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moserk's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
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
3.5
Love the premise - YA read with big themes and their intersectionality:
- immigrants/immigration
- LGBTQIA identities and their acceptance/lack thereof
- familial roles
- medical/healthcare ethics,
but execution fell short of my high hopes + left me wanting more. That said, really happy to know this exists in YA.
The pace felt rushed - just 50 more pages to shed more light, please! And some pieces really lacked clarity - although, maybe some of this is due to the focus on character/topic diversity, which again, I much appreciated. I (literally) felt like this story was all over the place - couldn't keep our location sequence sorted.
Worth noting: I had both a physical and audio copy of this and understood better during my physical chapters. At first I thought the detail disconnect was a symptom of my audio portions, but a quick peek at other reviews tells me that I'm not alone here.
The pace felt rushed - just 50 more pages to shed more light, please! And some pieces really lacked clarity - although, maybe some of this is due to the focus on character/topic diversity, which again, I much appreciated. I (literally) felt like this story was all over the place - couldn't keep our location sequence sorted.
Worth noting: I had both a physical and audio copy of this and understood better during my physical chapters. At first I thought the detail disconnect was a symptom of my audio portions, but a quick peek at other reviews tells me that I'm not alone here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Grief, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Homophobia
elissarodriguez22's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
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? It's complicated
3.0
I really wanted to love this book. It touches on how undocumented people/ people of color have always been used as medical experiments for the US. How we can not trust government officials, the difficulties of being queer and POC, and being in a new country.
But it fell just a bit short, I wanted it expanded on more, flushed out. The ending just feels like “welp, that’s that on that”
Anyway, loved the concept, wasn’t the happiest with the execution
But it fell just a bit short, I wanted it expanded on more, flushed out. The ending just feels like “welp, that’s that on that”
Anyway, loved the concept, wasn’t the happiest with the execution
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
avacadosocks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Violence, and Pedophilia
Minor: Medical content, Fatphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Racism
sewoller's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Murder, and Sexual harassment
hobbithopeful's review
dark
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? No
4.5
Would you take on someone else's pain and grief for a chance at a better life?
Marisol has little choice to do otherwise when she agrees to be a part of an experiment in exchange for safety for her and her sister. As the experiment progresses the burden of pain soon becomes overbearing, but she can't help but grow closer and closer to Rey, even though when she touches her the pain is all consuming.
A very real look at how immigrants are treated, this book was heartfelt, real, and full of grief. I do wish it was a bit longer, I still had so many questions, or maybe I just wasn't ready to leave these characters yet. I was afraid this was going to be a very heavy read, and while it does have pockets of sadness, it was nothing too difficult or graphic for me to get through.
It's very easy to forget the privilege we have for being in America, as bad as events and people here can be, there are countless others who works themselves to the bone and risk everything to come here.
I highly recommend this book.
Marisol has little choice to do otherwise when she agrees to be a part of an experiment in exchange for safety for her and her sister. As the experiment progresses the burden of pain soon becomes overbearing, but she can't help but grow closer and closer to Rey, even though when she touches her the pain is all consuming.
A very real look at how immigrants are treated, this book was heartfelt, real, and full of grief. I do wish it was a bit longer, I still had so many questions, or maybe I just wasn't ready to leave these characters yet. I was afraid this was going to be a very heavy read, and while it does have pockets of sadness, it was nothing too difficult or graphic for me to get through.
It's very easy to forget the privilege we have for being in America, as bad as events and people here can be, there are countless others who works themselves to the bone and risk everything to come here.
I highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Death, and Homophobia
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual violence
Minor: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
vampire_burrito's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I spent the majority of this book feeling aggressively neutral about it, however I did really like some parts towards the end talking about Marisol's grief/depression. I think I enjoyed the relationship between the two main girls. I liked the parts where they were connecting over their shared love of some old Gilmore Girls-esque show, I thought that was very sweet but on the other hand I wasn't convinced that they would have come to care that deeply for each other in under a month. The other thing I wasn't too sure about was the whole "experiment". I'm not convinced that it was legal and the whole thing felt a bit underdeveloped, which is unfortunate because it's what the entire book is about. I was interested in the commentary that it was supposed to be provided on human experimentation and the way immigrant bodies were used in this program, but I think the book could have gone a little bit deeper (the same things go for all the themes present).That being said, I did enjoy reading about the relationship between Marisol and her younger sister (always love a sibling relationship especially when the MC is an older sister) and, as I've already said, the parts about Marisol and Rey (is that her name. The love interest.) shared grief. Some of the passages really made me feel something and I would say that the book is worth picking up just for those bits. It's one I will probably re-read at some point. I would recommend this book to people who want a YA novel with a sweet sapphic romance, a focus on serious subjects but with a hopeful ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia
browdya's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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
sweet romance, really interesting premise, definitely very YA feeling towards the end but super good for younger readers. the plot lost my interest in places but the characters and relationships were lovely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Pedophilia, Homophobia, Rape, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, and Mental illness
novelyon's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-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
3.5
The development of Marisol and Rey's relationship was sweet and I enjoyed their parallel arcs as they both discover how they should each tackle their own grief and trauma in a healthy way. The sisterly dialogue between Marisol and Gabi was written very well. The greatest strength of this book was the conversations; each character had a distinct voice and personality, and it was always a joy to just read about the characters talking.
While I enjoyed the characters' arcs and relationships, I found the plot itself to be a bit slow (especially in the beginning, with multiple chapters explaining how the grief transfer works, which doesn't feel very important as this book is very light sci-fi anyway), and the themes could've been touched on with a little more depth. For a novel where the protagonist is a brown immigrant being exploited for a privileged white girl, it lets off the characters that caused and perpetuated that exploitation surprisingly, and disappointingly, lightly. Not only that, but I wish the book dealt with Gabi's trauma more as well; both sisters have been through so much yet the novel doesn't quite touch upon Gabi as it does Marisol; there are many moments where Marisol goes "she's been through so much," yet there are very few moments outside of a precious few lines of dialogue that show that Gabi and some of her behaviors may be processing her own traumas as well.
The ending was also quite abrupt:Like they're searching for Gabi and her friend Juliette at this party but it ends when Marisol just finds Gabi...where was Juliette LOL
Overall, a wonderful book to read if you are invested for the relationships between the characters, but if one wants to read a book that really dives into the heavy topic of US immigration policy and exploitation, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.
While I enjoyed the characters' arcs and relationships, I found the plot itself to be a bit slow (especially in the beginning, with multiple chapters explaining how the grief transfer works, which doesn't feel very important as this book is very light sci-fi anyway), and the themes could've been touched on with a little more depth. For a novel where the protagonist is a brown immigrant being exploited for a privileged white girl, it lets off the characters that caused and perpetuated that exploitation surprisingly, and disappointingly, lightly. Not only that, but I wish the book dealt with Gabi's trauma more as well; both sisters have been through so much yet the novel doesn't quite touch upon Gabi as it does Marisol; there are many moments where Marisol goes "she's been through so much," yet there are very few moments outside of a precious few lines of dialogue that show that Gabi and some of her behaviors may be processing her own traumas as well.
The ending was also quite abrupt:
Overall, a wonderful book to read if you are invested for the relationships between the characters, but if one wants to read a book that really dives into the heavy topic of US immigration policy and exploitation, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Outing
Minor: Blood, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Racism
snowydaze's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
The ending was a bit rushed, otherwise I loved the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Murder, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Cursing, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Medical content, and Hate crime
mckeelyshannon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
One of my favorite lines from this book is “A heaviness sits under my skin, above my bones—an invisible, smothering blanket. Pavor, angustia, pánico, a collection of heavy, gut-churning feelings. I am drowning.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault