Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Something in Between, the thought-provoking new novel from Melissa de la Cruz, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Isle of the Lost and Return to the Isle of the Lost.
Title: Something in Between
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Published: October 4th by Harlequin Teen
Blurb: It feels like there's no ground beneath me, like everything I've ever done has been a lie. Like I'm breaking apart, shattering. Who am I? Where do I belong?
Jasmine de los Santos has always done what's expected of her. Pretty and popular, she's studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship.
And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the truth: their visas expired years ago. Her entire family is illegal. That means no scholarships, maybe no college at all and the very real threat of deportation.
For the first time, Jasmine rebels, trying all those teen things she never had time for in the past. Even as she's trying to make sense of her new world, it's turned upside down by Royce Blakely, the charming son of a high-ranking congressman. Jasmine no longer has any idea where—or if—she fits into the American Dream. All she knows is that she's not giving up. Because when the rules you lived by no longer apply, the only thing to do is make up your own.
Review: I found the premise for this story highly interesting and important. Jasmine de los Santos is an out-standing citizen: intelligent, hard-working and high-achieving. She's just received a national scholar-ship that will allow her to go to any university she wants; the only problem is, she is actually not a USA citizen. Her parents have been lying to her all this time, they are illegal immigrants.
I cannot even begin to imagine how hard this must have felt for a girl like Jasmine, to have all her future stolen from her. And I think that the author made a great job of describing Jasmine's and her family's fears and worries. But the reason why I find this story so important is because there are so many people in that same situation. Illegal immigration is a reality that many people, politicians included, choose to ignore. So I think it's great that YA authors choose to raise awareness on this topic.
There a couple of things in the story though that I think didn't work as well as I expected. For example, Jasmine is kind of a difficult character to like. You can tell she is indeed hard-working and determined but I felt like we didn't really get to know her. She becomes frustrated with little things that didn't add that much to the story. She is also a tad too obsessed in what other people might think of her and her personality changes considerably during the story.
Also, I felt like the story dragged a bit too much. There was a moment when you could guess how the story was going to end, but it actually took the story a lot to get to that point. A few of the subplots, like the senator's elder son's story didn't add anything interesting to the main plot in my opinion. I would have preferred that the story focused more on Jasmine and her family.
Despite these couple of things, I did enjoy this story and as I said I think this is a story everyone should read. It has a lot of interesting aspects, like how the university system and the scholarships work or also how knowing the right person can really help you. All in all, an enjoyable and cute story with a very important message.
I cannot even begin to imagine how hard this must have felt for a girl like Jasmine, to have all her future stolen from her. And I think that the author made a great job of describing Jasmine's and her family's fears and worries. But the reason why I find this story so important is because there are so many people in that same situation. Illegal immigration is a reality that many people, politicians included, choose to ignore. So I think it's great that YA authors choose to raise awareness on this topic.
There a couple of things in the story though that I think didn't work as well as I expected. For example, Jasmine is kind of a difficult character to like. You can tell she is indeed hard-working and determined but I felt like we didn't really get to know her. She becomes frustrated with little things that didn't add that much to the story. She is also a tad too obsessed in what other people might think of her and her personality changes considerably during the story.
Also, I felt like the story dragged a bit too much. There was a moment when you could guess how the story was going to end, but it actually took the story a lot to get to that point. A few of the subplots, like the senator's elder son's story didn't add anything interesting to the main plot in my opinion. I would have preferred that the story focused more on Jasmine and her family.
Despite these couple of things, I did enjoy this story and as I said I think this is a story everyone should read. It has a lot of interesting aspects, like how the university system and the scholarships work or also how knowing the right person can really help you. All in all, an enjoyable and cute story with a very important message.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
