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A review by _christinacreads
All You Knead Is Love by Tanya Guerrero
5.0
Actual Rating 4.5 ☆
“But the truth is, if you don’t love yourself, it doesn’t matter how much someone tries to love you. They can try and try and try, but at the end of the day, it’ll be for nothing."
All You Knead Is Love by Tanya Guerrero is about Alba, a Filipino-Spanish-American 12 year old who ends up shuffled off to live in Barcelona with her estranged grandmother while her mom works on her relationship with Alba's narcisstic, abusive father.
This is a contemporary middle grade and lower YA coming-of-age novel about a multiracial girl who tries to understand and express herself and connect to her mother's culture and heritage through exploring unknown family connections and community through a passion for food.
This story was painful, beautiful, healing, and heart warming. It is queer coded and there is sapphic representation for a couple of the side characters. And honestly, my favorite part about reading middle grade books with queer rep are the one star queerphobic and transphobic ratings in the comments section.
Alba as a character was a fully fleshed out child with hopes and wishes and dreams. She was endearing and complicated and messy and just so beautiful. My heart broke for her and her mother who suffered under her abusive father. I loved how she grew into her own and tried to understand herself and gain more confidence in the way she chose to express herself.
The setting was lush and rich and I felt like I was transported into the streets of Barcelona all the while maintaining that aspect of Filipino culture through the language and people there.
As a child who grew up in a frighteningly parallel situation, being able to read a book like this even at my ripe age of mid30s was so very healing. I didn't have the escape that Alba did in flying to Barcelona but I did have my books and boy it would've been so nice to read this story growing up.
This book was so beautiful and very emotional for me. It's a story of growth and acceptance, and understanding and healing. In the words of Alba's mother "We survived, the two of us."
“But the truth is, if you don’t love yourself, it doesn’t matter how much someone tries to love you. They can try and try and try, but at the end of the day, it’ll be for nothing."
All You Knead Is Love by Tanya Guerrero is about Alba, a Filipino-Spanish-American 12 year old who ends up shuffled off to live in Barcelona with her estranged grandmother while her mom works on her relationship with Alba's narcisstic, abusive father.
This is a contemporary middle grade and lower YA coming-of-age novel about a multiracial girl who tries to understand and express herself and connect to her mother's culture and heritage through exploring unknown family connections and community through a passion for food.
This story was painful, beautiful, healing, and heart warming. It is queer coded and there is sapphic representation for a couple of the side characters. And honestly, my favorite part about reading middle grade books with queer rep are the one star queerphobic and transphobic ratings in the comments section.
Alba as a character was a fully fleshed out child with hopes and wishes and dreams. She was endearing and complicated and messy and just so beautiful. My heart broke for her and her mother who suffered under her abusive father. I loved how she grew into her own and tried to understand herself and gain more confidence in the way she chose to express herself.
The setting was lush and rich and I felt like I was transported into the streets of Barcelona all the while maintaining that aspect of Filipino culture through the language and people there.
As a child who grew up in a frighteningly parallel situation, being able to read a book like this even at my ripe age of mid30s was so very healing. I didn't have the escape that Alba did in flying to Barcelona but I did have my books and boy it would've been so nice to read this story growing up.
This book was so beautiful and very emotional for me. It's a story of growth and acceptance, and understanding and healing. In the words of Alba's mother "We survived, the two of us."