The day I finished this audiobook, I called my mom and told her about it and how she needs to listen to it. The thing about this book is that even though it's about a Dominican teenager trying to find her voice in NYC, I understood so much of Xiomara's perspective, particularly in respect to her mom and Catholic upbringing. My mother was nowhere near as strict as Xiomara's in the book, but there was so much truth in their relationship that I recognized in my own.

Much like the tv show Jane the Virgin, I hope my mom and I have found another piece of art to enjoy together because of our shared history. There was a certain part of the prose-and-poem filled novel that made me laugh out loud on a crowded subway, where Xiomara talks about how ever since she was born her family would always say "pero, tu no eres facil" and I swear my mom said that to me on the daily when I was in high school. It translates to, "well, you are not easy."

I've loved slam poetry ever since I came upon it on an HBO special when I was in middle school. I remember being wowed and though I've never attempted it (trust me, I'd be bad), there's something so powerful about the spoken medium of poetry. I highly recommend this audiobook where the seasoned slam poet Acevedo reads. Her emotion vibrates.