Wonderful characters. Interesting plot. Vivid descriptions. Simply a GREAT read!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

I have read several books by Willow Rose and have always enjoyed. As much as i enjoyed reading this book, i do love to read Willow Rose's horror stories so much more. Nonetheless, i do thank Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy and this is my honest review.

In a divided nation, Jetta hides, an outcast from both sides. For this girl is half black and half white. What circumstances to find oneself in but she survives. I don't always read Sci fi like this so I struggled a little to begin with but I am glad I persevered.

They thought she was a monster, but they had no idea that she was their only hope. In a nation divided by race, Jetta doesn't really belong anywhere. Her face is split straight down the middle: half black and half white. The non-white residents of her New Orleans camp think she's a demon and want nothing to do with her. The white residents of the surrounding areas who have taken over during this second civil war, call her much worse. In her teens, having spent her entire life as an outcast, Jetta learns that she is actually the daughter of an African storm god and a Finnish death goddess. She tries to learn how to harness the abilities she's gained from each of her parents but she seems to only bring trouble to those she's trying to help as she struggles to understand her place in the world. Jetta is the only one who has the power to unite and heal her homeland or to destroy everything in her path.

While there are a number of things I did enjoy about this book, I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I'd hoped I would. I did like the character, mostly. I thought that the main characters were all well written and interesting, even the villains. You can definitely tell how much research the author has put into the various mythologies that are incorporated and that did make the story more interesting. That said, I just felt like the story was very disjointed and didn't flow as smoothly as it could have. And it seemed like all of the white people in the story were evil and villainous. It feels like the author is trying to incorporate the social divisions that unfortunately exist but the story falls short. While there is an explanation for the division that spreads through the country, it isn't really clear how close people have to get to Jetta to be affected. Are her powers going to divide the world? Or are they limited to the continent she's on, unable to cross the oceans? There were a lot of questions that could have been answered but weren't. I really wanted to enjoy this because the premise seemed so interesting and I've heard a lot of good things about the author. I just found myself disappointed. I'll have to try some more of her work to see if this one was an anomaly.

This was at times an absolutely terrifying story because it's so *believable*. The circumstances surrounding Jetta's life, the world she is raised in, is so easy to imagine becoming reality today. It's well written with a good pace and grabs you from the first page. Anyone who loves sci-fi and dystopian mashups will love this book.

Girl Divided is YA dystopia with a twist!
Jetta is a born in a divided world with a divided face. Jetta was born with one side of her face white and the other side black which is extremely dangerous because the world is at war with black against white. As Jetta most live like the Jews of World War II, death seems to follow her. It is not until she learns her roots that things make sense in her life.
I really like the mythological twist to this story. While there are references to more well-known mythology (Norse first comes to mind), I learned mythology from other areas such as Africa and Finland. I love learning these stories and I took time after reading the novel to look up more about the tales portrayed in the book.
While the story was dealt less with social commentary than I expected this isn't a bad thing. As the story focuses on the mythological side, there was no need to add an extra heaviness to it. It was an enjoyable adventure that I would continue.

An entertaining but shallow reading, "Girl Divided" is a book that you will be able to read in a couple of warm afternoons, right by your window, while you enjoy the peace and the singing of the birds.

Something, Jetta, the hero of the story, won't be able to.

Jetta was born the daughter of a couple of black parents in the USA. But, to the surprise of everyone, her body was half-black, half-white, a line in the middle separating both halves. And pretty soon both her parents are killed by white supremacists. Jetta is taken care by her grandmother, who protects and hides Jetta, believing her to be possessed or a demon. And when Jetta starts her teenage years, a war between white and the rest start, with concentration camps, killings, betrayals...

It all sounds interesting enough (and more than difficult to tackle). And Willow Rose does a great job in setting the premise of the story, of creating a world and in creating interesting characters. It is easy to see she knows how to write and she writes well, with an easy to read and engaging style. However, the same cannot be say about the plot, where we encounter a story that sometimes moves a little bit slowly and sometimes it advances brusquely. Because of that, the world that Rose has created suffers, and it is difficult to believe some of the situations. The book starts quite nicely but around midway decides to take an unnecessary turn for the Gaiman-esque that does zero favor to the story. Maybe is this, a little bit sudden, change of pace, which took me out of the story a little bit. It does not make the book bad, but it makes it feel a little bit of a disappointment.

It is also difficult to have a clear opinion on the author's decision to pit a world between white and the rest, but where the rest are called black and all the other persons of color disappear and become invisible. It is a decision which I cannot agree with, however it may be helpful for the author to simplify things; it is lazy and, in my opinion, a mistake. It would be better to create a more varied world, more like a rainbow. Also, because of all of that, the characters don't have a very clear arc, and some of their personal characteristics become diluted in the overall plot.

Entertaining reading, but it could have been way more.

I started this and tried to persevere, but gave up after 50%. It just wasn't for me, though other positive reviews appear to put me in the minority. I just found it beyond fantasy.

GIRL DIVIDED. by Willow Rose.
A couple black, a beautiful daughter, Jetta was half white, on one side. Growing up with superstition, could it be true, that she was evil. Her mother never stopped, people in church, kept saying she was evil. She was a survivor, to the happenings in the world. Blacks and whites dividing the world. She found a place in West Africa, truce had been signed now, she couldn’t go back. A riveting story, of someone who is different in her looks, and how it can effect people. Given ARC by Net Galley for my voluntary review and my honest opinion.

In post apocalyptic time, a baby is born with a half black face and half white. The black say the baby is evil - a demon and the white say worse. She has a destiny and doesn't realize it. What is her destiny? What will she do when she knows what it is? She has questions about herself including who were her parents? Why didn't they raise her? Will she find her answers?

Bigotry is still in existence --sadly it hasn't disappeared. I was surprised to find bigotry such a major issue as I always have hope that it wouldn't be. I thought Jetta to be a strong woman as she dwelt with issues that I thought were difficult. I liked this novel but at times, I would get confused as I didn't really understand the society she lived in. It's a thought provoking story.

This story is about a girl who is half black and half white. It is also about racial uprising in the second American Civil War. Jetta, the name of the girl finds out she is the daughter of an African storm goddess and a Finnish death goddess. She tries to use her powers in the war to help, but it only causes more problems. This story really isn't all that far fetched except for the "daughter of goddesses". The racial uprising we have now really might be just the beginning of another civil war in our country. Now that is scary!

Well. I wanted to like this one, and from the blurb and the cover, I was sure that I would, and the opening chapter was good. New Orleans, voodoo, something vaguely supernatural...sounds like my cup of tea.

Within a few more pages, I found myself thinking "well, that escalated quickly" as suddenly we're in the second civil war and blacks are being dragged out of their homes and taken to concentration camps. All non-White races are classed as black (hmm). In the midst of this, we discover our main character likes the smell of death and disease, and feels no sadness about loved ones dying. Not because she's an unemotional sociopath, but because she's special. She also heals like Wolverine and sees the dead.

Throw in some gods and then a whole new point of view a third through the book, but only until they meet up with the important people, then some more race wars, joining up with the bad guys going back to the good guys, doing this some more, and eventually our heroine making her mind up who she is.

Basically I didn't really care. None of the characters had different personalities (aside from a few extremes of Good Guys and Bad Guys!) and that includes our heroine Jetta and her friend Tyler. The chapters from other people povs read exactly the same as Jetta's, and despite the character stating she was 14 at one point, it had all been so simplified and naive I had been certain she was... Maybe 10? It turned out to not be the voice of a young girl once I realised Tyler sounded the same. The book basically struck me as a continuous description of he said, she said, he did this, then this. They did this, and then she thought that, and I was really pretty distracted from the storyline by noticing that.

I wanted to like it. I like stories where the gods come to earth, I like young adult books with female leads, and I like what the author said at the back about why she wrote it and what she feels the worlds needs to fix (I'm trying not to spoiler, so sorry for vagueness). I just needed less of a scrambled up plot, and characterisation. I felt very little for the people no matter which side they were on, I'm not sure about the white=bad black =good that came through, and just as I was on board with one thing, it became something else. (Right, so civil war, camps, bids for freedom, gotcha! Oh no I see, gods and creepy silent dead army and living in a graveyard. Okay.).

This is my first book by Willow Rose and so far I'm not leaping to read another, though I do usually like to try a couple of books before I make up my mind on an author.

I received this epub from NetGalley in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Girl divided by willow rose.
Jetta is half black half white. There is a war on and the whites are splitting up the blacks. They are taking them to the ghetto. Can anyone stop this war? Will jetta ever feel safe?
Omg an absolutely fantastic read with brilliant characters. A moving story. I really felt for jetta.
I really hated loviatar. I was rooting for tyler oya and shango. I love a book where when you read it you feel as though you are with them. That's how I felt with girl divided. A must read and highly recommended. 5*.

So, this is bad…

I’ve tried to think of ways to a) be kind in this review and b) avoid spoilers, but I can’t figure out a way to do those things and remain honest. So, be warned that this review may be spoilery.

First, though I don’t mention my background in my reviews because it’s rarely important, I think in this case it may be important to know that I’m reading this while brown-skinned. It’s possible that my read on this book may be impacted by my own life experiences.

Now, to the book…

Leaving race aside for a moment, the book itself was clunky and disjointed. I’ve enjoyed the author’s books in the past and will in the future, but she does much better on mysteries than she does on post-apoc / god & goddess things. The world building is abysmal. While she does explain the spike in hate and violence that assaults the world, she falls down on some sort of fever/pandemic killing people and much of what happens when it comes to walls and cities and gas chambers….just couldn’t happen with the fall of the world as she describes it. (We’re going to leave aside the fact that a hoodie doesn’t keep a half ethnically black - with practically a line down the middle - half ethnically white girl hidden.

The book tells rather than shows, the characters are one -dimensional, and much of the story doesn’t make sense. Okay, she spurs violence and anger…what’s the radius? Why does it seem to effect only the US? Does her hoodoo recognize the lines on a map? The head aches…

And now, to race…

I’d like to give the author the benefit of the doubt. While a large part of me thinks this book is trying to cash in on the current cultural morass which has resulted in this particular administration, I’m willing to accept that she’s trying to write a novel of some social relevance.

Unfortunately, it fails.

Almost every white person in the book is evil. Almost every one. She eventually pulls away from this and blames Jetta’s wacky hoodoo for this, but really, it’s bad.

Black people are awesome at first…until the hoodoo gets to them (and why does it get to them slower than it does the white people? Are white people extremely susceptible to hoodoo? Enquiring minds want to know…)

We have a very nominal admission that the US contains more than white people and black people. People of other races are mentioned twice that recall. First, all the white people decide that anyone who isn’t white is black and thus must be assaulted, arrested, and excluded from white cities. Later, after the hoodoo reaches the black people, the blacks decide that non-black people aren’t really black and must be excluded. We never find out what happens to the 17% of the US that is Latino (forget about Asians, Native Americans, Middle Eastern folks, East Asians, and all the myriad ethnicities that make up our country). The author seems to think America is Black and White.

So, while not well written, I was at least interested in our pandemic…at least until we meet our stereotypical African characters (hey that god has rhythm!) and our cold as ice Finnish goddess). Then things go even further south than they already were as Jetta has to decide between her black side (they’re the good guys) and her white side (totally evil).

I finished this book wondering why it was even written.

A really enjoyable easy read. Far better than what I was expecting. I'm looking forward to reading the other books of Willow's I've already bought, she's written so many