Jas Hammonds is a wizard! They managed to write a novel that is simultaneously a sapphic romance, a mystery, a Bildungsroman, an exploration of multigenerational trauma, a novel of place and a commentary on racism all while keeping it YA. The prose is lyrical at times, there are music references throughout, and there’s even a scene-by-scene PLAYLIST in the paperback version (note: the playlist was not in the original hardback, which is what I got from Bookish First, but you can find on Spotify named “We Deserve Monuments - author’s playlist”). I really adored this book, despite the fact that it involves my least favorite theme of all time (redemption at death). Also, I was lucky enough to attend an intimate author event in which Jas Hammonds spoke about the characters and elements of the book, which really added to the experience of reading it.