E-Audio, 10:38:15
Narrated by: Bahn Turpin
Release Date: September 23, 2019Published by: Harlequin Audio
Read from: January 30-February 3, 2020Stand-aloneSource: LibraryTW:For fans of: Contemporary, Romance, POC on Cover, POC MC, Sparkly Covers, Realistic Fiction, YA
Co-written by sisters Maika and Maritza Moulite, and told in epistolary style through letters, articles, emails, and diary entries, this exceptional debut novel captures a sparkling new voice and irrepressible heroine in a celebration of storytelling sure to thrill fans of Nicola Yoon, Ibi Zoboi and Jenna Evans Welch!
When a school presentation goes very wrong, Alaine Beauparlant finds herself suspended, shipped off to Haiti and writing the report of a lifetime…
You might ask the obvious question: What do I, a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience, have to say about anything?
Actually, a lot.
Thanks to “the incident” (don’t ask), I’m spending the next two months doing what my school is calling a “spring volunteer immersion project.” It’s definitely no vacation. I’m toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle at her new nonprofit. And my lean-in queen of a mother is even here to make sure I do things right. Or she might just be lying low to dodge the media sharks after a much more public incident of her own…and to hide a rather devastating secret.
All things considered, there are some pretty nice perks…like flirting with Tati’s distractingly cute intern, getting actual face time with my mom and experiencing Haiti for the first time. I’m even exploring my family’s history—which happens to be loaded with betrayals, superstitions and possibly even a family curse.
You know, typical drama. But it’s nothing I can’t handle.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I don’t really know what to say about this one. I liked it, but I didn’t really like the way it was told. It seemed like there were two different stories being told and it confused me. But even still, I loved Alaine and her overall story.
The number one thing about this book that I didn’t care for was the writing style. It seemed like there were just too many storylines going on at one book. The audio was a bit confusing (especially since I was listening to it at 1.75x) but for the whole school project was confusing. If it had stopped after her getting to Haiti, I would have liked it better. But she kept going with it and it was like crossing storylines. And the way it was told in like emails and school assignments in the beginning. I feel like I would have liked it more if I had read a book and not listened to it, but its ok.
As for the setting, I wish they had showed more than told us about Haiti. I have never been, and I would have loved to visit through this book. But there’s not much at all about the setting in the book. There were a few things there that were mentioned, like the boats and the island, but I would have liked more and I’d rather have been SHOWED than TOLD.
The representation was the best part of this book. I loved learning more about the Haitian culture. There was so much that I didn’t know before. But, there was also some information that I knew from my mom’s culture. Her mom’s family is Haitian and lived there before moving to Louisiana and Texas. She still has moments when she speaks Creole when she gets mad as well. And the voodoo and family curse was something that hit home as well. It hit home for me because I know a little about that from my own family beliefs.
This wasn’t my favorite, but I liked it enough to waffle back and forth between ratings. There were things I liked and some things I didn’t, but for the most part, I liked it. If it came down to it, I would say check out this book from your local library.
Overall, I give this
