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A review by whatanerdgirlsays
Everything Within and In Between by Nikki Barthelmess
4.0
***REVIEW ORIGINALLY POSTED ON WHAT A NERD GIRL SAYS IN 2021, BASED ON AN ARC, DID NOT HAVE AN EFFECT ON MY REVIEW**
I’ll admit it – I stumbled upon this book by complete accident while browsing through Edelweiss, hoping that there would be an ARC available that would catch my eye. This cover stood out and also the recommendation that those who read and loved I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter would love this book as well. As someone who freaking loved that book, I was sold on that alone. I downloaded the book and then proceeded to read it all in one sitting, staying up entirely too late when I wake up at 530 am for work. I was immediately hooked into the story because I immediately felt connected to Ri. Ri’s main focus in this novel is that she has this heritage of being half white and half Mexican, raised by a Mexican grandmother, and yet she feels this weird imbalance of relating to her culture and not really knowing where she fits. I am also half white and half Mexican and while I am closer to my Mexican family, I do feel that imposter syndrome quite often, especially since I, like Ri, do not speak Spanish and was never taught to speak Spanish. I really appreciated Ri’s journey and her struggle to figure out how to balance the friendship she has with Brittany, a white girl who is very privileged and sometimes very unaware of that privilege, and the friendships she’s building with Nina, Cassie, Edgar, who understand her in ways that Brittany doesn’t. I think Nikki really captures the struggle in finding your identity when you’re mixed race, especially if you’re white-passing, and I think she does an amazing job at the confusion that comes with trying to connect with a culture that you weren’t really brought up with. Nikki’s characters are so human and her book is full of so many emotions, good and bad and in between, and its easy to relate to the characters and the story, even if your story isn’t quite the same. Add in the setting of one of my favorite places to take a day trip – Santa Barbara – and I was absolutely in love with this book and will definitely be adding a physical copy come October when it releases!
I’ll admit it – I stumbled upon this book by complete accident while browsing through Edelweiss, hoping that there would be an ARC available that would catch my eye. This cover stood out and also the recommendation that those who read and loved I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter would love this book as well. As someone who freaking loved that book, I was sold on that alone. I downloaded the book and then proceeded to read it all in one sitting, staying up entirely too late when I wake up at 530 am for work. I was immediately hooked into the story because I immediately felt connected to Ri. Ri’s main focus in this novel is that she has this heritage of being half white and half Mexican, raised by a Mexican grandmother, and yet she feels this weird imbalance of relating to her culture and not really knowing where she fits. I am also half white and half Mexican and while I am closer to my Mexican family, I do feel that imposter syndrome quite often, especially since I, like Ri, do not speak Spanish and was never taught to speak Spanish. I really appreciated Ri’s journey and her struggle to figure out how to balance the friendship she has with Brittany, a white girl who is very privileged and sometimes very unaware of that privilege, and the friendships she’s building with Nina, Cassie, Edgar, who understand her in ways that Brittany doesn’t. I think Nikki really captures the struggle in finding your identity when you’re mixed race, especially if you’re white-passing, and I think she does an amazing job at the confusion that comes with trying to connect with a culture that you weren’t really brought up with. Nikki’s characters are so human and her book is full of so many emotions, good and bad and in between, and its easy to relate to the characters and the story, even if your story isn’t quite the same. Add in the setting of one of my favorite places to take a day trip – Santa Barbara – and I was absolutely in love with this book and will definitely be adding a physical copy come October when it releases!