I was glad I took a chance on this story. Alaine is Hatian American, living in Florida with her father. Her mother is a well known journalist, and hosts a major network's Sunday morning show. As a senior at her private school, she has to take on a huge final project, one that will help her delve into her Haitian heritage. Alaine is quick witted and has a snarky/smart tone. And wow, she definitely knows how to nurse a grudge. After a mean girls type reaction to her mother's on camera blow up during an interview, Alaine stages a revenge that gets her expelled. The senior project is so important, she heads to Haiti for two months to stay with her Aunt Estelle, interning at her non-profit and working on the story of their family. Alaine also gets a chance to connect more fully her mother, who is lying low in Haiti as well. I liked how Alaine slowly learned more about her mother, both from her aunt and other family members. Families are messy at times and hers was no exception. The authors are sisters and the book was very well done. In a nod to the teens, parts of it are in texts and emails to break up the narrative a bit.

(Abandoned) I'm not at all a fan of epistolary novels and while I appreciate where this book was trying to go, the format of reading a bunch of emails was too distracting to get anything out of it. I had to set it aside after reading about 25%. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

SUMMARY:
Alaine isn’t afraid to make trouble if it’s a worthy cause. And this last time, she’s in it big! She has to go stay with her mom and aunt in Haiti until things cool off. It turns into the experience of a lifetime as she connects with her relatives and finds a place to make a difference.

CONTENT:
Language: I honestly did not notice any language in this book. I feel like it probably had some, but it didn’t jump out at me.

Sexuality: none

Violence: none

Drugs/Alcohol: mild-- some high school drinking


THEMES:
loyalty, family

THE BOTTOM LINE:
I adored this book. It was a fun read that was different from all the others that tend to run together.


STATUS IN MY LIBRARY:
It’s in my middle school.

This book is something fresh and new. With a setting in Haiti and more it was a hit for this reader! I wasn't sure if I was going to like this one when I started as it is written in letters, normal narrative, as well as emails, postcards, and more. Most of the time those kind of irritate me. But this time it worked out so well. It also made this title a very quick read. So don't let those 432 pages scare you!!

The characters and story sound so real and true I could not put this one down. I will say that at times the story felt a little all over the place but other than that the story flowed and the plot was one of a kind.

This was a fun quick read for me. Didn't get too sucked in but I was okay with that. The writing style made everything pretty straightforward.

I enjoyed this book and am always glad to have #ownvoices titles in my library. That being said, I expected to LOVE this book, and I just didn't react as strongly as I had hoped. My eBook copy had some error issue that were causing some pages to skip early in the story, so perhaps I was missing some key details, but I was a bit confused about the relationship between some of the characters in Haiti and why they still had bad blood between them. I appreciated Alaine's voice and the inclusion of her mother's early onset dementia. But it felt like I was waiting the entire story for the pace to pick up or for some excitement to happen, and I kept feeling slightly let down. When Tati Estelle was accused of improperly running her charity, I finally felt some of the drama that I had been looking for, but the events surrounding that issue were a bit predictable. Like I said, I enjoyed it, and I will buy it for my library to ensure that I have titles that authentically represent Haiti and the Haitian culture, but I can't say that this was my favorite book.

Alaine is impossible not to love. She's cheeky, intelligent, and witty with a penchant for drama that reminds me of every high school senior I've ever known. She's a wise kid though, a good studier of people and deep insights into how they tick. But, like anyone this age, she's still so young. She can be childish, she fights back against discomfort with sarcasm and questionable humor and often puts her foot in her mouth. At times her youth breaks through her hardened exterior and we glimpse the little girl still beneath it all, particularly in scenes with her mother which were equal parts heartbreaking and lovely.

But that's what is so great about this novel: Alaine is a real, breathing teenage with all the wonderful hope and dark terror that comes along with that stage of life. She isn't just one thing, she's a tapestry of feelings and thoughts. Characters like her are what make YA so great, characters who are still making their way through life that you can look at and think, "I've been there. I understand. Hang in there, sweetie. It'll get better, I promise." It's the kind of refrain I've said to the real teens in my life and I felt it just as strongly for her.

Haiti is almost its own character in this story. There's great beauty but also brokenness and the reader gets to see both in good measure. I really enjoyed what I learned about the country, its history, and its people. The cultural insights in the story are fascinating and woven into Alaine's life in an organic way. The story is told in an unconventional format that includes regular prose, phone call and chat logs, text exchanges, and it jumps between all of them fluidly. The jumps in time period are also really well-done and I enjoyed the parallels between the past and present. Truly, everything about this novel rings so true. Life never goes according to plan, people are as full of good as they are bad, and relationships change as the days pass. I would absolutely recommend this novel to anyone, YA reader or not. There's something for you here.


Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Harlequin Teen, and the authors Maika and Maritza Moulite for the opportunity to do so.

This was a sweet book about a girl exploring her identity. I enjoyed the elements of magic but I think the characters were not quite where I wanted them in terms of development.

I was initially drawn to this story because the cover is stunning, and my knowledge of Haiti is severely lacking. After seventeen year old Alaine makes a mistake that could lead to expulsion from her private school, she agrees to participate in a spring volunteer immersion program in Haiti, where she will stay with her aunt and mother. What Alaine doesn't anticipate is the news that her mother has waiting for her, and she must find a way to accept it.

As someone who has only visited the Caribbean but not intimately familiar with the culture, I really enjoyed that aspect of this story. Alaine is a fantastic character who is sarcastic, witty, confident, but also every bit as awkward, which is expected during the teenage years. I also enjoyed that the story is told through a series of emails, notes, diary entries, and postcards because it sets up a really unique and fun format that works well for Alaine's situation.

I also commend the sisters for being able to write a seamless narrative that never feels like you're reading a book from two different authors.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed the story line and the character development in this book. My electronic copy had formatting issues and so sometimes I got confused with the letters. But overall, an entertaining read.

A rare book about Haiti that doesn't show it as a hopeless wasteland. This book is a little less light than the cover might convey, but it's every bit as interesting as it sounds and runs the gamut of emotions without being depressing.

This should be required reading for all school administrators. As one myself, I will think about this story every time I have to suspend a student.

I'm going to be generous and round up my 2.5 rating to a 3.

This started off very strong for me, but quickly turned into a feeling of confusion. By the end I felt like I had read three separate stories.

Such a gorgeous cover for a gorgeous novel. While I'm slowly leaving behind the YA genre (my age is showing), I can still appreciate a well-written novel. I loved the diversity and exploration of Haitian culture that the Moulite's sisters brought to life in this book. I would recommend for all ages.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine was such a fun read! I enjoyed the historical aspects of learning more about Haiti's past.

I thought that the main character (and most of her family, for that matter) was too impulsive and blamed their "family curse" and their own bad decisions.

There were a few things, like the curse and side characters' stories, that could have been fleshed out more, but since this was in the perspective of Alaine and told through various medium, I see why that wouldn't be accessible information.

Alaine was really funny and sarcastic, which I enjoyed. There were a few moments where I felt the book pushed lightheartedness too far in serious moments, but that could be a reflection of Alaine's character and her not being emotionally mature enough to adequately deal with her emotions

I started this book back in the summer, and set it aside, thinking maybe it was me, but I picked the book back up again, and I still could not get into it. I was excited about the book's premise and was interested in seeing how the author's handled such a heartbreaking topic, but I struggled with the way the story unfolded, and honestly, I also struggled a bit with Alaine. It's hard for me to pass full judgement, since I did not finish the book, but I also couldn't continue, as I was not enjoying it.

For me, DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE had two incredibly powerful parts: the first is the relationships between characters. The second is the description of Alaine’s time in Haiti.

Alaine has complex relationships with pretty much everyone. Haha. She’s a bit prickly and probably too smart for her own good, and that makes being close to her a complicated thing. She feels estranged from her mom, and that pain totally comes across in the story. The helplessness she feels and the frustration were heartbreaking.

On a lighter note, I love Alaine’s sense of humor (not going to lie– even the school project gone wrong made me laugh) and her quirky way of relating things. She made the story really fun to read.

The landscape of Haiti is beautifully described, but that isn’t even the whole of it. There’s really something magical in the way the Moulite sisters write about Haiti and what it’s like for Alaine to be there.

I guess the family curse surprised me a little bit in that I didn’t realize until maybe the second half of the book that the curse was going to be such a huge part of the story. It felt like a bit of a hard left turn to me, if that makes sense.

Still, I think the authors tied all the threads of the story together nicely, and stayed away from some of the predictable tropes. I enjoyed reading DEAR HAITI, LOVE ALAINE, and I think readers who enjoy books about narrators making a first visit to a homeland, like THE CAT KING OF HAVANA by Tom Crosshill would enjoy this book.

By the time I was approved for this ARC I had already bought it for my library.

Alayne is a funny and witty narrator, and not hard to like at all. I really loved how much information one would learn about Haiti, which isn't a country that appears in YA fiction often. I personally love exploring new culture so this was an easy read for me.

The writing style wasn't exactly perfect, and at times there did seem like there was missing details, but all in all I would still give this book 4 stars, with a real rating of about 3.7

DNF @ 20%

I am having a hard time getting interested in this book, as there seems to be no plot. The writing is so choppy because of the format: emails, text, newspaper articles, etc. It seems like a unique and interesting concept, but it just doesn't seem to work out. I would have preferred more of a traditional narrative than the way the story is presented.