Beautiful cover! I liked reading a story set primarily in Costa Rica (and later Cuba). The story has a mixture of lightheartedness while dealing with such serious situations, climate migrants and deforestation. 

Dariel’s the son of celebrities and has a magical voice. I adored the fact he has like a Disney princess voice with the way animals flock to him whenever he sings. It felt like a bit of magical realism, which I love. 

Soleida has been uprooted and left hurting, living as a recent refugee. She no longer has an anchor and continually worries about her parents’ safety. It felt unclear to me, but

but Vivi was either lost at sea or died. Most likely the latter, but I don’t know.

 

I thought the insta-lovey connection between Dariel and Soleida made sense. They’re teenagers who think they’ve found someone who understands them. The smiles and kisses followed quickly. Despite this, I didn’t feel anything toward them. The characters felt flat, and I don’t know if that’s attributed to them or just the story being in verse. But I’ve connected to characters written in verse before. 

The ending is farfetched (this is a gauge for your cynicism), but everything is wrapped up nicely with a bow. This is Hallmark-level cute and ends with a unique, probing question.