Reviews

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maritza Moulite, Maika Moulite

lmcoffman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious

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

3.5

rerudis's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

leer_amor's review against another edition

5.0

Ok so I was low-key getting scared that I had “outgrown YA” until this book. A lot of the YA books Ive read recently I havent loved, even if Ive been able to recognize them as good and important books, like American Street by Ibi Zoboi. But this one hit a sweet spot. I sailed right through it and loved every second of it. It’s got a mixed, multi-media format with some parts in the form of emails, news articles, notes, letters, and text messages but it does it very seamlessly and not in a tacky way. I loved Alaine’s wit and this book gave me a beautiful look into Haitian culture. Will definitely be picking up the other book by this Sister-Duo at some point. Alaine’s internal voice is so strong and her personality so well defined throughout this book while still allowing room for growth. I am very grateful to have gotten the chance to be the audience to her mind. Happy Hatian Heritage Month!

chekareadswhat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

ec_newman's review against another edition

3.0

3 1/2 stars. Still pondering but I would easily recommend it to any student with interest. It’s joyfully devoid of language, sex, and other things the powers that be dislike.

cduu's review against another edition

2.0

Had Potential

I feel like this book had pretty good potential to be a unique YA novel about family, roots, and the difficulties of dealing with some pretty serious family illness. Instead, I felt like it fell short of its potential and left me wanting more out of it. Bummer.

fabacious's review against another edition

2.0

Having been born and raised in Haiti, I truly enjoyed all the cultural references. Sadly, that's the only thing I liked about this book.

issianne's review against another edition

3.0

This book was doing a lot. It had mixed media. It had exile to Haiti. It had sick parent. It had magical realism (?). It had hard hitting info about Haiti (absolutely loved that). It had the smallest bit of romance. And personally, it felt pretty jumbled due to all of that. The pacing was also a bit off due to the fact that the authors would skip scenes that I felt would’ve built plot and progressed character development.

msrcreation's review against another edition

2.5

 This is one of those mix of good and bad that just didn't work out in the end. The good: I loved what we did learn about Haiti and every time food was mentioned I was drooling. It all sounds so good. I really like Alaine's personality. She was a good main character to follow. Any moments that were focusing on Alaine and her mothers relationship. The bad: Too many things happening. There are so many plot points that it became too much to keep up with. I became bored with most of the story and was just hoping for the parts I liked to come back. The romance. I don't know if I could tell you the love interests name. I love a good romance no matter the book but this one felt unnecessary. The format. I really enjoy multi format books but it didn't help this one. I did listen to the audiobook so that could have affected that but it didn't help the many plot points having it be in multiple formats. If this would have been focused more on the mother-daughter relationship I could've seen myself absolutely loving it but unfortunately I didn't enjoy it like I hoped. 

maddness22's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a lot heavier than I expected it to be. There's a lot of love for Haiti and it's a fun exposure to the country and culture, particularly through the lens of an American teenage girl visiting her parents' land for the first time. Her voice occasionally gets aggravating, especially as it leans into the typical YA heroine voice, and the pacing is a bit off with the mixed storytelling technique but overall it's not a bad time. Just don't expect a light hearted YA troubled teen romp as told through emails and letters as I was expecting.