Color Me In by Natasha Diaz follows Neveah Levitz as she contends with her parents' sudden breakup and comes to terms with her biracial identity. Since this is semi-autobiographical, I feel bad saying that I really struggled with this book. All of the ideas were there, but nothing felt wholly developed.

I think Neveah's arc in general, finding her voice, finding out when her voice isn't the most important or needed in the room, speaking up when she should be heard, etc, are all really important lessons that a 16-year-old girl would face. However, there were some scenes and some dialogue that were just so on the nose. They felt very cliche. As did several characters. The gold-digging, wanna-be Real Housewife woman her father is dating, her Jewish Bubby, Abby, the stereotypical high-school mean girl. Obviously, people like this exist, but probably not all in the same place at the same time. Everything seemed to move too quickly. Neveah meets Jesus and BAM they're in a relationship. Neveah meets Rabbi Sarah and now they have to spend a lot of time together and BAM they care about each other. There wasn't enough time to develop all the storylines to their satisfying conclusion. It felt like any possible YA cliche can and did happen to Neveah while she was at school, and then it all got wrapped up in an easy bow at the end.

Now, I'm a white woman in my late 20s. Obviously this book isn't written for me. Maybe the cliches and quick pace will help teens grasp the concepts? I don't know. It seems that a lot of people really like this book, so I could be an outlier.

Neveah is caught between two worlds when her parents suddenly and dramatically split up the Summer before her Sophomore year. Her mother is a ghost of herself and her father would rather pretend that everything will just be fine if they all decide to just move on. The home she’s grown up in seems cold without her mother and downright hostile once her father’s girlfriend begins spending more time there. But in the small room she shares with her mother in rapidly gentrifying Harlem doesn’t feel that much better, given how ire she seems to draw from her cousin, Jordan, whom she has to share the space with. It seems like she doesn’t really belong anywhere, too black for her tony private school and too Jewish for Harlem, but she can’t escape either side and she’ll have to do the work to understand just how much of her there is to understand and present to the world.

I really enjoyed this book and read it in two days. Neveah’s a poet and there are bits of her poetry strewn throughout the book so we can get a really in depth look into who she really is. I was skeptical of the book at first glance because I feel like stories about black kids in their own spaces without a white best friend or boyfriend are hard to come by. It feels like the industry knows that they need to include the white readers in some way that has never been a concern when the shoe is on the other foot, but I’m glad I didn’t let that deter me because biracial stories matter. That split between the two worlds is real and deserves illumination, especially now that we’ve all collectively realized we are not in a post-racial society. Neveah doesn’t always say the right things or do the right things and she gives sermons on privilege and what it means to be an ally in the way she chooses or doesn’t choose to move in the world. It was a great read, an engaging one and definitely one to add to the bookshelf.

I found a few typos so another grammar review is necessary.

This story follows Neveah, a biracial teen, who is dealing with life upheaval of her parents messy divorce. As she struggles to understand herself and the realities of the world around her she learns the true importance of friendship, romance, and family.

This coming of age story that is based on the author, Natasha Diaz's, own life experience was amazing from start to finish. The combination of classic novel, diary entries, and poetry was a beautiful combination that kept me engrossed and desperate to read more of the story. The words themselves told a unique that I had not seen before in a contemporary since it offered a perspective on both race and religious divides. I found Neveah to be relatable in her struggles with her parents divorce as it is something that I experienced around the same age as Neveah, and I also was able to gain her perspective on how she say the world through the descriptive text. Her romance with Jesus was great to see grow before our eyes, but I feel could have been a little more flushed out and I found the initial lie to be a little cringey. I thought at times Jordan was a little overly aggressive in her responses, but overall I loved the family dynamic that was created for that household in Harlem. With Pa being the resolute and final authority, a strong female role model in both her aunt and later her mother, and a loving and caring Uncle who stood up for her when he believed her to be in danger (a real experience taken right out of Natasha's life), and cousins who ultimately loved her once they knew her and she knew herself.

Overall, this book blew me away and I will be keeping an eye out for anything else Natasha decides to write!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing me with the eARC for my honest review!

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nevaeh suddenly finds herself living in Harlem with her grandpa, her aunt, her uncle, and her cousins after her mom’s separation from her father. Her mom is struggling with the separation, and because of this move, Nevaeh begins to really wrestle with what it means to be biracial. She’s half-Black and half-Jewish, but because she can pass for white at times, she’s never really considered what it means to be Black. At the same time, she’s never really considered what it means to be Jewish either until her father decides that she’s doing a belated bat mitzvah.

Ultimately, she must wrestle with the tension of what this all means for her and truly find her voice.

Color Me In is an ownvoices novel, and this shows. Nevaeh is a messy character at times, and what she wrestles with means that she messes up along the way. She hurts multiple people in this novel, but she’s not content to stay in that place. She wants to dig in and find out what made her mess up in the first place, and that’s really powerful.

Color Me In is a fantastic YA novel and releases August 20.

Color Me In brought up a lot of really great issues regarding racism and colorist. It also was very accurate to the experience of growing up in New York City (I especially liked how Stevie and Nevaeh had their coffee orders on lock since fifth grade because that’s so true). Nevaeh’s poetry felt a lot like it was written by a teenager and made her feel more real to me. Most of the characters I really liked, especially Corinne’s entire side of the family and Jesus. The biggest problems I had were that some of the characters felt like stereotypes (especially her dad’s relatives) and that Abby and her family were so cartoonishly evil. I feel like this book would have been better if they had more nuance. Overall, this is an interesting, quick, own voices YA read that starts an important conversation. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I received this ARC for review from Netgalley and Random House Children's (Thank you!).

As a person who doesn't read contemporaries, this one caught my attention. Although, my and Neveah's and my experience's aren't exactly the same, I did relate to a lot of what she felt when it came to the divorce of her parents and feeling like you don't belong anywhere.

Seeing Neveah's journey discovering herself was fustrasting and interesting to see unfold. I feel that her anger and confusion was justified and that some of her family should have just listened to get a little more.

Although Neveah is not a perfect character I enjoyed her story and felt that the ending was satisfying because it was not perfect and nothing was neatly tied up.

All in all if you are a biracial person that has struggled to find a space for yourself, you will definitely enjoy this book.

I loved this book! It was so beautiful and honest. I worried about the characters when I wasn't able to read the book and I found myself rooting for (just about) everyone. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is light skinned, white presenting, biracial (just like me and the main character). I would also recommend it to anyone who has struggled with their identity from being a member in a blended/mixed family. I think many folks will relate to Nevaeh as she finds who she is and grows to trust herself. I've read this book twice, already and am impatiently awaiting for when I have the physical copy in my hand!

A riveting read about how our differences can be our strengths while coming to terms with the duality of a bicultural family. We often ask ourselves who we are and rarely do we get an answer that truly fits which is what the main character struggles with here. Love the way the author didn't shy away from addressing issues like colorism in our Latinx cultures as this is something I could easily relate to.

I would call Color Me In a coming-of-age story, but it's really so much more than that. It's a coming-of-self story. Neveah Levitz is caught between a world she doesn't know, and another in which she doesn't fit in. After her parents' separate due to her father doing the unthinkable, she is forced to realize the life that was carefully constructed for her, isn't as clear cut as she once thought. Not Black enough to be fully excepted in the hood, but not quite White enough to fit in in the suburbs, Neveah is learning that it's okay to love one part of yourself while getting to know the other. After all, you can't cheat on yourself with yourself, right?

Even as Neveah struggles to come to terms with who her father truly is as a person and all the things that her mother had to go through, her internal strides towards becoming the best person that she can be, never waivers. She finds herself, her family, and the love of her young life.

Color Me In follows the identity development of a young mixed girl finding her place between her divided families. I appreciated the way the complexity of the relationships between the family members (and the narrators understanding of her mother and aunt) developed in unexpected ways. There’s a compelling character study in how Diaz layers cultural development with the wishes of the narrator, and how she learns to speak for herself. There were some moments, specifically regarding her identity, that felt a bit canned; adding to the “how do I fit it?” question most mixed race youth have without really pushing it further until later in the narrative. As a reader/writer of the mixed race cannon (and mixed literary festival), I think this book has potential despite a slower start to reach a lot of young readers dealing with these questions for the first time.

Color Me In is a phenomenal exploration of multiple aspects of identity- culture, race, religion. I highly recommend this book for classrooms as it is an excellent discussion starter. Diaz has written an engaging and relatable main character. Fantastic story!

This is a great book about finding your identity when you are not sure where you fit in! Definitely recommend to anyone who wants to learn or identifies with this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I had the great pleasure of reading this ARC from NetGalley. It’s a really affecting and truly intersectional story with lots of layers.

This book was everything I was hoping for. I loved the cast of characters and how the author made them feel so real.

This book tackled so many complex issues and was difficult to read sometimes. Our MC's cousin is ruthless to her and says things that I never expected. Nevaeh has very conflicting identities: she's a white-passing mixed girl who has a Jewish father and a Christian mother. She has to go from her dad's house in an affluent suburb to her Grandfather's house stocked full of people. She has to navigate all of these identities while going through her parent's public divorce.

I really hated the evil stepmom aspect of this novel and I don't think it had a place. I think it distracted from the more present and important storylines. I think those pages could've been better spent elsewhere.

Nevaeh acted her age and sometimes I was really annoyed by her behavior or reactions BUT I am not the intended audience for this novel and I don't think it's fair to rate a book for teens lower because she acts like a teenager. Behavior aside, this book was a real winner for me.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Delacorte Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

I have always been fascinated by stories about white presenting African-Americans. I’m sure it wouldn’t take a psychology degree to figure out why, being from a family filled with white presenting African-Americans. So when Netgalley offered me the opportunity to read an ARC of Natasha Diaz’s debut novel ‘Color Me In’ I couldn’t wait to dig in to this coming of age tale.

Nevaeh Levitz is 16 years old and caught between worlds in the wake of her parents split. For the first sixteen years of her life she has lived comfortably in an upper class New York suburb and attended a cushy private school and never questioned anything about her life, especially her biracial heritage. Growing up in a world where she wasn’t raised as particularly Jewish, although she was, and not particularly black which she also was, moving to Harlem with her mothers family proved to be a huge culture shock.

Now Nevaeh finds herself stuck in a world where she is not black enough, not white enough, not Jewish enough...just not enough period. All this while navigating new friendships, mean girls at school, her mothers depression, and her father’s insistence that she have a bat mitzvah three years too late. Better late then Neva!!!!

I enjoyed this YA debut, overall I think it was probably closer to 3.5 stars but I wanted to round up because this is definitely a solid first effort from Diaz. I enjoyed watching Nevaeh struggle with her identity as I’m sure many people stuck between worlds, trying to figure out where exactly they fit in, do. The only thing I think I would have liked more of was a deeper dive into her parents relationship and the breakdown of that relationship, and maybe a little more of Nevaeh’s navigating what her new relationships will look like with them in the wake of their pending divorce. Without giving anything away, I also wished her father’s character had been handled a little differently.

‘Color Me In’ was a fast and easy read and I think Diaz may be a new voice in YA fiction to watch out for!

I really enjoyed reading this book. The story is not always a happy one, but it feels so realistic. The problems that Nevaeh face made me relate to her a lot. Some of the other characters I loved, were her Aunt Anita, Uncle Zeke, and of course Stevie. I felt like this is such an important story, that people need to read. Overall, I would highly recommend that people pick this book up.

Beautiful story of a teen coming to terms with her biracial identity as her parents separate--not quite fitting in anywhere, but learning to be exactly who she is.

Beautifully written, relatable, and an amazing story. A read I couldn't put down and had me from the first page to the very end.

This was a sweet coming of age story and so much more as a interracial person myself I did connect a little to the story but I wish it told more of the Jewish side of her family by her dad and not just her moms whole side but it was so good