Alaina is a snarky teenager coming to terms with her mom’s early onset Alzheimer’s, dealing with being privileged in Miami/Haiti, and what that means; and her complicated feelings about voodoo and her family’s history.

It felt a little clunky sometimes, but I think that was mostly bc of the formatting. It was honestly the worst digital arc I’d ever seen. Whole sentences on the wrong page, and lots of sentence fragments floating around.

Let’s start with the good stuff! The representation was really good with the Alzheimer’s story and everything Haitian. But it just dragged on. There were a lot of times where I was just reading assignments that were given to Alaine that I didn’t really care for and didn’t add to the story, and then there was times where we would be reading emails Alaine would send and receive. It was redundant.
When she was finally in Haiti I would have thought she would go explore and find information on her own but, like, letters were given to her explaining her family history and things written in her mother’s diary.
The only reason she went to Haiti was because she messed up her assignment so they were giving her another chance to turn in a better one but it’s never really mentioned after she gets there, and then in the end it’s addressed to her teacher who gave her a failing grade on the original assignment. I understand the main point of this was to see her family secrets but the book spent a lot of time talking about the assignment in the beginning. I didn’t think a curse storyline would come up but it did and I just feel like that was kind of lazy. And her trusting someone who her parents and relatives don’t even trust? She’s smarter than that.

All in all, the message the ending sends is lovely. Just to spend time with someone how they are, and not trying to change something that can’t be changed. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Review previously posted on Goodreads.

I was drawn to this book by its gorgeous cover and intriguing description, and it did not disappoint! I always enjoy novels that play with epistolary format or other forms of writing outside of straight prose, so I liked the authors' use of texts, school assignments, etc, mixed in with the narrative. I loved the vivid sense of place in this story as well and think it depicts Haiti so beautifully in a way not often found in popular literature. I hope for more from these authors!

I love the premise of Dear Haiti, Love Alaine. Representation matters in YA, and protagonist Alaine is a strong leading lady. I loved the themes of family and culture in this book. The mixed media narrative format made things a tad difficult to engage with at times.

I like this authors debut novel! It has such a unique premise that I had to give it a go. I found the Haitian culture so fascinating!
Alain’s character was super funny and witty. The way she talks about “adulting” was super great! I enjoyed the teen voices in this book too! Their voices really made the story relatable.
I had a hard time following the text in this arc and I wasn’t crazy about all of the articles and add ins but it was a good story. I hope to read more from this author.