• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 August #1
  *Starred Review* From the author of Moxie (2017) comes the heart-wrenching tale of the Finney family, taking place largely in the 1980s: 16-year-old Elena, a withdrawn soul with one friend to her name; older brother Joaquin, who desires nothing more than to leave his hometown behind; and their volatile, alcoholic mother, Caridad, who refuses to tell them about their father and has effectively isolated them on Mariposa Island off the Texas coast. Mathieu expertly weaves the story from the three characters' very different perspectives: Elena, as she falls for handsome and mysterious J.C. amid a coming-of-age roller coaster; Joaquin, who's facing tough questions about his girlfriend's big—but different—dreams of leaving the Island; and Caridad, as she recounts her childhood in pre-Castro Cuba, where she was born into a wealthy family but forced to start over with nothing in the U.S. Despite the vastly different viewpoints, Mathieu masterfully invests readers in the the characters' origin stories, emotions, and motives. Her descriptions of the various settings over time and space are vivid and pulsating, immersing the audience in the psyches and nostalgia of each narrator. A sense of suspense and foreboding will keep readers on their toes and force them to question their own biases and wonder who can truly be trusted. Hand this book about a haunting family dynamic and staying true to oneself to fans of E. Lockhart's We Were Liars (2014), Alan Gratz's Refugee (2017), or Tamara Ireland Stone's Every Last Word (2015). Grades 10-12. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 August #1
  *Starred Review* From the author of Moxie (2017) comes the heart-wrenching tale of the Finney family, taking place largely in the 1980s: 16-year-old Elena, a withdrawn soul with one friend to her name; older brother Joaquin, who desires nothing more than to leave his hometown behind; and their volatile, alcoholic mother, Caridad, who refuses to tell them about their father and has effectively isolated them on Mariposa Island off the Texas coast. Mathieu expertly weaves the story from the three characters' very different perspectives: Elena, as she falls for handsome and mysterious J.C. amid a coming-of-age roller coaster; Joaquin, who's facing tough questions about his girlfriend's big—but different—dreams of leaving the Island; and Caridad, as she recounts her childhood in pre-Castro Cuba, where she was born into a wealthy family but forced to start over with nothing in the U.S. Despite the vastly different viewpoints, Mathieu masterfully invests readers in the the characters' origin stories, emotions, and motives. Her descriptions of the various settings over time and space are vivid and pulsating, immersing the audience in the psyches and nostalgia of each narrator. A sense of suspense and foreboding will keep readers on their toes and force them to question their own biases and wonder who can truly be trusted. Hand this book about a haunting family dynamic and staying true to oneself to fans of E. Lockhart's We Were Liars (2014), Alan Gratz's Refugee (2017), or Tamara Ireland Stone's Every Last Word (2015). Grades 10-12. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Jennifer Mathieu is the author of Devoted, Afterward, and The Truth About Alice, the winner of the Children's Choice Teen Debut Author Award. Her 2017 novel Moxie is being developed into a film directed by Amy Poehler for Netflix. Jennifer teaches high school English in Texas, where she lives in the Houston area with her husband and son.