First published 2020
Ashley Bennett floats through her final months of high school with her friends, more focused on beach days than classrooms. She feels secure in her place among the popular crowd at her elite school. Then the verdict comes down. Four LAPD officers walk free after beating Rodney King nearly to death. Los Angeles erupts. Ashley watches her city burn while her carefully constructed world shifts beneath her feet. Her wealthy parents' perfect family image starts to crack. Her sister plunges into the chaos of the riots. Her closest friends spread vicious rumors about LaShawn Johnson, another black student. Ashley tries to pretend nothing has changed, but she cannot escape a new reality. The violence outside forces her to confront the divisions that have always existed. She must decide where she belongs when her community splits into us and them.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, african-american, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: identity-crisis, us-vs-them
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 1990s
359 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: racism