A review by noyastan
Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maritza Moulite, Maika Moulite

emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 I really loved Alaine's voice, her snark and sarcasm and how she always mixes her stories with other fictional tales, getting wrapped up in her writing! I loved reading from Alaine's POV and getting to sit in her head, seeing her writing and her feelings unfold. I also liked how the authors combined emails, texts, newspaper articles with Alaine's narration.

Alaine takes an unexpected middle-of-the-school-year trip to her parents' home country, Haiti, when a school presentation goes wrong, and spends her time there trying to counter a family curse and understand her distant mother.

While I appreciated the expansive family drama, Alaine's complex relationship with her mother, addressing the difficulties of coming to term with Alzheimer's/illness, and the mystery of the curse, I did not love the ending. Part of it is because some aspects seem rushed, many things getting all wrapped up in the last few sections, but also one huge part that seemed not only unnecessary but cruel. If the novel had ended a bit differently, I would've probably enjoyed it more, but alas. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Dementia, and Miscarriage

Minor: Child abuse

I would have liked more explanation about the first ritual Alaine participates in, exactly what happened when she drank the tea. But the major issue I had was killing off Tony, who was repeatedly described as being nothing but a kind and supportive man, and then have it be justified as his family deserved the loss and if not him it would've been someone else in the family. Especially because he never did harm and there was no tangible evidence that the curse was even broken, this seemed extra heartbreaking.