Book Review: "Wish I Were Here" by Melissa Wiesner

Growing up with a father who was happiest when juggling or making people laugh, Catherine was the serious, focused one. She made sure the rent got paid on time (or packed up their things when they got evicted) and she always took care of her dad. But it gets exhausting being the one who always keeps it together.

She’s about to start work as a tenure-track mathematics professor. But all of her careful preparations go awry when the university says they have no record of Catherine existing. Even though she has all of her documentation, no one seems to think it’s real. Her job, her future, her identity are all in jeopardy.

With the assistance of Luca, the handsome doorman of her apartment building, she digs deeper into the whole situation. She discovers she never had her original birth certificate, which apparently her mother has. But she never met her mother, and her father refuses to tell Catherine anything about her.

Luca tries to help Catherine focus on the lighter side of life. As he helps her track her mother down, he also introduces her to a motley crew of the building’s residents, mostly elderly people. And it’s no secret their feelings for one another are much more than tenant-doorman.

This is a sweet love story, with a surprising touch of magical realism thrown in. I really enjoyed many of the characters, and the way the book handled both the lighter and more emotional moments.

I’ve read one of Melissa Wiesner’s previous books, and she’s the type of writer whose stories find their way into your heart and your mind. Definitely a feel-good book!

Book Review: "Fresh" by Margot Wood

Fresh, Margot Wood's debut novel, is a fun, sensitive, diverse, sex-positive YA novel about the craziness of freshman year of college.

“Hey, hi, hello there. My name is Elliot McHugh, I’m eighteen years old and hail from Cincinnati; I’m a Leo, a (mostly) chaotic-good extrovert, a freshman at Emerson College in Boston, and I have no idea what the hell I am doing right now.”

From the very start of this book, you know that Elliot, the main character, isn’t anywhere near as together as she thinks or hopes she is. But that’s doesn’t stop her from faking it as hard as she can.

She doesn’t have any idea what she wants to do with her future, unlike many of her classmates, so she chooses to focus on the good stuff—parties, hooking up, and…hooking up. Of course, it’s only so long before the reality of college comes back around to hit you in the face, and Elliot realizes that relationships (with friends, and those from whom you want more) aren’t what they’re cracked up to be, and partying all the time doesn’t help your GPA much.

I thought Fresh was such a fun book that hit home more than a few times for me. I remember freshman year of college and wanting desperately to fit in and make the kinds of friends I’d have forever. I also remember the freedom of not being monitored by anyone and how no one cared if you didn’t do your homework or show up for class—until you realized your grades suffered.

Elliot was such a hot mess and I totally rooted for her to get her happy ending. There was so much to love about this book, especially the diversity. I loved everything except the footnotes. I really HATE fiction that uses footnotes because it’s so distracting. (Oh, and the use of the phrase “tender chicken,” which almost made me hurl.)

This definitely was a fun, memorable read that reminded me of how far I’ve come!

Book Review: "Black Buck" by Mateo Askaripour

Wow, what a book. Black Buck, Mateo Askaripour's debut novel, is powerful, satirical, poignant, and so relevant.

Darren Vender isn’t unhappy with his life. He lives with his mother in a Bed-Stuy brownstone, works at a Starbucks in the lobby of a NYC office building, and loves spending time with his longtime girlfriend, Soraya. Maybe it’s not what one would expect from the 22-year-old former valedictorian of Bronx Science High School, but he’s fine with it, even if his mother wants more for him.

One day, feeling bored at work, he challenges a customer to step outside their comfort zone and order something different. This selling job wows the man, who happens to be the CEO of a tech startup in the building above the Starbucks, and he convinces Darren to come to work for him at his up-and-coming company, Sumwun.

What Darren finds at Sumwun is an almost cult-like environment, driven by pressure to close deals and make money. He’s the only Black person in the company and he definitely feels as if he’s treated differently, especially by the company’s ruthless sales manager. They call him “Buck,” because he worked at Starbucks, and that may be the least objectionable thing that happens.

After enduring an awful “hell week” of training, he decides to throw himself into this job fully, even if he’s not sure of the person he’s becoming, and he’s still experiencing significant racism from his coworkers, although no one wants to acknowledge it. When crises occur both professionally and personally, he has to decide what road to take—and what kind of a man he wants to be.

This book really packs a punch. It’s sly and satirical at times, while at others it can be shocking and provocative. Not everything that happens is believable—which was the one thing I struggled with a tiny bit—but this is built on an all-too-realistic core of the racism and mistreatment and discrimination faced by minorities in the workplace. It also deals with the divide between the person you are becoming and the person those in your life want you to be.

I thought Black Buck was so well-written and I couldn’t put it down. There were even some twists I wasn’t predicting. This is definitely going to be a book I’ll be thinking about for a long while, and I can’t wait to see what comes next for Askaripour.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Goodreads provided me with a complimentary copy of the book. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "We Were Promised Spotlights" by Lindsay Sproul

Lindsay Sproul's We Were Promised Spotlights is a story about owning who you are and making your own choices.

It’s 1999 in the small town of Hopuonk, Massachusetts. Taylor is the most popular girl in school. She’s beautiful—everyone tells her so—and everyone wants to be her and/or be near her. It’s expected she’ll be crowned prom queen and homecoming queen, and date the most handsome and popular boys in school.

It seems like the perfect life from the outside looking in, and even her future is determined—she should go to school to become a dental hygenist and marry the prom king. Who wouldn’t want that?

The only obstacle to all of this is Taylor herself. She doesn’t even like the smell of dentists’ offices. She hates her life, the constant pressure to party, look good, be popular. And she’s in love with her best friend, Susan. But of course, no one wants to know any of that, not Taylor's friends, not her waitress mother who also was crowned prom queen years before.

As senior year of high school draws to a close, Taylor is getting less satisfied with the idea of following the expected path. But how much is she willing to destroy everything and everyone else around her in an effort to be who she wants to be?

We Were Promised Spotlights was a well-written story about the pressures of “fitting in” when everyone thinks you’ve got it made. Certainly having to tell people you’re not who they think you are—or even if they have suspicions—is hard. Many of us have been there.

The thing is, I just really disliked all of the characters. I get the whole disaffected teenager thing but I just can’t find sympathy for people who are mean and allow others to bully people because they’re unhappy with themselves, afraid they’ll be exposed, or they’re just assholes. The whole “ridicule the gay people because you’re afraid someone will think you're gay” is real, I know (I've been a victim of it), but it wasn't enjoyable for me to read about.

Some have really praised the book, however, so maybe those with more distance from this kind of plot may enjoy it more.

Book Review: "The Black Flamingo" by Dean Atta

Gorgeously unique, Dean Atta's The Black Flamingo is a salute to finding and loving yourself.

Michael is a half-Jamaican, half Greek Cypriot boy growing up in London. He realizes early on that being mixed-race makes him different, as he’s not black enough for some in his family and not Greek enough for others.

He also knows he’d rather play with dolls and his female friends, and kiss the boys. After some ridicule by his peers he finds a way to get by, and he forms a close friendship with Daisy, a fellow outcast. But while his coming out doesn’t surprise anyone, he realizes he still has some growing and learning to do, and he needs to figure out who he is.

When he gets to university, he’s ready for freedom, but he still feels out of place until he finds The Drag Society. It is there he learns exactly how amazing and fierce he is, how much the only person’s opinion that matters is his own, and that when you love yourself it makes it easier to love others and be loved by them.

"He is me, who I have been,
who I am, who I hope to become.
Someone fabulous, wild, and strong.
With or without a costume on."

What an incredible, emotional, powerful book. This is a novel-in-verse interspersed with poems Michael writes, but it doesn’t read any differently than a traditional novel.

I devoured this one. I think this is such an empowering, ultimately joyful book that I will remember for a long time. Dean Atta has created a gorgeous book about race and pride at exactly the right time. May we all be as fierce as the Black Flamingo!

My month of Pride Reads keeps rolling!!

Book Review: "The Boy from the Woods" by Harlan Coben

With Harlan Coben's new book, The Boy from the Woods, the master delivers another twisty thriller full of secrets!

Thirty years ago a young boy was found living in the woods. It appeared he had been there for some time, but apart from some emotional trauma stemming from memories he can’t parse together, he was mostly fine. He befriended a boy who lived nearby, and he tended to break into people's houses to steal food, even watch television.

Now an adult who goes by the name Wilde, he is a highly intelligent former soldier who still lives in the woods, although he has worked as a private investigator. When famed criminal attorney Hester Crimstein, the mother of his best friend (the boy he met all those years ago), asks him to try and find Naomi, a bullied classmate of her grandson’s who has gone missing, it seems like a fairly routine case.

But Naomi’s disappearance, which no one really seems to care about (not even her father), is just the tip of the iceberg. Wilde steps into the middle of a high-stakes battle of cat and mouse, with betrayals, secrets, and the very fabric of society at risk. And all the while he’s struggling with whether he wants some insight into his own past.

There are a lot of threads to this story, some more interesting than others. I’ll admit that most of the thread about a potentially dangerous politician looking to tear society apart and manipulate the media hit a little too close to home for me, so my eyes kinda glazed over during those parts.

But Harlan Coben knows how to create fascinating characters, and Wilde is one of the best. I really hope he returns in another book. There is a lot going on here, with lots of twists and turns, including one that I’ll admit surprised me, and I couldn’t stop reading this book.

Coben's last three books, Home, Don’t Let Go, and Run Away, are among Coben’s best. The Boy from the Woods isn’t quite at that level, but it’s still a book that kept me guessing—and reading—to the very end.

Book Review: "Only Mostly Devastated" by Sophie Gonzales

This book is all kinds of adorable!!

"It was late afternoon, on the very last Wednesday of August, when I realized Disney had been lying to me for quite some time about Happily Ever Afters. Because, you see, I was four days into mine, and my prince was nowhere to be found. Gone. Vanished."

Ollie and his parents moved to North Carolina from California for the summer when his aunt becomes ill. He spends most of his summer at the beach, taking care of his young cousins. There he meets Will—handsome, kind, athletic, and fun—and it's not too long before the two have completely fallen for one another. But after Will leaves the beach to head home, Ollie never hears from him again—no calls, texts, nothing.

As if that's not enough for Ollie to deal with, his family has decided to stay in North Carolina to help care for his aunt for a year. Now he has to do his senior year in a completely new school, which seems like the worst possible scenario. Then he discovers that it's the same school Will attends, which is fantastic...until he discovers that no one knows Will is gay, and worse than that, this version of Will—the cocky, clownish, closeted bro—isn't someone that Ollie likes at all.

Ollie makes friends with a circle of girls, each with their own challenges to deal with. Will is torn between wanting to spend time with Ollie and overcompensating whenever one of his friends from the basketball team comes by and could possibly suspect the truth about Will. It gets to the point where Ollie is tired of being treated like dirt by Will, tired of being jerked around so Will can maintain his reputation.

Meanwhile, as things with Ollie's family get tougher and tougher to deal with, Will's on-again, off-again feelings become a challenge for Ollie, too. He understands what it's like not to be ready to share your sexuality with others, but Ollie doesn't deserve to be an afterthought. But how many times can he be the butt of a joke from Will's friends or, worse, Will himself? How can he stand by and watch as Will pretends to be someone he's not at Ollie's expense?

Only Mostly Devastated is a really sweet and funny book, with an added layer of poignancy. I like the complexities that Sophie Gonzales gave her characters, so this was a little bit more than just a high school rom-com. Once again, when I read this book I found myself wishing something like this existed when I was younger and wondered whether there was anyone else out there who felt the way I did, and once again I'm grateful we live in a world where books like these are plentiful.

I've got to question the marketing of this one, though: it's being billed as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless in this boy-meets-boy spin on Grease. The only similarity I see between any of those and the book is when Will's new friends realize that the boy he's been talking about is someone from their own school—a slight parallel to that scenario in the movie Grease.

As with many rom-coms, there's nothing earth-shattering about Only Mostly Devastated, but Gonzales' writing is so engaging, and its story is one you want to root for. Can you ask for much more than that?

NetGalley and Wednesday Books gave me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Only Mostly Devastated publishes March 3.

Book Review: "A Scarcity of Condors" by Suanne Laqueur

I'm not sure who it was that first told me about Suanne Laqueur's book An Exaltation of Larks, but they said it was one of the best books they had ever read. When I picked it up, I was utterly blown away by it, and I quickly dove into the second book in this series, A Charm of Finches. That one may have been even better, and I remember falling to pieces on a plane as I finished the book, which isn't a good position to be in. (Luckily it was dark.)

You can check out my review of An Exaltation of Larks here; my review of A Charm of Finches is here.

I just read the third book in this series, A Scarcity of Condors, and once again, Laqueur has slayed me. As I said in my last review, her ability to pull you into her books so completely, to feel such attachment to her characters that you can't stop thinking about them when you're finished reading, is absolutely dazzling. I can unequivocally say that these three books are among my favorites of the decade.

Juleón "Jude" Tholet knows how to fight to survive—it's ingrained in his genetics. His father Cleon was imprisoned and brutally tortured during Pinochet's military coup in Chile; his mother Penny fought tooth and nail to get him released, and after one last horrible round of torture left him hospitalized for some time, the two, along with their infant son, fled the country and moved to Canada.

But life in Canada isn't much easier for the family, as Cleon and Penny deal with the aftermath of their life in Chile, and then Jude, a closeted gay teenager, becomes the target of a neighborhood bully who discovers his relationship with his childhood best friend. Jude becomes the victim of a hate crime and their community subsequently turns on the Tholets, forcing them to once again flee their country, this time for America.

Over time, Jude is able to carve out a life for himself in Seattle, becoming a pianist for a professional ballet company. While he has had relationships, he's never let down his guard with someone the way he did with his friend in high school. One night, he and his parents, as well as his younger sister and her boyfriend, take a genetic test for fun. The results, however, are far from funny: Jude discovers that he is not genetically related to his parents.

Penny remembers waking up in the hospital in Chile after giving birth to Jude, following an attack by a soldier. Whose child is Jude, really? Was he switched at birth? Did something else occur? In that case, what happened to their actual child? These questions force Cleon and Penny to revisit those horrible days in Chile to try and uncover the truth, while Jude has to deal with the upheaval of everything he's known his entire life. How can he not be a Tholet?

A Scarcity of Condors looks at the brutal days of Pinochet's terrible reign over Chile—the way lives were brutalized, utterly changed, and, in many, cases, ended. It's a book about how the ties of our chosen family can be stronger than blood, and how much our families can mean to us. It's a book about survival, about finding strength where there should be none, and about how love can help pull us through. More than that, this is a book about new beginnings, about realizing we're worthy of love and happiness, and how one can embrace the past without dooming themselves to live it every day.

This is a gorgeous, sensitive, sexy, emotional book, full of moments that made me smile, made me blush, horrified me, and made me full-on ugly cry at times. The characters are simply gorgeous, fully drawn and complex, and this book sees the return of two pivotal characters from the last two books. (Boy, I hadn't realized how much I'd missed them.) Laqueur has done her research on the Pinochet days and it shows, yet the book never feels too mired in history, because her storytelling is so superb.

I'll end my review the way I ended my review of Laqueur's last book: Read these books. You've simply got to.

The author provided me a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "How to Be Remy Cameron" by Julian Winters

Why didn’t books like How to Be Remy Cameron exist when I was a teenager?

“We have no control over what labels others give us, but we can define who we are by the ones we choose to give ourselves.”

Remy Cameron is a pretty likable guy. He’s a good son (even when his parents get embarrassing), he loves being a big brother, he’s a great friend, and most people admire his courage for coming out at 14.

Remy is a lot of things—he’s a teenager, he’s adopted (he’s African American while his adoptive parents are white), he’s gay and the president of his school's gay-straight alliance—but isn’t he more than just a bunch of characteristics? Yet when he gets an assignment from a teacher he believes is a crucial part of getting into his dream college next year, it throws him for a loop: he has to write about who he is and who he wants to be.

Why is answering that question so hard? Why can’t he see himself as more than the visible things others see him as? His inability to answer the question of who he is starts to affect everything—his schoolwork, his friendships, and could threaten his future. And when he becomes infatuated with a returning classmate struggling with his own identity, and meets someone who might know how he’s feeling, he doesn’t know how to process everything.

I really enjoyed this heartfelt, poignant, thought-provoking book. It’s so difficult to figure out who you are, particularly in high school, and Remy’s struggles both felt familiar and unique.

I’ve said many times before I wish that books like this existed when I was younger because it would have given me hope when I needed it most, hope that I would’ve found acceptance and happiness being true to myself. But I’m so glad these books exist today, because while life isn’t quite perfect, it’s certainly a more accepting world in many places, and you can more often live the life you want.

It's ironic that Becky Albertalli, author of Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda, blurbed this book, because How to Be Remy Cameron reminded me a little of that one, although I felt it had a little more emotional heft. But both are such great books for today's youth to read.

Julian Winters did a really great job creating characters I cared about who were more than typical high school stereotypes—in fact, he turned many of those on their head. This really was so sweet and it made me smile.

Book Review: "The Prince and the Dressmaker" by Jen Wang

"Some days I look at myself in the mirror and think, 'That's me, Prince Sebastian! I wear boy clothes and look like my father.' Other days it doesn't feel right at all. Those days I feel like I'm actually...a princess."

Prince Sebastian is 16 years old, and his parents are pressuring him to find a wife. They keep suggesting all types of young women, princesses and other royalty from other countries. He knows he needs to be strategic to help the kingdom, but his heart isn't in it. It's not that some of these young women aren't nice, that he doesn't enjoy their company, it's just...he has a secret.

While by day, Sebastian fulfills his obligations as prince (sometimes just by the skin of his teeth), by night, Sebastian likes to dress in beautiful, eye-catching gowns, and take Paris society by storm as Lady Crystallia. His best friend, Frances, happens to be the most talented dressmaker and seamstress, and she creates Lady Crystallia's gowns, each one more avant-garde than the next.

It's hard, however, when you're the only one who knows your friend's deepest secret. Obviously, you want to protect your friend, but what if it means having to keep your achievements a secret, too? Everyone knows that Frances is Sebastian's seamstress, but if she started to get acclaim as the dressmaker for Lady Crystallia, it won't take long for people—especially the king and queen—to put two and two together and realize who Lady Crystallia really is. And that would be disastrous for Sebastian.

Jen Wang's The Prince and the Dressmaker is an absolutely wonderful graphic novel with gorgeous illustrations and an amazingly heartfelt story. Not only does it deal with the sacrifices we often make for our friends, and how sometimes we ask our friends for too much in an effort to enable us from avoiding important decisions, its unabashedly positive message that no one really should care what makes people happy if we love them made this book the perfect ending to my month of LGBTQ reads for Pride month.

Some have expressed criticism that Sebastian never declares himself to be gay, trans, or whatever, but all I kept thinking when I read this was the line from "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga: "Don't be a drag, just be a queen." Sebastian clearly expresses his conflict over his identity, and at 16, it's entirely plausible that he's unsure exactly how he wants to live his entire life.

This is the second graphic novel I've read this month and I am loving this genre. This was a super-quick read, but boy, did it warm my heart completely. It's such an amazing tribute to friendship, love, acceptance, and being exactly who you are. How can you quibble with that?

Find this amazing book, take it to your heart, and share it with those you care about.

Book Review: "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

Courtney Aloysius Cooper IV ("Coop") has been in love with his best friend Jupiter for as long as he can remember. He knows she is a lesbian so he knows a romantic relationship between the two will never happen, but that doesn't stop him from thinking about her all the time. Plus, it doesn't help that they spend almost all of their free time together since they live next door to each other and their families are intertwined. Heck, he even pledged his virginity to her when they were in seventh grade.

"Do I realize it's dumb to have secret feelings for my lady-loving best girl friend and to want said best girl friend to be my first sexual intercourse experience? Yes. But being reminded of the dumbness doesn't make me feel very good."

Every romantic relationship Coop has tends to end because of Jupiter, since none of the girls he dates can handle him having a gorgeous female best friend, regardless of her sexuality. Truth be told, Coop never seems too broken up about the relationships ending. But his best guy friends think he's just setting himself up for heartbreak, and want him to put together a "game plan" that doesn't involve Jupiter.

Jupe loves Coop (they refer to themselves as "Jupe-n-Coop") as a brother and a best friend, but she doesn't think of him romantically. She's waiting to feel something special for a girl instead of the myriad crushes she's had through the years. She's proud of who she is, even though some in school treat her as if she just needs a guy to help solve her problems, while some female classmates think she'd be fun to experiment with.

Enter Rae Chin. The new girl in school, she and Jupiter quickly become friends, which leaves Coop feeling left out. But when Rae and Coop realize they share a traumatic memory from childhood, the two begin a friendship which turns into a flirtation whenever Jupiter isn't around. And no matter how much Jupe tries to downplay Rae's flirty advances toward her, she starts falling for Rae. It's enough complication to rattle every side of the triangle.

Who wins and who loses when friends try taking their relationship to the next level? How do you know when you have true feelings or if you're acting out of fear, jealousy, lust, loneliness, or betrayal? Can you really trust anyone with your heart? How can you truly understand your sexual identity, and if it differs from what you told people, what does that mean for everyone else?

Odd One Out is a poignant, sweet, thought-provoking exploration of the bonds between friends and how romance can both blur and possibly damage those bonds. It's a well-written book about being honest with yourself and those around you, and how easy it can be to take advantage of someone whose feelings may be stronger for you than yours are for them. It's also a look at sexual identity and how it is shaped, and whether declaring who you are is really important.

I really enjoyed this. At first I worried if the characters would be stereotypical or one-dimensional, but Nic Stone is such a talented writer that I needn't have been concerned. These characters are ones you want to root for and know more about, but in the end, they're still high school students—they don't speak as if their dialogue was written by Aaron Sorkin and they're not wise beyond their years. That's one of the keys to this book's appeal, that it feels so genuine.

In Stone's author's note, she says the following: "Being who you are and loving who you love may not be easy, but it's always worthwhile." As I've said many times when I've read great YA fiction, this is one of those books I wish existed when I was growing up, but I'm so glad it exists at this time, and hope it falls into the hands of those who will benefit from it.

What I loved so much about Odd One Out is that it didn't try too hard to convey its message, but its heart definitely won mine over. This is a special book for those who explore it.

Book Review: "The Inexplicable Logic of My Life" by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The minute I received an email from NetGalley promoting Benjamin Alire Sáenz's new book, I jumped on it and submitted a request for an advance copy. I absolutely loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (see my review), so I figured even if this one wasn't that good, I still had to read it. Needless to say, I was so pleased to get approved right away, and I began the book the second I finished my previous one.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is a different book than Aristotle and Dante..., but man, was it special. I have a hellacious cold, making sleeping (and breathing, really) fairly impossible in my current state, so last night I read nearly the entire book, between 11:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. Needless to say, this is how I ended up:

Sal is ready to start his senior year of high school. It's going to be a pivotal year with so much on the horizon, but while his childhood best friend Samantha can think of nothing more than going to college as far away from El Paso as she can (no matter what her mother says), he's getting more and more stressed about the potential for change. Suddenly this anxiety is manifesting itself via anger—all he wants to do is hit people. Whether it's the idiot who called his father a faggot, someone who called him a pinche gringo (even though he is white, he was adopted by his Mexican father), or one of Sam's bad-guy boyfriends, he suddenly can't stop using his fists, and he doesn't understand why, and he is afraid of how people will react if they knew how angry he was.

"But Sam, she had this image of me that I was a good boy, and she was in love with that image. She was in love with simple, uncomplicated, levelheaded Sally. And I didn't know how to tell her that I wasn't all those beautiful things she thought I was. That things were changing, and I could feel it but couldn't put it into words."

Sadly, life throws them curve after curve in this crucial year, and Sal must deal with some major emotional crises, and come to terms with who he is, and what becoming a man really means. But at the same time, he realizes once again the power of friendship and family, of words, of loving and being loved, and of giving people a chance. This is a beautiful, emotional, heart-warming, and life-affirming book, and although there was perhaps a little too much melodrama to deal with in the plot, I applaud Sáenz for not taking the story down a few paths I feared he might.

One of the reasons I love Sáenz's writing so much is that he has such a love for his characters that you can't help loving them, too, and seeing them in your mind's eye. This book is 450+ pages long yet I could have read more, although I might have gotten dehydrated from all of the crying! (And not just sad crying, but good crying, too.)

He uses beautiful imagery and creates some poetic moments, even if at times some friction would have been avoided if people just said what they felt. But ultimately, this is one of those books that teaches you to let yourself be loved, and that no matter what your background or life situation is, you still are entitled to dream and believe in yourself.

I'll sit and wait for Sáenz's next book, readying for this again:

NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group/Clarion Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!