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horrorbutch 's review for:
Water in May
by Ismée Williams
Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Mari is fifteen and when she found out that she was pregnant, she soon grows to love her baby. In him, she sees a chance for a family member who will always love her and never leave her. But when she finds out that her son has a heart condition, it all gets even more complicated.
I quickly grew to sympathize with Mari. Her mother took off when she was seven, her dad is in prison and her grandmother always makes her feel like she's a burden. But she has her girls and her boyfriend, who all support her.
The relationship that I most enjoyed, was the one between Mari, Yaz, Teri and Heavenly, her best friends, as they always hung around together and just had a really close bond, which was really great to read. The one between Mari and her unborn son, where also great to read. You could always tell that she really loved her son.
This is a fascinating contemporary that deals with heavy themes like teen pregnancy, sick babies, absent parents and drugs, all while never slipping in a too dramatic mood. Despite all of this happening, the story still manages to spread hope and it was really nice to see that.
I enjoyed the writing style, even though it was a bit hard to really get into it in the beginning since there's a lot of Spanish slang used as well as weird grammar constructions. On one hand, this definitely gave the story and unique flow and it helped me feel more connected to the characters as the story was told in the way the characters actually thought, but sometimes it was just hard to read.
However, this story is sadly not without flaws. Mari often makes homophobic comments and so in the end, I didn't like her character as much as I did in the beginning. Now, I know, she's 15, but none of her homophobic comments are ever called out and so she just grows more and more unlikeable. Also, the plot was sometimes quite predictable.
All in all, however, this was definitely an interesting book to read and unlike other books, I've read before, but sadly the homophobia heavily detracted from my enjoyment of the book and so I can't rate it higher.
Trigger warnings for homophobic slurs, child death, drug use and sexual assault.
Mari is fifteen and when she found out that she was pregnant, she soon grows to love her baby. In him, she sees a chance for a family member who will always love her and never leave her. But when she finds out that her son has a heart condition, it all gets even more complicated.
I quickly grew to sympathize with Mari. Her mother took off when she was seven, her dad is in prison and her grandmother always makes her feel like she's a burden. But she has her girls and her boyfriend, who all support her.
The relationship that I most enjoyed, was the one between Mari, Yaz, Teri and Heavenly, her best friends, as they always hung around together and just had a really close bond, which was really great to read. The one between Mari and her unborn son, where also great to read. You could always tell that she really loved her son.
This is a fascinating contemporary that deals with heavy themes like teen pregnancy, sick babies, absent parents and drugs, all while never slipping in a too dramatic mood. Despite all of this happening, the story still manages to spread hope and it was really nice to see that.
I enjoyed the writing style, even though it was a bit hard to really get into it in the beginning since there's a lot of Spanish slang used as well as weird grammar constructions. On one hand, this definitely gave the story and unique flow and it helped me feel more connected to the characters as the story was told in the way the characters actually thought, but sometimes it was just hard to read.
However, this story is sadly not without flaws. Mari often makes homophobic comments and so in the end, I didn't like her character as much as I did in the beginning. Now, I know, she's 15, but none of her homophobic comments are ever called out and so she just grows more and more unlikeable. Also, the plot was sometimes quite predictable.
All in all, however, this was definitely an interesting book to read and unlike other books, I've read before, but sadly the homophobia heavily detracted from my enjoyment of the book and so I can't rate it higher.
Trigger warnings for homophobic slurs, child death, drug use and sexual assault.