I really wanted to like this book based on the premise, it sounded like a coming of age story about a queer Black woman in Toronto and I was intrigued by all of that. Unfortunately I didn’t connect with the writing style, I felt the inexplicable multiple points of view detracted from my ability to connect with the main character, and overall felt the story lacked rhythm and a cohesive plot.

I loved the title, the cover and the description. I was very excited to read this! Unfortunately, I did not end up finishing the book. I was hoping for a little bit more emotional complexity. The dialogue was nice, but the exposition left a little bit to be desired.

While I did really like the premise of this and enjoyed watching the story unfold, the writing unfortunately made it a bit hard to fully appreciate the plot or the characters, in particular the multiple POV's, when I think sticking with the main character would have been more beneficial.

I do also agree with other reviewers that the LGBT exploration aspect was more akin to cheating than genuine polyamory, which is a shame.

Ultimately I do think this is an interesting debut novel and I would be interested to see this author grow in future.

I'm all about young women fighting their way through an often-uncaring world to better understand and uphold their own unique identity, so this book's blurb really appealed to me.

At first I was fully engaged with the title character, Jade. Sadly, that didn't last. The writing and emotional tone was choppy, which gradually made the narrative harder to follow, and then point-of-view characters started switching. Some of them I preferred to Jade, who didn't seem to be learning anything on her journey and in fact alienated me by hurting them with her carelessness. I couldn't get re-engaged with her struggles and the ending fell flat for me.

As this is the author's first full-length novel I'm giving it points for ambition, relevance, and adding to a generally overlooked cultural niche. I hope her next book overcomes the neophyte struggles this one has.

Received an e-ARC from NetGalley and Dundurn Press in exchange for an honest review.

First of all I absolutely love this cover!
I feel like I was misled with the book description a little bit. Yes, it is a book about grief and coming of age, but in my mind we would see more of the immediate aftermath of her sister's death. And this feeling held me throughout the whole book and made me not enjoy it all that much tbh. I love reading about the journey of finding oneself, and that's what I liked in general about the book. But I remember reading it and think "eh, ok." I still would recommend this book because someone with expectations different than mine might have a different view of the book

This has such potential but I was truly disappointed in this. I didn’t connect with the characters at all and the story felt a little flat.

Every bit as enchanting and poignant as I hoped it would be based on the synopsis. Cant wait for this to be out in the world and to see what Tanya Turton does next.

What drew me to this book was the gorgeous cover, and the blurb really had me excited as well. I was looking forward to reading something similar to Open Water which was one of my favourite reads so far this year, or maybe something Rooney-esque.

The premise was intriguing and I was drawn into the story very quickly. However, that initial excitement wore off rather quickly as the points of view kept switching and the narrator glossed over a lot of things rather than showing them in much detail, which kept me from emotionally connecting with the characters. The writing was more telling than showing and it didn’t work for me, sadly.

I would have liked for the book to focus much more on Jade‘s journey and development (which was such a great and moving concept!) and for it to go into more depth generally. My reading experience felt like I was hurtling towards some kind of resolution, which never really did come as the ending was rather abrupt and inconclusive.

3/5 stars.

“We were no longer in a relationship with each other— I was in a relationship with my grief. A relationship so complicated and large there was no room for her.”
Jade is a Twisted Green is a novel by Toronto author Tanya Turton that conveys some things I can understand, like exploring sexuality and identity, loss , and another thing that I will never be able to relate with, the experience of being a person of colour.
Books like this one always leave me hesitant to criticise.
Its stunning, and the representation of beauty in Queerness is absolutely stunning, plus I enjoyed the confusion of the main character Jade. Jade is a twin less twin, navigating identity, work, friendship and love in her mid-twenties, which I think most mid-twenties people will be able to relate to. The daughter of Jamaican immigrants and grieving for her sister while also being concerned about her sexuality, Jade is going through it. But she also makes the novel really fun.
Lots of this sort of novel, queer mid-twenties being confused in the city, is just overwhelming sadness. This felt like it could be me and my group of friends, having a fun little summer while we are still young enough to do so. Texting our exes, hooking up with an old flame. Like. It’s fun.

But it’s also incredibly poignant. “This book is dedicated to Black women and femmes who have felt twisted in their becoming but continue on the path. To my sister Deanna— your time here impacted me forever. Thank you for planting seeds of self-love before I knew what they were.” Implying that – at least for me – the book is autobiographical. It feels like a very personal and beautiful journey for the reader to join Jade on, and I loved the vagueness of the ending.

Jade is a Twisted Green

⭐⭐⭐.5 3.5 out of 5 stars

Jade is a Twisted Green focuses on the life of Jade Brown, a twenty-four-year-old Jamaican woman living in Toronto. Grieving the loss of her twin sister, Jade struggles with her emotions. She attempts to find her own identity, detached from the more confident and popular Roze. Her journey starts with reaching out to an old lover and continues through parties, trips and relationships…

This novel was a fascinating read. It is a coming-of-age story of a Black and Queer woman. Sounds promising, right? Apart from maturing and exploring identity and sexuality, the novel focuses on grief. Jade seems lost without her twin, as she played the leading role in their relationship. She feels judged and compared to her sister, which highly affects her healing process. Reading about someone deeply influenced by grief was sad but not depressing. Tanya Turton found a way to balance the serious issues and more light-hearted events. The only fault I found in this novel is the fragmented narration that doesn’t flow naturally and seems confusing to follow.

In general, I would recommend this novel to the fans of slower, more emotional fiction—especially those interested in Black Women and Queer literature.

✨ In this debut novel by Tanya Turton, we follow the life of Jade, who lost her twin sister and overall tries to get a handle on her life, while trying not to hurt other people (which, spoiler alert, she is not that good at)

The book treats heavy themes, such as grief, depression, and suicide. And this is what I thought the book did best: I found the description of depression very well written, and there is one scene in particular where a panic attack is described that will live rent-free in my mind and touched me on a deeply personal level

However, it is not a perfect book in my opinion: it starts in a quite confusing way, and while it gets back on track in the second half, some characters were introduced as alternative points of view, who are then abandoned: it was a pity, not only because I love multiple points of views, but also because I felt this story would have benefited from it, especially to give some more nuance to the main character. I think Jade as a character had some development as a person, but it seemed a little too easy and quick, and while she thinks she is doing things right, I think some of the characters would have something to say

I overall enjoyed the reading and the writing, but I hoped for a little more nuance in the story, especially after having been introduced to new characters. I think this is a promising debut, but I hope she will write more, and can’t wait to see how she develops as a writer

I absolutely loved Jade is a Twisted Green! Although I found it a little rough to get into for the first 20-30 pages because I felt like it jumped around to different characters too much once I got an idea of who everyone was and got to know the characters more I completely fell in love with them all. I couldn’t help but root for Jade even through some not so great moments to find herself and heal from her grief while learning to lean on her friends for support.

For sure will be looking to add this one to my shelf when it comes out!

I really loved this! The writing style was so unique and poetic. It was a beautiful story I really enjoyed.

Jade is a twisted green is a story about processing loss and living after the death of a loved one. The content can be heavy and sad and the book definitely portrays that ever-pressing sadness of grief well. I found the narrative style jarring to me and had a really difficult time reading the book because of it. I felt like this could be improved if some “show don’t tell” edits done. There is a certain poetic quality of the narrative voice as well- but the constant descriptions of the situation (rather than feeling the emotions of Jade) just kept me from being immersed in the story.

This book is a masterpiece and I cannot wait to grab a copy when it's going to be published.

I love love love the writing style!! And I knew it from page 1, which is extremely rare for me.

I cannot believe how many quotes I highlighted from the very beginning to the very end. It's like I was hypnotized by the writing in this book. I fell in love with the characters, the atmosphere, and their (very complicated at times) relationships. And it was so hard to put down! Every time I had to do something I could not wait to go back to reading.

This was exactly what I needed for this summer: lots of descriptions of drinks and food to make your mouth water, complicated relationships, old friendships, existential crises when you turn 25 and you have no idea what you're doing with your life but everyone else seems to do and is already successful, grief and still dealing with the loss of a loved one many years later... and trauma (all of those extremely well handled and written).

I am beyond amazed and I need to keep an eye out for future releases from this author.

Some stunning passages to enjoy while waiting for the release day:

"What is new, however, is sharing my body with another. I feel like someone else has taken me over, as if I am still moving and living in this body but something, or someone else is always in here with me. It feels crowded in my mind, actually in my heart. Maybe both. These considerations I am making for this other version of me feel foreign. I don’t know her, yet I am her and I am not always sure I want what she wants. I am not sure I want to consider her. She is expanding in my being, requiring that I make space for her. She is exhausting. I want my heart and mind back. I hate her."

"She had never realized before how much of her personal rhythm was not her own, had always been a negotiation. Since birth she had shared her time and next steps with her sister, or with friends or lovers. She had been away for only three days but she began to sense her own desires. She embraced herself wanting things, rejecting previous plans and flowing into new ones. She had craved this sense of self, accountability without guilt, but had known alone time only through grief or self-isolation. This was not that. It was not isolation. It was intentional solitude. It was an openness to company that prioritized noticing her own desires first and acting on them without shame."

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. An emotional read as the main character Jade is processing life without her twin sister and figuring out her wants from life and relationships. I loved the multiple povs and the writing.
Thanks to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for an eARC.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

"Jade is a Twisted Green" by Tanya Turton is, about 24-year-old Jade Brown who is trying to move past the death of her twin sister.

I would give "Jade is a Twisted Green" by Tanya Turton a 2-star review because, 1; I felt many things weren't needed and caused me not to be able to connect with the main character and 2; what drew me in was the cover, but I found that couldn't get into this book at all and lost interest quickly

The prose and story here are poetic and poignant: the flow may take a while to adjust to, but the prose is gorgeous. The story took turns I didn't enjoy, but I loved the beginning.

I loved that the Jade was a writer. It makes the description and dialogue involving her more descriptive to read (the author did this well). The imagery in the book was great- especially love that the girls friendship group was Jade, Roze and Amethyst since Roze loved crystals. It’s a good book to read during the summer but not something that I would read over and over again.

I found the narrative style of this novel a bit tangled, and I was lost at times. It also felt a bit self-absorbed as a novel, with characters who lacked depth.

Overall not my favourite read.