Details

Length: 324
Story Build: Slow
Character development: solid
Age Recommendation: 9th and older 
Reasoning: language; violence; brief sexual content 

Summary and Review

I was really excited about this novel, but it did turn out to be different than what I expected. 

The story centers about Fabiola, a teen from Haiti who comes to America with her mother for a better life. Their plan is to live with Fabiola’s aunt and three daughters in Detroit. However, this comes true for only one of them. 

Fab’s mother is taken right in the airport, and she is forced to go home with her family while her mom faces deportation from a cell in New Jersey. 

Detroit is also not what Fabiola expected. Her cousins have grown up, and they are three tough women. Chantal goes to college and lives at home while her twin sisters, Donna and Princess, go to high school with Fabiola. But they are nothing alike. Donna is always done up and had an on and off again relationship with an abusive dealer (of something), and Princess, ironically, likes to act as Donna’s bodyguard and protector. 

The house they live in is small and crowded; no one really cooks and something weird is going on with the twins and their aunt who are also constantly mourning the loss of their father and husband. No one will discuss it, and Fabiola is left to sort of pick up the pieces around the house while also trying to figure out how to get her mother back. 

The book isn’t all about that, though, which I thought it would be. It also centers about Fabiola’s relationship with Kasim, a teenager who runs with Dray, Donna’s abusive boyfriend. Kasim is different than the others as he likes Fabiola for who she is and doesn’t want to change her. 

However, Fab really wants her mother back, and it might come at a cost… is she willing to risk family and friends/ love for her mother? 

Celebrations

There was much suspense in this novel, which kept my interest. You want to figure out what happens to Fabiola and her mother.

Hesitations

There was a lot of profanity in this text, but I guess that is pretty realistic. I also didn’t realize that there would be some magical realism sprinkled throughout the text. There is a gentleman who stands on the corner of the street who is both seen by all the characters but also just by Fabiola during certain parts. He has something magical about him that helps her with the various conflicts in the book. It kind of took away from the realistic nature of the book, which I normally appreciate more.