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Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face. Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face. Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face. Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face. Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face. Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face. Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face.

Thirsty

Written by alamancelibraries on . Posted in Book Reviews.

Cover of Thirsty. Young woman floating on her back in a pool with a red Solo cup in the pool, another on the side of the pool, spilling liquid, and a wine bottle floating beside her. Her face is out of the water, and it looks like tears are running down her face.

Thirsty. Hammonds, Jas. New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2024.

Content Warning: alcohol addiction, self-hatred, bullying, hazing, and suicidal ideation.

Wow. Jas Hammonds writes books that move you to tears (sad and happy). I wasn’t sure if Thirsty could be as good as their first book, We Deserve Monuments, but it absolutely is.

Blake has been dating Ella for four years, the entirety of high school. Now, she, Ella, and her best friend Annetta are going to college at Jameswell and (hopefully) joining the Serena Society. Serena Society is more than just a sorority – it is a network of Black women who support each other, mentor each other, and membership leads to success in life.

As summer begins, Blake is drinking. A lot. She is drinking to escape that she doesn’t have a great relationship with her parents, who don’t seem to understand the struggles she is facing as a biracial lesbian. She is drinking to escape that even after four years of dating, she doesn’t feel secure in her relationship with Ella. She is drinking to escape that this charmed life could end with one wrong move on her part (like throwing paint on a racist country club member’s yacht), because she isn’t rich like Ella and Annetta. She is drinking because she is insecure, and drinking brings out Big Bad Bee, who isn’t scared of anything, who is up for anything, and whom everyone loves. Everyone but her best friend Annetta, who worries that Blake is drinking too much.

Then the official Serena Society pledge period begins, and there’s more drinking, more hazing, more chances for her life to go off the rails. The president of Serena Society, Roxanne, seems to revel in making the pledges drink to excess and complete risky tasks. Roxanne flirts shamelessly with Ella, making Blake feel even more insecure in her relationship. Annetta tries to intervene and help Blake with her drinking, but Annetta has her own issues to deal with, including a new relationship with a nonbinary person, and figuring out if she (or they) is/are nonbinary as well.

At times, this book is difficult to read, because you hurt for Blake while internally (or externally) screaming at her as she makes bad choice after bad choice. Hammonds does an incredible job of making the reader feel just as unsettled, depressed and desperate as Blake feels. This book deals with serious issues, such as alcohol addiction, self-hatred, bullying, hazing, and suicidal ideation. But it also has hope, and that makes all of the pain worth it.

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. She can be reached at madams@alamancelibraries.org.