Tag: Mental Health

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter | Book Review

My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Title: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Author: Erika L. Sanchez

Format: paperback (own)

Pages: 368

Categories: Young Adult, Family, Friendship, Grief, Mental Health, Identity, Coming of Age, Sexual Situations

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin in this poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. 

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.

But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role.

Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.

But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend, Lorena, and her first love (first everything), Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?

  • Julia is a Mexican American teen who is feeling trapped by grief and her family with their strict rules. I could relate to Julia even though I am not Mexican American, my parents are immigrants, so I remember not understanding some of their rules even silly ones like not shaving your legs. I couldn’t understand my parents, just like how Julia couldn’t understand hers. Her story is very relatable to me.
  • Julia is so judgmental until near the end when she becomes so overwhelmed with her thoughts and feelings about Olga’s death, her mom, herself…that I realized she needed help. I thought it was powerful that we saw her coasting through life, angrily and acting out (but nothing too crazy), thinking she’s going to be okay, she just needs to let time heal woulds and all that and then the situation becomes dangerous. This is very relatable too – how many of us think we feel trapped, not realizing we need help? I remember that in my teen years and beyond as well. I’m glad we see how Julia gets the help she needs.
  • I liked when Julia goes to Mexico. It reminded me of my parents taking us on our family trip to the Philippines when I was 7 years old. I remember seeing and hearing my dinner being killed, and butchered. It was quite an eye opening trip. But it was nice to learn more about Julia’s family in Mexico and glad she had that time to feel a bit freer from her anxiety.
  • Julia as a character is real as can be, her thoughts aren’t censored, she judges everyone harshly but it was refreshing. She wasn’t likable, but she didn’t even like herself, and who does like themselves as a teenager? Julia is dealing with so many things at one time: grief, her mom’s rules, trying to please her parents/family, hating her life, and investigating Olga’s past. She is imperfect and I loved the scenes where she is finally acknowledging her thoughts out loud to someone else who listens without judging her.
  • Triggers: grief, suicidal ideation, violence, sexual harassment
  • I thought this story moved slowly in the beginning and it almost lost my attention, especially since I thought investigating Olga’s past was the main thing about this story – but nothing much happens there until the big reveal at the end.

Despite it being a slow moving story, it is powerful in the way it explores immigrant Mexican American families, grief and mental health issues. None of us are perfect but most of us live with the pressure from our parents or other family members to be their idea of perfect. Julia was not about to conform to their ideals but she felt trapped and didn’t know who to talk to about it. This is a great book for teens coming of age.

📖 ~ Yolanda

ARC Review | Permanent Record

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Permanent Record

Author: Mary H.K. Choi

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 400

Publication Date: September 3, 2019

Categories: Coming of Age, Debt, Family, Mental Health, Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

After a year of college, Pablo is working at his local twenty-four-hour deli, selling overpriced snacks to brownstone yuppies. He’s dodging calls from the student loan office and he has no idea what his next move is.

Leanna Smart’s life so far has been nothing but success. Age eight: Disney Mouseketeer; Age fifteen: first #1 single on the US pop chart; Age seventeen, *tenth* #1 single; and now, at Age nineteen…life is a queasy blur of private planes, weird hotel rooms, and strangers asking for selfies on the street.

When Leanna and Pab randomly meet at 4:00 a.m. in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn, they both know they can’t be together forever. So, they keep things on the down-low and off Instagram for as long as they can. But it takes about three seconds before the world finds out… 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this eArc.

This book is so relevant for young adults today because it confronts the topics of student debt and mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Pablo’s full name is Pablo Neruda Rind. Yeah, like the poet! Someone with a name like that will definitely have an interesting story and he sure does. Pablo is half Korean/half Pakistani-American and lives in New York City. He had one semester at NYU and dropped out. Pablo works at a deli just cruising by and ignoring the bill collectors calls and credit card bill statements that pile up at his apartment. His parents are very worried about him and his future.

Oh Pablo, the mom in me was so worried about him. I remember what it felt like to have student loans after college, and definitely not knowing for sure what I was going to do with my life. But what scared me most about him was that he dealt with his fears by running away from it. He was getting anxiety and giving me anxiety. Meeting a celebrity, Leanna Smart, who whisks him away to luxurious hotel rooms helps him forget all his problems for a moment but they always come back to slap him in his face when he’s at home and away from her.

The romance is sweet but it isn’t about that. It’s a coming of age story about a young man who is trying to find his way: what does he want to do with his life? What is he passionate about? Is he going to work in a deli the rest of his life? Is he happy with those prospects? He keeps hearing people say he has so much potential but he doesn’t know what that means. What is his potential? He doesn’t know and time feels like it’s ticking down with debt collectors coming after him and he’s only twenty years old!

Thank goodness for Pablo’s roommate Tice who tells him point blank what his problem is. I also appreciated how though Pablo thought he was alone, he really has a supportive group around him, he just needed to reach out and get some help. His parents are separated but you know they love him and want the best for him.

I really related to this book so much and can’t stop thinking about it, because I wonder if that will be my son one day. I told my husband about the book which led us to another discussion about our kids and their futures. I told my friend about it, she has no kids but wants kids, but we were both college students once upon a time, there were some things we wish we did differently. As a parent I worry about my kids and their future. We always think about if will we have enough money for my son’s college education and what if he doesn’t want to go to college? So many questions but in the end we just hope he is happy and can survive the “real world” when he graduates high school Yes, my son is going to be seven in August…🤣 but I am a parent and these are my worries. So this book hit home on many fronts.

I loved the whole city vibe of the book as well. I went to NYC only once and it was a time I was at a crossroads in my life and the city woke me up. It lit something in me that was dead for awhile and I love that I can feel that energy in this book.

This is an engaging book, relevant for teens and college students, also important reading for parents too! I loved it.

Get it here: Amazon

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