Latina Writers – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] You Had Me At Hola, by Alexis Daria

The Kindle cover of You Had Me At Hola, depicting a stylized Hollywood heartthrob couple, is propped up in front of one of the best French 75 cocktails this writer has ever had.

(Buy this book here.) Jasmine Lin Rodriguez is an up-and-coming starlet looking to cement her rising career and recover from a bout of bad publicity after being dumped by her rockstar boyfriend. Ashton Suarez is a veteran telenovela heartthrob trying to break into the English language market while keeping his private life hidden from theContinue reading “[REVIEW] You Had Me At Hola, by Alexis Daria”

[REVIEW] Tender Is The Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Susan Moses

(Buy this book here.) (This book is one long content warning. If you’re sensitive to violence or gore, don’t read it or this review.) This book is disgusting. Let’s just start there. No, really. This Argentinian dystopian horror takes place in a very near future where it’s become impossible to eat animal meat due toContinue reading “[REVIEW] Tender Is The Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Susan Moses”

[REVIEW] Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest To Buy Black In America’s Racially Divided Economy, by Maggie Anderson

(Buy it on Bookshop here. Or not.) To cut right to the chase, this book really pissed me off. On its face, it’s a real life account of an affluent, educated Black family in Chicago who decided to spend all of 2009 buying from only Black businesses in order to demonstrate the ethnic disparities inContinue reading “[REVIEW] Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest To Buy Black In America’s Racially Divided Economy, by Maggie Anderson”

[REVIEW] In The Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado

(Buy it HERE.) “The memoir is, at its core, an act of resurrection. Memoirists re-create the past, reconstruct dialogue. They summon meaning from events that have long been dormant.” A long time ago, for what seems like a very long time, Carmen Maria Machado was abused by her girlfriend. While the abuse was emotional ratherContinue reading “[REVIEW] In The Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado”

[REVIEW] Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo

(Buy it HERE.) 🛫⠀Yano Rios is on a flight from NYC to Santo Domingo when a mechanical error causes the plane to crash. There are no survivors, and his teenaged daughter Camino is devastated when the anticipation of her father’s yearly visit turns into unspeakable grief and sudden financial insecurity for her and her aunt.Continue reading “[REVIEW] Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo”

[REVIEW] The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

(Buy it HERE.) You know what the weirdest thing about being an adult is? It’s that nobody ever really tells the whole truth. We’re told not to lie for our entire childhoods, then we grow up and realize almost no-one is ever entirely honest about what’s really going on with them.👡⠀Take, for example, the protagonistsContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez”

[BOOKLIST] If You’re Brown, Stick Around: Books About Colorism

If you’re Black, get back! If you’re brown, stick around. If you’re white, you’re alright! ~ Big Bill Broonzy Even though I make a conscious effort to read across genres, cultures, and time periods I still sometimes find myself stuck in thematic patterns. For months I’ll find myself somehow reading books that feature sharks orContinue reading “[BOOKLIST] If You’re Brown, Stick Around: Books About Colorism”