Reviews

Oh, this was an EASY five stars for me! What a phenomenal novel. I need to read more Natalia Sylvester now.

What I loved:
- The diversity. Sylvester has created a book that truly highlights intersectional diversity: ability, chronic pain, race, sexuality and sexual orientation, gender identity, mental health. And while all of these elements are present, none of them feel forced. She has created a truly diverse cast of characters.
- The representation of hip dysplasia and chronic pain.
- The way she addresses ableism. In recent times, I've noticed a lot of contemporary middle grade and YA authors using the word "lame" in their books (often by the protagonist, and rarely called out). I LOVE that Sylvester tackles this ableism in her book. We see the way language affects Verónica, and we hear her explain why it matters in her own words.
- The complicated family dynamics. I appreciated that Verónica's relationships with her parents and sister were complicated, nuanced, and fully explored. Verónica's parents were not perfect (esp. all the slut shaming), though they clearly cared about her. Additionally, Verónica was not a perfect daughter, though her behavior made total sense given her age, her wants and needs, and her feelings about her bodily autonomy. I loved the way we saw their relationships evolve over the course of the book, and the fact that it was never neat and tidy, but always a little messy. How refreshingly real.
- The love interest. Ahh, Alex was just so lovable (and again, a fully developed, very realistic character). I appreciated that he had his own challenges, particularly his struggles with mental health. I loved how he respected Verónica, and that he showed up when it mattered. I also enjoyed the way Alex provided Verónica with new perspectives when it came to her relationships with her parents.

Content Warnings

okjaaaaa's review against another edition

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4.0

So… Reading this was hard. I finally finished this book, but it took me 3 months. Reading about your own trauma being hard? Revolutionary concept.

I don't have hip dysplasia, but I do have skeletal dysplasia. Which is like hip dysplasia, but for your whole skeleton. Very fun. The most fun you could ever have.

If I had this when I was in and out of the hospital, and having doctor appointment after doctor appointment - it would have saved me a lot of years of body dysmorphia, struggles with mental health and feeling like I was something monstrous.

There's inherent bravery in facing a world not designed for you, saying "fuck that" and forcing it to make space for you. And I have never really been able to do that. (That in return has led to its own set of problems.) But, I think this book gave me the first stepping stone to feeling like my type of body belongs too.

lingfish7's review

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

📖🎧The main character, Veronica loves to swim and dreams of being a mermaid. This is mainly because her hip dysplasia makes it difficult to do anything on land well. She prefers the ease of swimming, that way no one can see the scar on her hips from the many surgeries.

I really loved the representation in this book. It was infuriating to see the ways that the main character experienced insensitivities due to her physical disability and how people would pester her demanding to explain what her scars were from. She noticed every subtle stare as strangers would watch her limp or be insatiably curious about her scars from a distance.

The main character Veronica also comes from an immigrant family who moved to Florida from Peru. Her parents are constantly telling her that she needs to be careful of boys and when they saw her kissing a guy in a hot tub at their apartment complex they called her promiscuous and acted like she had shamed the family. While it is an extreme reaction, I can totally understand and resonate with her parents’ view of “purity.” Growing up in Christian purity culture I was taught that it was my body that was the reason men lusted and that I needed to protect my virginity at all costs. What was most impactful about this book was the fact that for how obsessed her parents were about her kissing guys, they neglected to ever teach her about consent. This is problematic considering that the guy in the hot tub was a shady guy and didn’t ask her consent for anything. She was taught to be an agreeable girl, but that’s a recipe for disaster when she thinks that telling a guy no is being rude.

Overall I struggled with the pacing of this book as it felt very YA but without a driving plot. The book was predictable and lighthearted but with really important representation. This is the first book I’ve read with a visible physical disability and I want to read more books like these!

relhazy's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

rebeccap's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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