I have a brilliant YA novel to share with you all today as I review Promise Boys by Nick Brooks. Many thanks to Nick and to MacMillan for my copy of the book, which I received via NetGalley.
BLURB:
A blockbuster, dark academia mystery about three teens of color who must investigate their principal’s murder to clear their own names—this page-turning thriller is perfect for fans of Karen McManus, Jason Reynolds, Angie Thomas, and Holly Jackson.
The prestigious Urban Promise Prep school might look pristine on the outside, but deadly secrets lurk within. When the principal ends up murdered on school premises and the cops come sniffing around, a trio of students—J.B., Ramón, and Trey—emerge as the prime suspects. They had the means, they had the motive—and they may have had the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. Or is the true culprit hiding among them?
Find out who killed Principal Moore in Nick Brooks’s murder mystery, Promise Boys—The Hate U Give meets One of Us Is Lying.
REVIEW:
As you will know by now, I am a big YA fan and I am always on the lookout for new and exciting books to recommend to my friends and their teenage children. Promise Boys is one such book that I have been recommending to just about anyone who will listen, and is a book that I feel will appeal to avid and reluctant readers alike,
Each part of Promise Boys starts with a collection of short snappy sections, each from a different point of view (these would work brilliantly as the start to each episode if Promise Boys becomes a TV series, which I really hope it does), before moving into longer chapters told from the perspective of each boy. These “soundbites” really grab the attention of the reader, making Promise Boys one of those books where it is easy to fall into the “just one more chapter” trap because some are only a couple of sentences long, and before you know it, you haven’t moved for hours. Despite the brevity of each of the short sections, I found each voice to be so distinct that I had a vivid image of the person speaking, both in terms of appearance and personality.
Following from such vividly written minor characters, as you would expect the three main characters in this book are beautifully created and heartbreakingly human. Are they perfect? Most definitely not, but it is this that makes each of them so believable, and I am sure that every young reader will relate to at least one, if not all, of these boys on some level.
Nick Brooks has a wonderful writing style that really draws you into the heart of the story, and it is easy to see that he is writing not from the point of an outsider looking in, but as someone who understands the very heart of the boys he is writing about. When Promise Boys released, I had the chance to attend an online book launch with the Nick, and he speaks so passionately about the unheard voices of Washington – the real life Promise Boys. He is truly a champion of building young people up to be the best that they can be.
I read this at a really horrible time in my life when I badly needed distracting, but doubted anything would work – this book did, and I thank Nick for that.
Marisa Noelle is the writer of middle grade & young adult novels in the genres of science-fiction, fantasy, horror & mental health including 
Dominic Brownlow lives near Peterborough with his two children. He lived in London and worked in the music industry as a manager before setting up his own independent label. He now enjoys life in the Fens. The Naseby Horses is his first novel. It was long listed for the Bath Novel Award 2016.
Marisa Noelle is the writer of middle grade & young adult novels in the genres of science-fiction, fantasy, horror & mental health including The Shadow Keepers, The Unadjusteds Trilogy (The Unadjusteds, The Rise of the Altereds, & The Reckoning), The Mermaid Chronicles – Secrets of the Deep & Quest for Atlantis, & The Unravelling of Luna Forester. She is a mentor for the Write Mentor program that helps aspiring MG & YA authors. With dual citizenship, Marisa has lived on both sides of the Atlantic and uses settings in both the USA and UK as inspiration for her novels. When she’s not writing or reading or watching movies, she enjoys swimming. Ocean, lake, or pool, she’s not fussy, as long as she can pretend she’s a mermaid. Despite being an avid bookworm from the time she could hold a book, being an author came as a bit of a surprise to her as she was a bit of a science geek at school. She lives in Woking, UK with her husband and three children.
Brittany M. Willows is a bisexual/asexual author and digital artist living in rural Ontario, Canada. Inspired initially by video games and the stories they told, she began building her own fictional universes at a young age and has no plans of stopping any time soon. When she’s not writing about post-apocalyptic lands, wild magic, and people gallivanting through the stars, she can be found hunched over a tablet drawing the very same things.
Stephanie Hansen is a PenCraft and Global Book Award Winning Author. Her debut novella series, Altered Helix, released in 2020. It hit the #1 New Release, #1 Best Seller, and other top 100 lists on Amazon. It is now being adapted to an animated story for Tales. Her debut novel, Replaced Parts, released in 2021 through Fire & Ice YA and Tantor Audio. It has been in a Forbes article, hit Amazon bestseller lists, and made the Apple young adult coming soon bestsellers list. The second book in the Transformed Nexus series, Omitted Pieces, released in 2022. Her next novella, Ghostly Howls, releases 2/7/23. She is a member of the deaf and hard of hearing community so she tries to incorporate that into her fiction.
Mai's Musings 