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surlymanor's review
3.0
Like a lesbian version of Rainbow Boys, this is a coming out novel set in Cuban-American Miami. Fun characters, light and fluffy plot - nothing earth shattering, but it was great to see such a variety of characters, social classes and cultures without too much doom and gloom.
askewmom86's review against another edition
4.0
I like this book a lot, you don't see many lesbian-themed YA books out there. I'm 26 but I missed out on youth fiction geared toward me as a youth. I had vampire books, that's about it. :/ anyway, pros: it was well written, truthful, and heartfelt. Cons: I did not like the Main Character's Dialogue. She sounded very juvenile for her age and spoke in a way I'd never heard myself as a 17 year old (half) tortillera. All in all I enjoyed the story, I liked the characters and I liked the ending. :)
babytloves2read's review
1.0
i made it to page 127 before i called it quits. honesty one of the worst books i’ve ever read
caedocyon's review
2.0
Ok, I finished it. I mostly managed by skimming a bit, which made the dialogue and general writing style more bearable. The nifty thing about this book is the representation: latin@ queer kids, being kicked out, making your own family, some genderqueer/trans representation. So maybe it's worthwhile for you if those are things you are desperate for. But you'll also have to spend a lot of time reading lists of things the characters think are cool ("She tells me more specific things she's interested in, such as sailing, scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, swimming, and camping. And she's fascinated with Cuba, zoology and anthropology.") and people buying improbable cars on tight budgets, so I can't recommend it without reservations.
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I've been trying to find this one for so long and finally bought it. I was looking forward to it, but first impression? Unreadable. Too fast, the dialogue is incredibly bad, the school administrators are hard to believe, the relationship is soppy as hell (maybe realistic for high schoolers, but not very enjoyable to read) and the long italicized flashbacks? Ughhhhh. I was also thrown by the way Tazer is introduced, but that's more YMMV.
At first I wondered if I had accidentally bought the wrong edition (apparently there are two versions, one YA and one more adult---which probably explains the name change of the main character), but this review: http://lesbrary.com/tag/mayra-lazara-dole/ says that they're very similar but the new one has been tightened up. So... Yeah. In light of all the positive reviews I'll probably return to this at some point, but right now I'm suffering secondhand embarrassment for the author. (8-5-13)
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I've been trying to find this one for so long and finally bought it. I was looking forward to it, but first impression? Unreadable. Too fast, the dialogue is incredibly bad, the school administrators are hard to believe, the relationship is soppy as hell (maybe realistic for high schoolers, but not very enjoyable to read) and the long italicized flashbacks? Ughhhhh. I was also thrown by the way Tazer is introduced, but that's more YMMV.
At first I wondered if I had accidentally bought the wrong edition (apparently there are two versions, one YA and one more adult---which probably explains the name change of the main character), but this review: http://lesbrary.com/tag/mayra-lazara-dole/ says that they're very similar but the new one has been tightened up. So... Yeah. In light of all the positive reviews I'll probably return to this at some point, but right now I'm suffering secondhand embarrassment for the author. (8-5-13)
kasiabrenna's review
2.0
I had high hopes for this one but couldn't get into it. The main character grated on me and her narrative didn't ring true somehow.
abigailbat's review
2.0
Everything changed for Laura the day her teacher read her love letter out loud. Laura's been dating Marlena for two years on the sly and suddenly the whole world knows she's a tortillera, a girl who loves girls. Laura's expelled from school and her mom kicks her out. Then Marlena is shipped off to Puerto Rico to marry a boy. But although she's hurting, big-hearted Laura's got a support network to hold her up while she figures things out. And eventually she'll figure out who she is and who will love and understand her down to the bone.
While I loved getting a unique perspective and couldn't help but like the vivacious Laura, there was too much telling and not enough showing. We're told that Laura's an environmentalist into making her own clothes and watching foreign films, but we never see any of that happening. There's a huge cast of characters in this novel and some random events that don't add to the story. I would have liked it better if it had been 150 pages shorter. That said, the Miami setting and cast of diverse characters make it stand out and I hope to see more from Ms. Dole.
While I loved getting a unique perspective and couldn't help but like the vivacious Laura, there was too much telling and not enough showing. We're told that Laura's an environmentalist into making her own clothes and watching foreign films, but we never see any of that happening. There's a huge cast of characters in this novel and some random events that don't add to the story. I would have liked it better if it had been 150 pages shorter. That said, the Miami setting and cast of diverse characters make it stand out and I hope to see more from Ms. Dole.
letsgolesbians's review
3.0
Good story. Pretty predictable, but the writing was good and the book was a quick read. It was nice to branch out into another culture for a minute.