Have you heard of Elizabeth Acevedo?
No? Well you should look her up.
Why? Because her writing is freaking amazing.
Poetry/Verse is one of my favorite genres of literature hands down, but I haven’t found much that really grasped my heart the way I wanted. I read Soft Magic earlier in June and it was just okay. Some of it was really beautiful, but the parts that weren’t.. Well, they took you out of the collection.
This book however is written in verse and is exquisite. It follows the main character Xiomara through her journey of finding her voice. She does so by joining her schools poetry club and participating slam poetry readings. She is also dealing with the changes of becoming a young woman and always being looked at as nothing more than a pretty thing, or an object when she is so much more, while also experiencing falling for a boy for the first time.
On top of this, she’s trying to balance becoming herself but is restricted but due to her mother’s strict religious practices and wants her daughter to be her ideal “nun” she is limited to where she can be herself.
So I absorbed this novel in two ways, audiobook and through my kindle. Either way is fantastic. The author narrates it and she does a beautiful job telling the story and her voice is so therapeutic(plus the audiobook is less than 4 hours! It’s a quick one!). The entire time I was enamored by her words her voice and I just couldn’t get enough and its been a long time since I felt a connection to someone’s work. I felt like this story was my own and it was such a beautiful journey.
This is my first book by this author and it’s going to be the first of many. I already purchased With a Fire on High and I am planning on getting Clap When you Land as well. Her writing style is unique and absolutely beautiful. This was a solid 5/5 stars for me. I would definitely suggest picking this one up!
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