Reviews

This was a sweet YA rom-com featuring a love triangle and lots of relevant themes. Ana and her mother have recently immigrated from Argentina to New Jersey to join her father, who has been there for a couple years preparing for their arrival. Frustrated by and curious about the idiosyncrasies of English and how to incorporate them into her poetry, Ana narrates this story. The narration shifts between English, Spanish, and “wa-wa-wa-wa.” In addition, chapters are interpolated with snippets of Ana’s poetry and English idioms. In fact, the structure was a bit confusing, especially on the audio, and I didn’t feel that the poetry added much to the story.

Beyond the language and culture details, the story focuses primarily on the relationships Ana develops. In math class, Ana meets a cute boy, Harrison, who asks for her help and quickly becomes a crush, representative of everything about her American dreams. In ESL class, Ana embraces the opportunities to explore American culture, encouraged by her teacher, who pushes her to submit poetry to a literary magazine, and Neo, a Greek boy who becomes her 80s movie watching buddy. On New Year’s Eve, Harrison invites her to a party, but when he’s kissed by another girl, she runs away and asks Neo to come pick her up, setting off a confusion of emotions as she considers what appeals to her about each of the two boys.

I like the characters and the story. It felt like a typical YA story, and the Author’s Note at the end was meaningful. I didn’t love the structure, and while the story was sweet, it was not particularly compelling.

alyssa_ruffo's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

willowmae's review against another edition

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Translating the second language was annoying, I need more head room to read it and translate it
However it was shaping up to be a good book

bookie27's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.25

This story was cute, but it was not one where I was dying to pick it up again to see what happened. It moved very slowly for me, to the point I almost wanted to DNF it.

ewitsemma's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

4.25

ashleyb19's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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