joceraptor 's review for:

Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno

5.0

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I was home, and talking about Cuba had no place here. Mimi was never returning, my mother was always leaving, and I was a flightless bird left at her harbor, searching for answers that were buried at the bottom of a sea I could not know.

So ends chapter 1.

Don't Date Rosa Santos is so much more to me than just a sweet story about a girl on the brink of summer romance. I mean, it is that too and I'm sure that'll be enough to draw in plenty of lovers of YA contemporary. But for Cuban-Americans like myself, it's a story of who I am and who I never was. It's a story about the secrets we bury in our families for generations. It's a story about living in the hyphen, the feeling of straddling cultures and countries, the never-ending struggle to feel enough.

We follow my precious romper-wearing, bullet-journaling, overachieving Ravenpuff who is on a mission. Well, a couple missions. The first: to decide where to go for college. The second: to save Spring Fest.

I wish I could translate the experience of reading this book into words, but I don't have them. How does one even begin to review a book of their heart? All I can say is that Nina Moreno has a gift. She took things I'd only ever felt and put them into Rosa and Port Coral, which are vibrant and alive in ways that feel tangible. I was completely transported as I read this and I am absolutely certain this book will be a game-changer for other Latinx folks as well.

tw: death of a family member