Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maritza Moulite, Maika Moulite

2 reviews

moonytoast's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I'm so happy that I happened upon this book by chance.... There were so many moments where I was surprisingly on the edge of my seat, which isn't a frequent occurrence for me with young adult contemporary fiction. I won't go into details, but I think the Moulite sisters weave a lovely, engaging epistolary novel about coming of age and family. Recently, I've been wondering if I'm just too old to enjoy young adult contemporary fiction as much as I previously did, but this book proved me wrong.

My favorite aspect of this book was the writing style. I've made it no secret that I generally prefer third person narration, but Maika and Maritza Moulite use the first person point of view to their advantage and create a Distinct Character Voice™ that helps to further build out Alaine as a protagonist.
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sarah984's review against another edition

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emotional informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I really liked the idea of this book, but the execution was lacking for me.

First off, things I liked. It was interesting to see a YA where the main character has divorced parents who still have a decent relationship. Both parents were supportive in their own way and had interesting stories. I liked the idea of Alaine going to Haiti to understand her history, and the way the country and culture were described was great.

Things I didn't like: Alaine is supposed to be 17 but she's very immature and babyish so it makes her relationship with a "college boy" seem skeevier than it is. The idea of her including the flirty slack messages in her final project is absurd. The embezzlement plotline felt unnecessary and the culprit is the one person who acts suspiciously. The adults all have interesting stories that are barely delved into. Rosaline in particular is more plot device than person. The tone in general is a wild pendulum between silly teen antics and very serious subject matter
(not just the mom’s Alzheimers but another character dies out of nowhere and this is handled in an absolutely bizarre manner).
The whole family curse plotline felt kind of pointless (especially having so recently read <i>When You Trap a Tiger</i> which did this better) and I would have liked to see more of Alaine’s work with the Patron Pal app and kids instead.
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