I was really excited for this one because of the synopsis and the cover. The idea of a novella following a young woman that exploded memory, grief, and the past really caught my attention. 

However the second person point of view really left me feeling disconnected from the story. We never learned why the young woman made the decision to go Mexico other than to “learn language”. We also never learned anything about the young woman and the relationship with her mother. 

The plot seemed so surface level. I don’t even see where grief was explored in the story. Was the young woman grieving her mom? Was the woman in Mexico grieving not seeing Rosarita again?

What really drove down the rating for this one for me is that the author not only used the g**** slur to describe a character, but she also used “The Trickster” to describe this character as well, which trickster is also something people use in hand with the slur. It felt like to me that the author doubled down on the use of the g**** slur. It’s 2025, everyone  involved in the publishing of this book should know better.