A review by popthebutterfly
The Garden of Second Chances: A Novel by Mona Alvarado Frazier

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 

Disclaimer: I received this arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: A Garden of Second Chances 

 

Author: Mona Alvarado Frazier 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 5/5 

 

Diversity: Mexican Indigenous MC, Black Mexican character, Latina Bisexual character, BIPOC characters 

 

Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, criminal justice, immigration 

 

Publication Date: June 6, 2023 

 

Genre: YA Contemporary 

 

Age Relevance: 15+ (language, slight gore, alcohol consumption, gang violence, violence, rape mentioned, pregnancy mentioned, racism, death, infanticide mentioned, suicide shown, domestic violence, abuse of power, Christianity) 

 

Explanation of Above: There is some language in this book. There is some slight gore, violence, gang violence, domestic violence, infanticide, and death shown and discussed. Alcohol consumption is mentioned. Rape and pregnancy are mentioned. There are scenes of racism throughout the book. Suicide is shown and mentioned in this book. There are scenes of the juvenile detention center guards abusing their power. There are mentions of the Christian religion. 

 

Publisher:  SparkPress 

 

Pages: 376 

 

Synopsis: She didn’t run because she killed him, she ran because she didn’t. But no one believes Juana, an undocumented seventeen-year-old incarcerated for her husband’s death. Amid the chaos of prison and her grief, she creates a garden in the yard. A safe space. A place where she gains strength to take on the system before she loses her child. 

Juana, a seventeen-year-old mother, is sentenced to prison for murdering her husband. She claims she’s innocent—but no one believes her, including the prison staff and a gang leader in her block who torments her. 

Juana’s troubles aren’t confined to prison, however—she’s undocumented, and her husband’s bereaved family is now threatening to take her baby from her forever. Feeling hemmed in on all sides and desperate to stay out of trouble, Juana creates her own refuge in the prison yard: a garden she created. As she digs in the soil, nurturing the plants, she remembers her courageous, long-deceased mother, who she knows would never give in or give up. Juana’s only hope for saving herself and her baby is to prove her innocence—but how? 

 

Review: This book was so amazing to me. I absolutely loved reading every word of this book and the book definitely was something right up my alley because of my background in the criminal justice field. I loved seeing a POV of someone who was in a juvenile detention center and I think that YA could use more POVs of this, not to scare kids because this book wasn’t about someone who deserved punishment but to help kids see themselves more in books, especially if they have been victims of the corrupt prison system. The book made several excellent points about the system and its failures. The book  also made several good points about finding strength and inspiration to get out of heinous situations like this one. I loved how well written the book was and how moving every word and page was. I thought that the world building was also excellent. This has truly been one of my favorite all-time reads. 

 

The only thing I’d ever deduct from the book is that the book kind of leaves you hanging on what happens after the ending. I’d love a second book to that and I’d love to see what happened with the other girls in the detention center. I also wanted to see more POVs in the story, just based on my background and having seen so many different stories come out of juvenile court, but what I got was very perfect. 

 

Verdict: I absolutely loved it and I highly recommend this book for study and personal reading.