This collection of stories follows teens around New York during a Blackout. The stillness of a bustling city paused allows each character time and scope to learn about themselves and others. Each story is beautifully written. The characters are all very real and their raw emotion radiates from each page. The love and connectedness highlighted in each chapter is exactly what we need right not. I highly recommend and I'll be seeking out other books written by the authors of this collection. Perfect for adults as well as teens.

Truly, what better novel to read in the boiling heat than a novel set in a heatwave that causes a city-wide black out. Across New York, a group of Black teens work together to find themselves in the dark and get to a cool party. Blackout is a really clever little novel made up of six interwoven short stories about Black teens falling in love across the city, and written in collaboration between six amazingly talented YA authors — Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon (all of whom I want to read a butt load more from). The stories reach across the full range of romcom tropes: long-time friends, exes, a love triangle, a first meeting, a second meeting where the first featured an anonymous masked kiss… There are f/f, m/f and m/f pairings, and all the characters are interlinked in some way, which never felt contrived or forced. The book is lovely, sweet and filled my heart with joy. In terms of format it reminded me of Floored by UKYA authors, and also Netflix’s version of Let it Snow — so it’s no surprise that they are working on the adaptation of this, which I think will be perfect. It’s truly made for screen. There’s a sequel / second book out this winter appropriately called Whiteout, which takes the reader to a snowstorm in Atlanta!

Thank you to the publishers for this early review copy. When I started this book I wasn't sure what to expect... short stories, linked short stories, a novel... it's actually perhaps all of these. It is brilliantly told, loved the stories, loved the characters. Happily read this cover to cover in one sitting. Very happy to recommend to all teens and YA.

“Blackout” is a collection of YA love stories told against the backdrop of a blackout in New York City. The stories are told by Black authors, featuring predominantly Black characters, given their time to shine. All the major tropes are covered and there is also LGBTQ representation. I’m not gonna lie, the major draw for me was the New York setting and the beautiful sprayed edge to the book. I’d read Angie Thomas’ books so I trusted that her story at least would be good and I’ve heard good things about Tiffany D Jackson so I thought why not give it a try. I’m so, so glad I picked this up. What a wonderful collection of stories this is. It has genuinely been a delightful read. I love the way the characters are kind of loosely connected, I think in the author notes Jackson mentions when she heard the idea she pictured it as being a bit like “Love Actually” and I can kind of see the resemblance. I loved that Jackson’s story was split up with Tammi and Kareem’s journey from Harlem to Brooklyn being mixed in between the other stories. The writing throughout is brilliant, we’re plunged straight into the stories with no space being wasted for unnecessary explanations. I’m not a big romance fan but these stories were so beautifully written that I got swept away and really found myself caring about the characters and their relationships. I absolutely adored the New York setting. As Tammi and Kareem are making their way across the city I found myself picturing all the places being mentioned and it made me miss it even more then I already did. The City itself almost became like another character in the story and I could only imagine how strange and slightly magical it would be to see the City in the midst of a blackout, especially somewhere like Times Square. I hate picking favourites of anything so I’m not even gonna try because there were elements of each story that I loved so it’s just too hard to choose, although as well as Jackson’s story I did have a bit of a soft spot for Nic Stone’s “Mask Off” about a closeted basketball star trying to come to terms with and understand his sexuality. My one tiny complaint would be that in the last section of Jackson’s story we find Kareem and Tammi on Brooklyn Bridge when the lights come back on but then at the end of the last story, Nicola Yoon’s “Seymour and Grace”, the character Grace mentions seeing them at the block party in Brooklyn just before the lights come back on. Up to that point though everything had knitted together so well and it really is only a small thing.