A review by archiveofrasa
Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester

emotional informative lighthearted 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? Yes

4.25

a YA story that delves into the immigrant experience and involving the intricacies of disabilities too? count me the fuck in. while I'm not an American immigrant and am not Latine, the experiences where very real and I could definitely understand the complexity. Verónica was a really interesting narrative to follow and it is always nice to read about a particular disability written by someone who has that disability. her strong interest in mermaids was really fun and unique (in my opinion) and intergrating her own culture's folklore into it was so nice !!! despite not being Latine, the way her parents act is very similar to how South Asians act and I similarly felt the same frustration she felt. also her experience of wanted to be treated normally and not singled out (negatively or positively) was really well done.

my main criticisms lie in my personal opinions and what more I wanted. I loved Alex but how their relationship developed was a little insta-lovey; wanted more development from them! Veró is also a little self-centred, which is very understandable considering everything she has been through, I just wish we got a little more room to discuss that with Dani and elaborate on the nuances of this situation. there was some really nice prose scattered around in the story that I ended up highlighting, but overall it did read very easily, fitting for YA, made me realise I'm expecting more from YA than I should 😭
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