e-Audio, 10:19:14
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
Release Date: January 9, 2024
Published by: Quill Tree Books
Read from: January 28-29, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Racism, Sexism, Pregnancy, Mental Illness Spirals, Abandonment, Panic Attacks/Disorders, Sexual Content
For Readers Interested In: Racial/Ethnic Diversity (LatinX, Mexican), Coming of Age, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Family Diversity (Father left), YAAn unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Erika L. Sánchez.
Belén Dolores Itzel del Toro wants the normal stuff: to experience love or maybe have a boyfriend or at least just lose her virginity. But nothing is normal in East Oakland. Her father left her family. She’s at risk of not graduating. And Leti, her super-Catholic, nerdy-ass best friend, is pregnant–by the boyfriend she hasn’t told her parents about, because he’s Black, and her parents are racist.
Things are hella complicated.
Weighed by a depression she can’t seem to shake, Belén helps Leti, hangs out with an older guy, and cuts a lot of class. She soon realizes, though, that distractions are only temporary. Leti is becoming a mother. Classmates are getting ready for college. But what about Belén? What future is there for girls like her?
From debut author Carolina Ixta comes a fierce, intimate examination of friendship, chosen family, and the generational cycles we must break to become our truest selves.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I really don’t know what to say about this book. I loved every second of it. I will be very surprised if this isn’t up for some type of award or something at the end of the year. To be honest with you I’d like to see it on the Morris, but I’m a little worried about what they’ll say about the sexual content. If not, it better be a Pura Belpre honor or winner because this was so good!
OK so the only thing that annoyed me about this book was the way the main character was going through all of this and hoping that the things she was doing would take the weight off of her chest and how she was going to take care of her bestie’s baby when it was born, and I just got so weirded out by this. She was basically acting like this kid was hers. I get it, she needed an excuse, but the baby? That was mad weird. And I didn’t like how she kept making all these jokes about her being pregnant, but she was so desperate to do the same. But I’m glad she began therapy at the end of the story and showed that there were other, more healthy ways to deal with her feelings.
Everything else about this was so real. I can’t tell you the last book I read that felt like I was watching a movie or watching this in real time. Idk it was so weird but it showed that it was also so impressive. I can’t lie, it felt like this was a memoir and she was just writing like a recounting of it. I don’t really believe this was a debut because damn, what were her first few drafts like? It was just too good. I can’t wait to see what else she has ready to come out. She’s squaring up to be one of my faves.
As for the audio performance, I was hella impressed by the narrator. But that was a given. I’m a huge Frankie Corzo stan and I will listen to them read a grocery list, so I put reading my e-ARC on hold because I found out Corzo was narrating it and I knew I had to wait until I could get my hands on an audio copy.
This book was good enough for me to stop reading a review book to focus more on this one. And I must say I don’t regret that decision at all. I binged this book and I plan to do the same with anything else that Ixta puts out.
Overall, I give this
