an updated take on a Stephen King classic, incorporating racial tensions and teenage drama into a modern day setting. Highly recommended for high schools seeking to add new titles to their mystery/horror genre.

Tiffany D. Jackson's second horror book hit it out of the park. This retelling a Carrie was well plotted and, in my opinion, better than the original. I hope that Jackson keeps writing horror and thrillers because I have devoured everything that she has written. Although this is a young adult novel I feel that all horror readers would love this novel.

Ok, it pains me to say this but I wasn't feeling this one.
I love Tiffany D. Jackson's writing so much but this plot fell short for me.
Maybe I just enjoy her thrillers more so and not her horror 🤔
I am familiar with the original story of Carrie without having read the original but seeing the movie adaptations and this did have an original take on it while also tackling extremely important topics and conversations however, I found myself not really caring for any of the characters or the story throughout so my enjoyment wasn't there.
Thank you to the publisher for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Huge thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books, Katherine Tegen Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Weight of Blood.

Tiffany D. Jackson is an auto-buy author for me. Her books are always captivating and she does not shy away from societal issues. In The Weight of Blood, we meet Maddy, a biracial high school student who is being raised by a single dad who is devoutly Christian. Maddy has always passed as white and her father has forced her to keep her true racial identity a secret. When Maddy's secret is revealed, she is bullied relentlessly by her classmates. Maddy is both shocked and cautious when the star football player asks her to prom. Is it possible that someone could really like her for who she is? Will her classmates allow her to enjoy her time in the spotlight or will Maddy have to reveal yet another secret?

This book is reminiscent of Stephen King's Carrie but with racial justice slant. I loved it!

This is a striking horror novel, remaking Stephen King’s Carrie with quite a different twist.

The story is told in an interview manner, as Springville residents, the few that survived prom night, are questioned about what happened. They are all emphatic stating…Maddy did it.

Maddy Washington is the outcast girl at her small-town Georgia high school, where she has always been a teasing target for bullies. She's learned to just deal with it because, frankly, that is one of the smaller of the problems this young girl must manage living with an abusive single parent father. One morning Maddy is caught in an unexpected rainstorm causing her most guarded secret to be revealed. You see, Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the insistence of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington.
This revelation sparks more bullying at Maddy’s expense and sets off even more intense acts. One day a classroom incident is caught on camera and the video brings to the forefront, Springfield High's historically racist roots. Some students, wanting to repair the school’s image, devise a plan. The school has always held two proms, one for whites only and another for black students. This school's first integrated prom will act as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life. After all, he seems completely sincere in his actions.

But as in real life there are those classmates who are resentful of this change and devise a plan that is the ultimate bullying act to be carried out during the prom. What the students don't know is that Maddy still has another secret, one that will result in tragic and widespread deadly cost of lives and property.

This is a slow burn story up until to prom night when everything escalates quickly and in finality fashion.
Highly recommend for mature YA readers.

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson is one that you won't be able to put down, which works out well because you won't be able to sleep after reading it. This book is filled with horror and suspense. If you like to be scared you won't want to miss it.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a so-so read for me. I really enjoyed the author’s book, Allegedly, so I was really expecting something different. I just wasn’t a fan of the storyline. I also didn’t like most of the characters.

2.5

Anything written by Tiffany D. Jackson is an automatic read. I went in knowing it was sort of a Carrie retelling but I was not prepared for the HEAVY subject matter. This book is receiving 3.5 stars for the culture but it was my least favorite of anything she has written to date.

Any type of book that has my people meaning black people experiencing micro/macroaggressions, blatant racism and passing are not for me. This book definitely held my attention. I feel like Maddy and Kendrick were both failed but for very different reasons.

This was my book clubs BOTM for October and we certainly had a lively discussion.

This was my first TDJ. I've always heard that she has a great twist, and this had a couple nice, more subtle ones it seemed. What Maddy goes through is horrifying, the themes were strong, and there was a really good balance of making the book seem like it was set in the 1950s and 2010s which helped with the believably of there being separate proms. I wasn't as sold on how quickly Kenny fell for Maddy, but the side characters had clear personalities and contributed major plot points to the story. Very well done.

Tiffany D. Jackson is sanding at winding emotions and atmosphere together. I loved White Smoke and I loved this one just as much! It had a creepy environment and fleshed out characters. I couldn’t put it down! This book had social commentary and a bit of a romance too! The way it discussed racism and young friendships was unforgettable!!!! 5/5