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graciemarie95's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
4.0
chaos_na_regale's review
emotional
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? No
4.0
vselman's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
*I was gifted a copy of this book as a part of Multicultural Children's Book day for #ReadYourWorld.*
Ri is a Latinx teenager with a lot of questions about her past and her future. She also has questions about the people in her life. Why is her grandmother so strict? Why did her mother leave? Why is her best friend acting some of her Latinx friends are beneath her?
When did it all go sideways? And will her life ever get back on track?
It is a rocky road full of dashed hopes and heartache, but soon enough Ri finds the answers to these questions. And while the answers are not always exactly what she expected, she finds her way to a more authentic connection with the people in her life.
I read this book alongside 2 of my high school students as part of a reading circle. Both students are Latina and both connected with Ri and the other characters. They commented that liked the writing in this story because Ri sounds "like an actual teenager." They both identified with some of the family and social struggles that Ri experiences--trying to find the right balance between American and Mexican, drama in their friend circle, boy drama, and drama with their parent/guardians.
This book reminds me a bit of the movie Encanto in that there is a strong message about authentic communication and acceptance of others, and the healing that can result.
Ri is a Latinx teenager with a lot of questions about her past and her future. She also has questions about the people in her life. Why is her grandmother so strict? Why did her mother leave? Why is her best friend acting some of her Latinx friends are beneath her?
When did it all go sideways? And will her life ever get back on track?
It is a rocky road full of dashed hopes and heartache, but soon enough Ri finds the answers to these questions. And while the answers are not always exactly what she expected, she finds her way to a more authentic connection with the people in her life.
I read this book alongside 2 of my high school students as part of a reading circle. Both students are Latina and both connected with Ri and the other characters. They commented that liked the writing in this story because Ri sounds "like an actual teenager." They both identified with some of the family and social struggles that Ri experiences--trying to find the right balance between American and Mexican, drama in their friend circle, boy drama, and drama with their parent/guardians.
This book reminds me a bit of the movie Encanto in that there is a strong message about authentic communication and acceptance of others, and the healing that can result.
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use
smalltownbookmom's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up
I obviously wasn't the intended audience for this YA coming of age story featuring Ri, a Mexican American teen who has grown up in a household that focused on her lighter skin, denying her latinx roots but I still really enjoyed it.
Raised by her strict grandmoter, in the absence of her alcoholic mother, Ri goes tries to learn more about her culture, including taking a Spanish class and tracking down her mother. Along the way she learns more about her grandmother's experience with racism and why she pushed Ri to assimilate into mainstream society.
I enjoyed the family dynamics and friend relationships in this book. Ri has to negotiate how to embrace who she really is and what that means for her old friends and the group of Latinx teens she starts hanging out with. Recommended for fans of I am not your perfect Mexican American daughter.
CW: drug use, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, internalized racism
I obviously wasn't the intended audience for this YA coming of age story featuring Ri, a Mexican American teen who has grown up in a household that focused on her lighter skin, denying her latinx roots but I still really enjoyed it.
Raised by her strict grandmoter, in the absence of her alcoholic mother, Ri goes tries to learn more about her culture, including taking a Spanish class and tracking down her mother. Along the way she learns more about her grandmother's experience with racism and why she pushed Ri to assimilate into mainstream society.
I enjoyed the family dynamics and friend relationships in this book. Ri has to negotiate how to embrace who she really is and what that means for her old friends and the group of Latinx teens she starts hanging out with. Recommended for fans of I am not your perfect Mexican American daughter.
CW: drug use, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, internalized racism
blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
Maria, Ri, lives with her grandmother. Study hard, get into Yale or something, and live a better life than they did. She is also white passing and her grandmother thinks this is another great thing that will help her in life. They never spoke Spanish around her either and Ri knows nothing about her Mexican roots.
Ri did have this blind faith to her at times. Sure her grandmother was hard, but she genuinely wanted a better life for her grandkid. Not having to work from dusk to dawn, not having people look at you like you might snatch their purse. But she also neglects that Ri might want other things and go make her own choices.
Which brings us to her choices. People tell her that this one guy might not want what she wants. But she thinks they are idiots. Sure, you are a teen, and sometimes they think with their lower parts. Then she tries something, and does not understand why her friends thinks that is a bad idea. I can't say I liked how she made everything into something else. Oh and last her mum, blind faith in the mom she has not seen for dunno, 12 years? If your mum loved you she would have come back, maybe listen to bitchy grandma for once.
So a bit too many bad choices, I can take some, but I had to agree with grandma, and dang that made me feel old. Can't blame it all on being a teen, I would not have tried cocaine is all I am saying.
But it is a journey book, you have to make some damn stupid mistakes to see what truly matters, good friends, family and love.
It also deals with some hard subjects when she is trying to find out who she is.
Good narration. This was my first time listening to this narrator, and I would listen to her again. She did a great job with different voices and had the right feel of things
Ri did have this blind faith to her at times. Sure her grandmother was hard, but she genuinely wanted a better life for her grandkid. Not having to work from dusk to dawn, not having people look at you like you might snatch their purse. But she also neglects that Ri might want other things and go make her own choices.
Which brings us to her choices. People tell her that this one guy might not want what she wants. But she thinks they are idiots. Sure, you are a teen, and sometimes they think with their lower parts. Then she tries something, and does not understand why her friends thinks that is a bad idea. I can't say I liked how she made everything into something else. Oh and last her mum, blind faith in the mom she has not seen for dunno, 12 years? If your mum loved you she would have come back, maybe listen to bitchy grandma for once.
So a bit too many bad choices, I can take some, but I had to agree with grandma, and dang that made me feel old. Can't blame it all on being a teen, I would not have tried cocaine is all I am saying.
But it is a journey book, you have to make some damn stupid mistakes to see what truly matters, good friends, family and love.
It also deals with some hard subjects when she is trying to find out who she is.
Good narration. This was my first time listening to this narrator, and I would listen to her again. She did a great job with different voices and had the right feel of things
thenextgenlibrarian's review
5.0
A coming-of-age YA book about a girl struggling with her heritage, family and future.
thenextgenlib's review
5.0
A coming-of-age YA book about a girl struggling with her heritage, family and future.
whatanerdgirlsays's review
4.0
***REVIEW ORIGINALLY POSTED ON WHAT A NERD GIRL SAYS IN 2021, BASED ON AN ARC, DID NOT HAVE AN EFFECT ON MY REVIEW**
I’ll admit it – I stumbled upon this book by complete accident while browsing through Edelweiss, hoping that there would be an ARC available that would catch my eye. This cover stood out and also the recommendation that those who read and loved I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter would love this book as well. As someone who freaking loved that book, I was sold on that alone. I downloaded the book and then proceeded to read it all in one sitting, staying up entirely too late when I wake up at 530 am for work. I was immediately hooked into the story because I immediately felt connected to Ri. Ri’s main focus in this novel is that she has this heritage of being half white and half Mexican, raised by a Mexican grandmother, and yet she feels this weird imbalance of relating to her culture and not really knowing where she fits. I am also half white and half Mexican and while I am closer to my Mexican family, I do feel that imposter syndrome quite often, especially since I, like Ri, do not speak Spanish and was never taught to speak Spanish. I really appreciated Ri’s journey and her struggle to figure out how to balance the friendship she has with Brittany, a white girl who is very privileged and sometimes very unaware of that privilege, and the friendships she’s building with Nina, Cassie, Edgar, who understand her in ways that Brittany doesn’t. I think Nikki really captures the struggle in finding your identity when you’re mixed race, especially if you’re white-passing, and I think she does an amazing job at the confusion that comes with trying to connect with a culture that you weren’t really brought up with. Nikki’s characters are so human and her book is full of so many emotions, good and bad and in between, and its easy to relate to the characters and the story, even if your story isn’t quite the same. Add in the setting of one of my favorite places to take a day trip – Santa Barbara – and I was absolutely in love with this book and will definitely be adding a physical copy come October when it releases!
I’ll admit it – I stumbled upon this book by complete accident while browsing through Edelweiss, hoping that there would be an ARC available that would catch my eye. This cover stood out and also the recommendation that those who read and loved I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter would love this book as well. As someone who freaking loved that book, I was sold on that alone. I downloaded the book and then proceeded to read it all in one sitting, staying up entirely too late when I wake up at 530 am for work. I was immediately hooked into the story because I immediately felt connected to Ri. Ri’s main focus in this novel is that she has this heritage of being half white and half Mexican, raised by a Mexican grandmother, and yet she feels this weird imbalance of relating to her culture and not really knowing where she fits. I am also half white and half Mexican and while I am closer to my Mexican family, I do feel that imposter syndrome quite often, especially since I, like Ri, do not speak Spanish and was never taught to speak Spanish. I really appreciated Ri’s journey and her struggle to figure out how to balance the friendship she has with Brittany, a white girl who is very privileged and sometimes very unaware of that privilege, and the friendships she’s building with Nina, Cassie, Edgar, who understand her in ways that Brittany doesn’t. I think Nikki really captures the struggle in finding your identity when you’re mixed race, especially if you’re white-passing, and I think she does an amazing job at the confusion that comes with trying to connect with a culture that you weren’t really brought up with. Nikki’s characters are so human and her book is full of so many emotions, good and bad and in between, and its easy to relate to the characters and the story, even if your story isn’t quite the same. Add in the setting of one of my favorite places to take a day trip – Santa Barbara – and I was absolutely in love with this book and will definitely be adding a physical copy come October when it releases!
zo_em_ve's review
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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
3.0