The Color Jade: all of my love

by J. K. Hernandez

Set against the backdrop of a family scarred by trauma and fire, this novel is a haunting exploration of identity, intergenerational trauma, and the enduring search for love and self-acceptance. Alliyah, known to the world as “Artist” and to her beloved Jade as “Alli”, is consumed by an untamed inner rage. Her earliest memories are tied to blazes that forever reshaped her family and her entire world.

As her junior year of high school comes to an end the death of Jade set’s her world a blaze once again. She experiences the destructive and redemptive powers of love. This is a story of two women who burn brightly in each other’s lives, for better and for worse.

This novel offers a poignant look at what it means to confront the flames of the past—and what it takes to stop running from them or to finally give in and let it all burn.

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2025

Reviews

[abstractn0nsense · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a lot of potential but I found myself frustrated at the lack of cohesion, especially towards the end. I'm unsure if the book was edited, as there were a plethora of run-ons and exposition dumps that spanned several pages.

Things I liked:
-How the main character attributed colors to specific emotions
-The portrayal of certain mental disorders was largely done well
-How the subject of addiction was handled
-The main character's struggle with grief

Things I didn't like:
-The exposition dumps + journal entries
-The very explicit sex scenes between teenage (under 18) characters felt gross and oversexualized (I think fade to black would have been more tasteful considering the characters ages, or the characters could have been college age instead)
-The various side characters who are largely underdeveloped
-Lack of proper content warnings (several things like lesbophobia and self harm were not mentioned in the trigger warnings)
-Pacing was very off
-Plot elements were sometimes dropped and not mentioned again
-This book was incredibly high priced for a debut novel

All in all I am curious to see what Hernandez does next, but I do hope that the next project is more polished in terms of editing, pacing, and language. I look forward to seeing what else they write.

[Nova Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the sake of humor, I would describe this as the black + brown queer Notebook. In all seriousness, this book has simply changed my life and it’s an honor to have this book memorized in my mind with little lines that I remember. It breaks down grief in a way that is frankly gut wrenching, albeit, love must be present to grieve. The young, relentless, quiet, loud, and magnificent love that is between Alliyah and Jade is something that some go their whole lives without experiencing. This book gives insight into what that love looks like and my God…it’s reminded me that I have been through grief, and therefore I have loved. Do yourself the favor and read it, idk what else to tell you man.

[YuannaReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m giving this a very generous 3 stars because the parts that were good were very good. This book showcases mental health, grief , trauma , heart break and healing so well. It shows it in a way that is relatable and pulls at your heart strings. Those part were written beautifully BUT this book did not need to be this long. I skimmed so much of this book and still feel like I didn’t miss much of anything. There is too many unnecessary people, unnecessary dialogue , unnecessary story lines and unnecessary loopholes. Making this book way too long for what it needed to be.

[thehobbyhopper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The color Jade was a highly anticipated book for me. Found it on tik tok, and it was the first book I read on my new kindle . Of course I finished it in a weekend ! It was such a good book as someone who was looking for more WLW books (this was my first) and Artist is officially my book girlfriend. It catches your attention right away , it describes different ways people deal with grief and it’s a complicated story. I like that it’s not “wrapped up in a bow, happily ever after” it makes you think about what could have happened afterwards. There are parts where I wish things were expanded on, or characters I wish were introduced earlier, but I will say we were seeing it through Artists’ lens . There was probably purpose behind her suppressing certain things that came up and she didn’t want to address so I respect it and liked the mystery. I wish her coping skills were more highlighted like writing in her journal and how that is for her. One thing that kind of confused me was Jade’s sister and her role in Artist’s life and her age gap (I thought I read they were besties but idk) but it wasn’t major. Overall a great story, I felt like I could relate to Artist and Jade, which isn’t typical for me while analyzing characters. I can’t wait for the rest of this series and to see more from this author. It was just the kind of representation I was looking for!