Tag Archives: family dynamics

Tell It to Me Singing

Tell It to Me Singing by Tita Ramírez (publication date 7/9/2024) takes its title from a Cuban and Dominican greeting “dímelo cantando” which translates directly as “tell it to me singing” but means “tell me everything!” It is a fitting title for this book that reads like a telenovela with unexpected twists and turns. AsContinue reading “Tell It to Me Singing”

Darius the Great is Not Okay

Darius the Great is Not Okay (2018) by Adib Khorram is a sweet YA coming-of-age book about depression, tea, Star Trek, family, and embracing all of the different sides of oneself. Darius is a fractional Persian–his mother is Persian and his father is American. He is a high-schooler in the Pacific Northwest with his parentsContinue reading “Darius the Great is Not Okay”

Little & Lion

Little & Lion (2017) by Brandy Colbert is a well-done YA novel that covers many themes: bisexuality, mental illness (specifically bipolar), and loyalty in a blended family, and it features a black Jewish main character in a multiethnic family. It won a Stonewall Award the year it was published. Suzette has just returned home toContinue reading “Little & Lion”

Unmarriageable

Unmarriageable: Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan (2019) by Soniah Kamal was a delightful retelling of Austen’s novel, set in the year 2000 in a small town, Dilipibad, in Pakistan. I was so intrigued I accidentally bought two copies at the library sale without realizing it! Alys Binat and her sister Jena are thirty and thirty-twoContinue reading “Unmarriageable”

Too Soon for Adiós

Too Soon for Adiós by Annette Chavez Macias (2023) was an impulse library shelf pick that surprised me with how good it was! (For being a random pick I knew nothing about.) As the book opens, twenty-nine year old Gabby is dealing with the death of her mother from cancer. She had quit her sous-chefContinue reading “Too Soon for Adiós”

Olga Dies Dreaming

Olga Dies Dreaming (2022) by Xochitl Gonzalez is an engaging and darkly funny novel that deals with gentrification in Brooklyn, the aftermath of colonialism and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, living up to parental expectations, whether they are unreasonable or not, all with the background of a sweet romance. Olga and her brother Prieto areContinue reading “Olga Dies Dreaming”