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illbefinealone's review against another edition
4.0
You can also read this review on my blog illbefinealonereads.
A huge thanks to Algonquin Young Readers for the chance to be a part of this blog tour.
Tigers, Not Daughters was a surprising read.
It surprised me with how well it was written. The writing flowed well, it was paced just to my liking, and it was captivating from the beginning. The style in this book is perfectly suited with the storyline as it balances it out by keeping things short and sweet, and with that keeping your attention.
It also surprised me with how dark and heartbreaking it got at times, and I think that is mostly due to how well the characters are developed. I couldn’t help but empathize and feel connected to them, though the circumstances aren’t something I’m familiar with, not even remotely. But the characters and their emotions are brought so well on the page, they are so vivid that they feel so realistic, despite the fact that this story touches on the fantasy/magical realism genre.
The only thing I can note as something I wish was better was the ending. It’s quite a satisfying one, but it did leave me with a few questions, as not everything is answered throughout the text. I hope that the sequel that is scheduled for next year will answer those.
I recommend Tigers, Not Daughters. I feel like it’s an experience that fans of YA/Contemporary Fantasy should give a chance to.
*Copy received through NetGalley
*Rating 4/5 stars
A huge thanks to Algonquin Young Readers for the chance to be a part of this blog tour.
Tigers, Not Daughters was a surprising read.
It surprised me with how well it was written. The writing flowed well, it was paced just to my liking, and it was captivating from the beginning. The style in this book is perfectly suited with the storyline as it balances it out by keeping things short and sweet, and with that keeping your attention.
It also surprised me with how dark and heartbreaking it got at times, and I think that is mostly due to how well the characters are developed. I couldn’t help but empathize and feel connected to them, though the circumstances aren’t something I’m familiar with, not even remotely. But the characters and their emotions are brought so well on the page, they are so vivid that they feel so realistic, despite the fact that this story touches on the fantasy/magical realism genre.
The only thing I can note as something I wish was better was the ending. It’s quite a satisfying one, but it did leave me with a few questions, as not everything is answered throughout the text. I hope that the sequel that is scheduled for next year will answer those.
I recommend Tigers, Not Daughters. I feel like it’s an experience that fans of YA/Contemporary Fantasy should give a chance to.
*Copy received through NetGalley
*Rating 4/5 stars
fawngutz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Grief
Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, and Mental illness
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Child death
missprint_'s review against another edition
5.0
This piece originally appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books:
Everyone in Southtown knows the four Torres sisters. And everyone remembers the night they were caught trying to run away — especially the boys across the street, who flock to Hector's house at night to watch Ana, the eldest at almost 18, undress in her bedroom window.
While she does, they dream of all the ways they could save her from their "old neighborhood, with its old San Antonio families and its traditions so strong and deep we could practically feel them tugging at our heels when we walked across our yards."
If it wasn't for their infatuation and accidental intervention in the sisters’ escape attempt, everything might have been different. Ana would never have fallen from her window; she "wouldn’t have died two months later and her sisters wouldn’t have been forced to suffer at the hands of her angry ghost."
A year later, after "a brief but catastrophic mourning period," the girls’ widowed father is barely keeping it together. Jessica is trying to focus on her boring job at the pharmacy, her boyfriend, and not much else. Iridian hasn't left the house in weeks — all the better to read Ana's old supernatural romances and write the best scenes of her own. And Rosa, the youngest, always "more attentive than most people," tries to follow the signs — the connections — when a hyena goes missing from the zoo on the anniversary of Ana's death.
Set primarily over the course of 10 days, Tigers, Not Daughters follows the surviving sisters in close third-person as they move through the grief over Ana's death and the increasingly obvious signals that she isn't entirely gone.
Flashbacks narrated collectively by Hector's friends relate all of the ways in which the boys bear witness to the disasters that befall the Torres sisters and, more importantly, highlight "the many times we could have said or done something and, instead, we said and did nothing."
These multiple viewpoints allow the story to shift between the girls' linear narrations and the boys’ flashbacks that chronicle all the ways the sisters have been objectified — and failed — by the men in their lives.
This shift is especially obvious as Jessica repeatedly tries to move out of her overbearing and abusive boyfriend's shadow, “tired of boys pulling on her, attempting to invade the life she’d tried so hard to keep protected.”
Though each sister has her own journey to complete while making peace with Ana's sudden death, all three learn the importance of saving themselves — and each other — instead of remaining, as Iridian thinks, at the mercy of men “trying to leave their bruises all over her and her sisters.”
Throughout Tigers, Not Daughters, author Samantha Mabry blends elements of magical realism, moments of connection and grief, and genuinely eerie scares to create a story exploring the “magic in small things,” as well as a timely ode to sisterhood and feminism.
Possible Pairings: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu, Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova, When I Cast Your Shadow by Sarah Porter, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby, A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma, The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters, Who Killed Christopher Goodman? by Allan Wolf
Everyone in Southtown knows the four Torres sisters. And everyone remembers the night they were caught trying to run away — especially the boys across the street, who flock to Hector's house at night to watch Ana, the eldest at almost 18, undress in her bedroom window.
While she does, they dream of all the ways they could save her from their "old neighborhood, with its old San Antonio families and its traditions so strong and deep we could practically feel them tugging at our heels when we walked across our yards."
If it wasn't for their infatuation and accidental intervention in the sisters’ escape attempt, everything might have been different. Ana would never have fallen from her window; she "wouldn’t have died two months later and her sisters wouldn’t have been forced to suffer at the hands of her angry ghost."
A year later, after "a brief but catastrophic mourning period," the girls’ widowed father is barely keeping it together. Jessica is trying to focus on her boring job at the pharmacy, her boyfriend, and not much else. Iridian hasn't left the house in weeks — all the better to read Ana's old supernatural romances and write the best scenes of her own. And Rosa, the youngest, always "more attentive than most people," tries to follow the signs — the connections — when a hyena goes missing from the zoo on the anniversary of Ana's death.
Set primarily over the course of 10 days, Tigers, Not Daughters follows the surviving sisters in close third-person as they move through the grief over Ana's death and the increasingly obvious signals that she isn't entirely gone.
Flashbacks narrated collectively by Hector's friends relate all of the ways in which the boys bear witness to the disasters that befall the Torres sisters and, more importantly, highlight "the many times we could have said or done something and, instead, we said and did nothing."
These multiple viewpoints allow the story to shift between the girls' linear narrations and the boys’ flashbacks that chronicle all the ways the sisters have been objectified — and failed — by the men in their lives.
This shift is especially obvious as Jessica repeatedly tries to move out of her overbearing and abusive boyfriend's shadow, “tired of boys pulling on her, attempting to invade the life she’d tried so hard to keep protected.”
Though each sister has her own journey to complete while making peace with Ana's sudden death, all three learn the importance of saving themselves — and each other — instead of remaining, as Iridian thinks, at the mercy of men “trying to leave their bruises all over her and her sisters.”
Throughout Tigers, Not Daughters, author Samantha Mabry blends elements of magical realism, moments of connection and grief, and genuinely eerie scares to create a story exploring the “magic in small things,” as well as a timely ode to sisterhood and feminism.
Possible Pairings: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu, Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova, When I Cast Your Shadow by Sarah Porter, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby, A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma, The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters, Who Killed Christopher Goodman? by Allan Wolf
theoverflowingbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
After receiving critical acclaim for her novel, All the Wind in the World, Samantha Mabry is back with a new young adult novel about sisterhood and remaining strong during tough times. Set to be released March 24th, 2020, Mabry's new novel, Tigers, Not Daughters, shows how it takes a lot to break the bonds of sisterhood.
The Torres sisters dream of escape. Escape from their needy and despotic widowed father, and from their San Antonio neighborhood, full of old San Antonio families and all the traditions and expectations that go along with them. In the summer after her senior year of high school, Ana, the oldest sister, falls to her death from her bedroom window. A year later, her three younger sisters, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, are still consumed by grief and haunted by their sister’s memory. Their dream of leaving Southtown now seems out of reach. But then strange things start happening around the house: mysterious laughter, mysterious shadows, mysterious writing on the walls. The sisters begin to wonder if Ana really is haunting them, trying to send them a message—and what exactly she’s trying to say.
This story about sisterhood is moving and haunting. Each of the Torres Sisters is broken and grief-stricken in their own way a year after their eldest sister’s death.
I found the message about strength in sisterhood to be very relatable, seeing as I have two sisters myself. The way they reignite their love and protectiveness over one enough is beautiful to see. Building off the fact that I have two sisters, I know how each of us has our own distinct personality and Mabry does a great job of showcasing these girls’ differences. Seen especially in the way they cope with Ana’s death, each sister assumes a certain role and it isn’t until the event of the novel that things start to change a bit. Despite the vast differences between Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, each sister has a lot more in common with the other than it first appears.
The narration style is a bit choppy and makes it a bit confusing to follow everything and I found a few things to be inconclusive at the end; however, it was still an enjoyable read. I also wish we could’ve gotten a bit more background on Ana and gotten a definitive reason for her ghostly return, but I guess one can never truly know why a ghost has come to haunt its old house!
While this novel starts off a bit slow and mixed up, the pace picks up towards the end and the way the story is written gets a bit easier to understand. The way each sister tries to move on from Ana’s tragic death and learn to live in the world of grief is moving and bittersweet. Overall, this tragic novel is beautifully written and is sure to take the YA world by storm.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Torres sisters dream of escape. Escape from their needy and despotic widowed father, and from their San Antonio neighborhood, full of old San Antonio families and all the traditions and expectations that go along with them. In the summer after her senior year of high school, Ana, the oldest sister, falls to her death from her bedroom window. A year later, her three younger sisters, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, are still consumed by grief and haunted by their sister’s memory. Their dream of leaving Southtown now seems out of reach. But then strange things start happening around the house: mysterious laughter, mysterious shadows, mysterious writing on the walls. The sisters begin to wonder if Ana really is haunting them, trying to send them a message—and what exactly she’s trying to say.
This story about sisterhood is moving and haunting. Each of the Torres Sisters is broken and grief-stricken in their own way a year after their eldest sister’s death.
I found the message about strength in sisterhood to be very relatable, seeing as I have two sisters myself. The way they reignite their love and protectiveness over one enough is beautiful to see. Building off the fact that I have two sisters, I know how each of us has our own distinct personality and Mabry does a great job of showcasing these girls’ differences. Seen especially in the way they cope with Ana’s death, each sister assumes a certain role and it isn’t until the event of the novel that things start to change a bit. Despite the vast differences between Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, each sister has a lot more in common with the other than it first appears.
The narration style is a bit choppy and makes it a bit confusing to follow everything and I found a few things to be inconclusive at the end; however, it was still an enjoyable read. I also wish we could’ve gotten a bit more background on Ana and gotten a definitive reason for her ghostly return, but I guess one can never truly know why a ghost has come to haunt its old house!
While this novel starts off a bit slow and mixed up, the pace picks up towards the end and the way the story is written gets a bit easier to understand. The way each sister tries to move on from Ana’s tragic death and learn to live in the world of grief is moving and bittersweet. Overall, this tragic novel is beautifully written and is sure to take the YA world by storm.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
thelovelylibrarylady's review against another edition
emotional
sad
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? Yes
3.0
sarahsbookchat's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Another one that snuck up on me. This happens when you don’t read the synopsis.
bailey1196's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
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? Yes
3.0
karly_ackley's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Car accident, Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Animal death