REVIEW - SHOOT THE STORM BY ANNETTE DANIELS TAYLOR

Title: Shoot The Storm
Author: Annette Daniels Taylor
Publisher: West 44
Genre: Poetry, Teens, YA, Hi-Lo
Release Date: 1st February 2022

BLURB from Goodreads
Aaliyah saw her father Boogie-G killed on the park basketball courts. For a while, Aaliyah stopped talking, but after finding videos of her father rapping on stage, Aaliyah begins to rap. Two years later, she's at the top of her game on the basketball court and finding her rhythm with rap, until she sees her father's killer again. Aaliyah considers joining her father's old gang to avenge his death, but what will it cost her? 

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REVIEW
The cover on this book is quite dark and stark, perhaps hinting about what is to come from within the book. The cover shows a basketball court and hoop, so you may think the “shoot” in the title refers to shooting a basket, well it has a double meaning.

The main character Aaliyah suffered the trauma of seeing her father shot on the basketball court. This horrific incident affected Aaliyah so much she stopped talking. Aaliyah takes after her father having the gift of being a brilliant basketball player, after discovering her father was also great at rapping, she starts doing it herself and discovers she has a talent for that too. It seems the only way is up for Aaliyah, until the opportunity occurs, she decides she wants revenge on her father’s killer. Aaliyah’s gets sucked into the dark world her father was part of with gangs, guns and plenty of scores to settle. Her grades drop at school, meaning she is threatened with not being able to play her beloved basketball. Then when Aaliyah and her team have the chance to win the ultimate game, a gang leader that she is tied up with demands his price for helping her out. What will she do? If she betrays the gang there will be consequences, but if she does what they ask she will betray her team mates.

I liked the character of Aaliyah, she hasn’t had the best home life. Her mother sending her to live with her paternal grandparents when she gets a new partner and has a new baby. Her grandparents deeply care for her and she helps them out at their diner. I also loved Aaliyah’s grandfather when he turns detective to help his granddaughter.

The book is told in verse making it a pretty fast read for me though if anyone said would I read poetry I would have wrinkled my nose and said no thanks! However, the story really quickly draws you in and is certainly a page turner. The book is also a Hi-Lo read meaning it is of high interest but that you don’t have to be an exceptional reader to read it. Anything that encourages more people to read and helps to get them into doing it on a regular basis is a great idea in my opinion.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing this book were that it had been a great short read, told in verse and that it had handled more than one difficult subject really well.

To sum up I think this book would be a great conversation starter about being drawn into gangs and there always being a price to pay for the favour the gang may appear to freely give you.