“A Colombian American journalist tries to save her career by taking an assignment somewhere she never thought she’d go—Colombia—in this heartwarming debut novel about rediscovering our family stories.
Twenty-five-year-old Melanie Carvajal, a hardworking but struggling journalist for a Miami newspaper, loves her Colombian mother but regularly ignores her phone calls, frustrated that she never quite takes the time to understand Melanie’s life. When the opportunity arises for a big assignment that might save her flagging career, Melanie follows the story to the land of her mother’s birth. She soon realizes Colombia has the potential to connect her, after all these years, to something she’s long her heritage, the love of her mother, her family, and the richest parts of herself.
Colombia offers more than a chance to make a name for herself as a writer. It is a place of untold stories.”
Series: As of now, no. A stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- Anita wonders where God is at a low point; Melanie sees the statue of Christ in Colombia (Cristo Rey); Mentions of God (also called the Divine and the Most High); Mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of thanking God; A few mentions of churches & church going; A few mentions of being Blessed; A mention of a man possibly being an angel (because he was helpful); A mention of a woman in a head covering & long skirt; A mention of a place not being fully of saints;
*Note: The phrase “Only God knows” is used in the author’s note; A couple mentions of a painting that is a spoof on da Vinci’s The Last Supper; A couple mentions of another’s lecture being called a “sermon” (twice); A mention of a notebook being like a shrine to other writers; A mention of the demon inside of someone; A mention of everyone having a demon to fight; A mention of Santa Claus.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘thank God’ (by a side character that used God’s name in vain in Spanish), a stinkin’, a ‘sucks’, two forms of ‘screw up’, two ‘sheesh’s, two ‘shut up’s, two ‘witch’s (calling a woman that), and five ‘stupid’s; Spanish versions: two ‘ay Dios mio’ (Oh my God), and two ‘Dios mio’ (my God), and three ‘por Dios’ (for God’s sake); A few mentions of curses (said, not written, including one by Anita); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; In a flashback/journal entry, Anita tells someone about her father being drunk, (implied) trying to drown his infant son, grabbing her hair, and shooting off a gun to scare them (Anita believes he meant to kill her, up to semi-detailed); Melanie goes to a salsa club (there is a bar there and while she doesn’t drink there are mentions of others drinking); Anita doesn’t drink because of her father & Melanie doesn’t drink anything at a club because of her fear of getting sick (she later thinks that her fear is silly); Melanie has a near panic attack (hyperventilating and anxiety symptoms, borderline barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Melanie lies a couple times and feels guilty about it; Melanie reads her mother’s journals without her permission and eventually confesses her (she feels uneasy about reading them, but gets absorbed into it); Many mentions of cartels/gangs, drugs, drug trafficking, drug smuggling, crimes, violence, & deaths; Mentions of prisons; Mentions of poverty & not feeling safe in a country (Melanie with Colombia; her mother tells her just to avoid the sketchy areas); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, bars, & an abusive drunk; Mentions of divorce (Melanie’s parents divorced when she was young and it didn’t sound like her father stayed in the picture); Mentions of envy (including when Melanie wished she had blond hair and blue eyes when she was in school); A few mentions of deaths of family members; A few mentions of kidnappings & child soldiers; A few mentions of robberies & muggings; A few mentions of money laundering; A few mentions of injuries & a heart attack; A few mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A few mentions of gossip & rumors; A couple mentions of plagiarism; A couple mentions of being teased at school growing up; A mention of assassinations; A mention of terrorism; A mention of graffiti;
*Note: The phrase “illegal alien” is never used, instead “undocumented immigrant” and “illegal immigrant” are used; Before going to there, Anita felt disgusted by America, the American government taking her country’s resources for cheap, (her brother tries to talk to her about it and see the other side, but she’s very against America for some time; including her making a comment on Americans stealing their land from indigenous people); Anita (and Melanie) comment on the rest of the world viewing Colombia with hatred and not realizing that the Colombian people are hurting as well; We see Anita traveling through Mexico (including lying about who she is and being subject to a strip search) and then with a coyote through to America (later said that she wasn’t the drug criminal that the governments were looking for, but a woman who “was sneaking into a country that promised a better life”); Anita works in a factory setting for little money with a mean boss when she’s first in America; Anita was concerned about her children not being interested in their Colombia culture or speaking Spanish (she feels as if she’s failing them); At the beginning, Melanie is frustrated with her mom (because she doesn’t understand Melanie, being embarrassed by her growing up, not wanting to eat their cultural food growing up, and often feeling resentful of her mother’s heritage and being unable to fit in) & Melanie deals with guilt over cutting their conversations short; Melanie has the goal to be able to “buy the same things that everyone else has” (referring to the lack of things when she was growing up); Melanie views her mom as a doormat because she doesn’t stand up for herself (even thinking about how she’s supposed to respect her; she learns there’s much more to her mother’s story by reading her journals); *Spoiler* In the middle of the book, Melanie realizes how hard it was for her mother on many things and learns to appreciate her while becoming closer to her *End of Spoiler*; She also thinks about how her family and family in Colombia are doing better than others is because of the few members who decided to move to the States; Melanie thinks that her mother “kicked down the door” (instead of waiting for a door to open) about her not leaving home until she was married and also not having to have a visa to go to America; It’s said that Anita’s story is similar to a lot of other women’s story of how they followed their hearts “despite the roadblocks”; Anita’s mother didn’t force her daughters to help her in the kitchen and so Anita didn’t force Melanie or her sister either (telling them to go play or focus on school); Melanie recalls a guidance counselor at school telling her not to be in creative writing and that journalism to better because “you’ll be respected. People respect journalists”; Mentions of Starbucks (*Spoiler* Melanie gets a job there towards the end of the book *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of FaceTime & social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram); Mentions of celebrities (Frida Kahlo, Carlos Vives, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, & Justin Bieber); Mentions of brand names & items (J. Crew Factory, Keurig, Coke, Word document, & iPad); A few mentions of a young woman’s father being upset that she didn’t follow in his footsteps (career); A few mentions of car brands; A couple mentions of someone looking like a zombie; A couple mentions of a book (“Love in the Time of Cholera”); A mention of communist teachings the schools in Colombia were prone to share; A mention of a woman wanting to make sure a man doesn’t get the credit for something a woman did; A mention of a woman being “a boss” for going up against her drunk father; A mention of yoga; A mention of a smell of food calming Melanie’s nerves more than any prescription; A mention of a nose piercing; A mention of winning an Emmy; A mention of Covid.
Sexual Content- Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); A few Blushes; Dancing & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of dating, boys, boyfriends, & breakups; A few mentions of a handsome man & potential predators; A few mentions of staying temporarily with a boyfriend (does not happen); A couple mentions of flirting; A mention of girls gossiping about boys;
*Note: Anita is subject to a strip search where she has to take off all clothing and underwear and move around to make sure she isn’t hiding anything (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed).
-Melanie Carvajal, age 25
-Anita
P.O.V. switches between them
Melanie in 2018 & 2019, Anita in 1987 & 2009
352 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{ Add up to a full star for those who have a connection to Colombia and/or may relate to this story. }
This story feels personal—like the author based many elements on her own life and experiences—which makes this a harder book to rate.
As someone who knows the importance of speaking more than one language, it really hurt my heart to see Melanie be so ashamed of her Colombian heritage and speaking Spanish. That’s why it was really nice to see her character development just in that regard. I was a little shocked by the pacing of this book because major character development and conversations happen at about halfway in. It almost felt like the book was going to end there but I still had 50% to go. I do think it book was about 50 pages too long, but it never felt like it was completely dragging to me.
It definitely highlighted the side of Colombia most do not see or even know. I have no connection to Colombia, but have friends who do and are second-generation immigrants, so I thought I would try out this book. I found it interesting, even if a bit uncomfortable at times because of being a Texan and knowing other kinds of stories of those crossing the border illegally. This book definitely highlighted those who mean well and only do it to provide for their families. It’s definitely a touchy topic, though, and something I have to mention.
One more thing that didn’t settle the best with me were the phrases "Por Dios", “Dios mio”, and "Ay Dios Mio" being used. Which I've learned in the past mean phrases that take God's name in vain. I’ve checked with a handful of reader book friends (some who Spanish is their first language, another who grew up speaking it at home, and a couple who are nearly fluent in Spanish) and the general thought is that those phrases are used in frustration or desperation and are not praising God’s name—some adding that they’ve been told that as Christians they shouldn’t say those phrases. (Thank you to those that reached out to confirm this for me!) Because of this and a few other comments, my personal rating continued to drop as I did this review.
I do wish there had been more faith content, because it was very light and while apparent that characters have faiths, we don’t see much of it, which was a disappointing. I did appreciate that there really wasn’t any romance in this book—only slightly hinted towards at the very end.
Overall, this book gave me a lot to think about. It was also overall clean, so I could see High School Aged Girls reading this one if they have an interest in Colombia and/or are “American Immigrants” themselves.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.
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