Henry Holt Books

 Henry Holt Books

{Thank you to my friends over at @henryholtbooks for always sending me such great books to read!}

I have two great reviews today:

—SPEAK TO ME OF HOME BY JEANINE CUMMINS (out LAST WEEK 5/13)

—WHAT WILL PEOPLE THINK? BY SARA HAMDAN (DEBUT out TODAY 5/20—HAPPY PUB DAY!)

▪️Speak to Me of Home is:

🌺 Emotional 

🌺 Family Drama

🌺 Multigenerational 

🌺 Quest for belonging

🌺 What does home mean?

“She both belonged and did not belong at all”  

“I think the reason this is so hard is that it feels like you have to choose between the two halves of yourself.”

My gosh is author Jeanine Cummins a fantastic storyteller.  Speak to Me of Home is a non-linear literary family drama that weaves between modern day, the 1980s and the 1960s; taking place in Puerto Rico, Missouri and New York.  It deals with racial and cultural identities.  Trying to fit into to places.  Dissapointments.  It’s a coming-of-age story about falling in love and taking risks in life.  And, when you take those risks it shows how life can full of both heartbreaks and triumphs.  That’s what life is all about and it’s a beautiful, wonderful thing.

I particularly enjoyed the mother and daughter relationships in this story.  I think it’s a relationship that can be one of the most difficult and beautiful.

▪️DEBUT ALERT—What Will People Think? by Sara Hamdan is story of:

🍋 Coming-of-age

🍋 Cultural identity 

🍋 Full of family secrets

These are all sub-genres that I absolutely love!  

Mia is a twenty-five year old Arab American who was raised by her conservative Arab grandparents after her father passed away on 9/11.  When her father was still alive and she was a young girl they would watch comedy shows together.  She desperately wants to preform her comedic acts, but doesn’t think her grandparents would approve.  So she goes to her respectable day job as a media fact checker and preforms in comedy clubs in secret at night.  When she gets heckled one night because of her race and goes viral she must do damage control, so a family secret isn’t exposed.  One she only knows bits and pieces of.  This forces her grandmother to finally share her story through a journal.  This story is so funny, full of self discovery, love,  and has such a satisfying ending.  Highly recommended!