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A review by liteartha
Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
a story of two women finding themselves and, eventually, each other over the span of years. less a romance (as the characters don't meet until halfway through) and more a journey of self-discovery and grappling with painful pasts.
it's a challenge to identity what exactly about this book failed to make it really work for me. there were definitely elements i liked: believable chemistry between the mains, nicely flowing prose, and complicated family dynamics that felt well handled if a little under-explored.
part of my struggle may have been unique to the audio format, where i sometimes struggled with the dual-POV, both in the sense of the two mains having similar voices and with the story swapping between their teen and adult lives throughout. it might equally have been a matter of pacing and a lack of truly believable character development. while there's definitely growth from the characters, there was a recurring habit (particularly in sara's case) of traumatic events seeming to serve as stand-ins for actual character development.
julia whelan's narration served the story well, though faltered a little in the character voice department as some dialogue was challenging to make out. this was my first nina lacour and while i know it's an adult departure from her usual YA, i'd be curious to see how it compares to her earlier work.
thank you to netgalley and macmillan audio for providing this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review
it's a challenge to identity what exactly about this book failed to make it really work for me. there were definitely elements i liked: believable chemistry between the mains, nicely flowing prose, and complicated family dynamics that felt well handled if a little under-explored.
part of my struggle may have been unique to the audio format, where i sometimes struggled with the dual-POV, both in the sense of the two mains having similar voices and with the story swapping between their teen and adult lives throughout. it might equally have been a matter of pacing and a lack of truly believable character development. while there's definitely growth from the characters, there was a recurring habit (particularly in sara's case) of traumatic events seeming to serve as stand-ins for actual character development.
julia whelan's narration served the story well, though faltered a little in the character voice department as some dialogue was challenging to make out. this was my first nina lacour and while i know it's an adult departure from her usual YA, i'd be curious to see how it compares to her earlier work.
thank you to netgalley and macmillan audio for providing this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Infidelity
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Cancer