This book has been a great reading experience. Thanks to the author and the publisher for bringing this book to life.

Catching up on reviews so... Thanks to NetGalley and Seal Press for access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wish I had this book when I was in my teens/early twenties because maybe it would have helped me embrace my Latina side. Yes, there were a lot of things that I didn't identify with because I'm white passing, don't have immigrant parents, etc. but there is such important information and discourse here that I could overlook that it wasn't exactly my story. Because of that I think that this is an important book for everyone to read, maybe it will help people understand each other better. Or at least get conversations going.

This is an absolute must read! I am not a big nonfiction reader, but I felt so connected to every chapter in this book. I would recommend this to anyone in their late teens/ early twenties who have experienced imposter syndrome, feeling left our in academic/ professional spaces, and the pressures to excel in all spaces. This is a book that I will be returning to.

I’ve read multiple books on feminism, womanism, and the femme experience. I really enjoyed this book as it gave me insight into my Latina Sisters. As a Black Woman, I could relate to her experience with Colorism and Imposter Syndrome among other topics in the book like The Male Gaze and Toxic Masculinity; however, I was able to learn a lot about Voluntourism and Decoloniality.

However, there were parts of this book that felt like a chore. It took me three different attempts to be able to do this review. I’m not sure why it was, but I kept falling out of this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was incredible. It was just so well explored and thoughtful. Prisca Borcas Mojica Rodriguez is a real one. She pulls no punches but also has this deep love for herself and her community. Hard won love and clarity. She’s got education for days and provides education for dayssss. I loved this book.

The title of this book was definitely what caught my attention, but I enjoyed it for so much more than that. Each chapter touches on a different challenge faced by brown girls, a few of which include voluntourism, colorism, toxic masculinity, and decoloniality. The author breaks down these topics and more and shares the wisdom and knowledge she has found as a brown woman. She writes thoughtfully and clearly on each topic she touches on, making it clear that she believes in the democratization of information.

This is such a good book, and I very much appreciated not only its contents but the fact that I was so specifically the intended audience for it. There were so many moments when I related to little details in this book that I'd never heard anyone else talk about or seen mentioned in a book before.

Brown Girl, this world does not want to see you survive it, so defy it and dare to thrive

This book was stunningly brilliant. Never have I read a book that so perfectly encapsulates the experiences and feelings of being a POC in a Westernised world. Prisca is an Indigenous WOC born in Managua, Nicaragua. She describes her life experiences after immigrating to the US and how at first she felt she had to fit into the dominant white gaze.

It was so great to find a book that focuses on brown people without discounting the experiences of black people. From discussing her lived experiences of academia, racism, sexualising, familial relationships and abuse, the white male gaze and decoloniality, Prisca shifts her readers persepctive to bring to light the injustices and harmful narratives formed by white people about BIPOC people.

I really encourage you to read this, as you will learn a lot about marginalised communities and the society we live in.

This is a wonderful beginner book for people, specifically women, of color on social justice and structural discrimination. It is accessible and easy to understand. I would strongly recommend it to teenagers or young adults, especially. My only gripe with this book is that the author dismisses critical race theory (and theoretical work in general) as inaccessible and difficult to understand. She does have a point but that doesn't mean those theories don't have value. Their difficulty is due to their specificity and complexity. And actually, that inaccessibility is the gap this book fills - its an introductory text which I was hoping would better prepare its readers to engage with social justice thinking on a deeper, more involved level. But it dismisses the people who are doing that thinking as "inaccessible."

Overall, its a well-written book with some amazing ideas. I would give it to many teenagers in my circle. But I would also pair it with a "further reading" list.

WOW! I didn’t think it was possible to relate to a book so much. Prisca talks about things that I can’t imagine saying out loud out of fear of what people might think.
Everyone should read this book. It’s full of what it means to be a Woman of Color.

I love the rawness that Prisca provided in this. It's something ever woman of color should read.

"Adulthood as a woman of color required that I harden myself and keep my heart shielded."

As a brown girl myself, I found reading this book one of my most liberating experiences.

This is a collection of real events most brown girls have gone through at some point in their life, along with proper schooling of what many BIPOC live with daily. The writing is inspiring, striking; basically, the guide every young adult brown woman should have in the repertoire to find new pieces of themselves.

I felt deeply connected to Prisca's life, some positive and some negatives aspects of it. I thank her because she will alternate many girl's lives for the better. Her book will spark the fly to an untamable fire in those girl's hearts. A fire so warm and beautiful it will inherently invite others along.

Thank you Perseus Books for providing me with an early copy of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts

When I requested this non-fiction novel, I had this preconceived idea that it was going to be a fluffy, heart warming read.

I was incorrect. Instead, it was angry and demanded to be read and acknowledged. Which is exactly what I did.

Reading this work of non-fiction was like sitting in front of a TV, hearing the sound of the VCR and the sound of electric current passing through, seeing many parts of my life.

I am a first generation Cuban American. My mother along with her siblings and mi Abuela came from Cuban to Miami when my mother was in her early teens. So it was also seeing what life was most likely for them when Miami wasn't really the Miami we know today.

This book covers so much and there were many topics that I could not connect with because I had not lived through them, such as immigrating to the States, going to college or getting married.
However, I felt seen in so many topics of having low expectations placed on me because I am Hispanic, I present as a woman, whenever I express how a person has hurt me especially when they're white. This book was just... a lot for me personally.

It was a lot in the sense that I felt seen like I haven't before. I thank Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez for writing this and thank the publisher for deciding to put this out into the world. I'm sure that so many Brown Latinx folks and even other Brown people who aren't Latinx will find themselves and also find themselves self reflecting and doing more research like me.

Will be buying a physical copy once the paperback is out and will annotate the hell out of that one, too.

I typically do not rate non-fiction ,but it felt wrong leaving this one without 5 stars.

⭐️5 STARS⭐️

I truly enjoyed reading For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez. Hearing Prisca's perspective and personal story was powerful and provoking. I found myself nodding my head in agreement and sitting in silence with her heartfelt words that touched the depths of my soul. Thank you Prisca for your vulnerability and powerful narrative.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book excelled at describing the experiences of Latina women while empowering them to tell their own stories. A lot of the stories told are applicable to all women of color and I hope everyone reads it.

This is a beautifully written and informative book. I cried quite a few times while reading. 5/5. Full review to come.

WOW. What a book!

Totally unapologetic about her background and this is exactly how I feel how books should be. The author is clear that she is an ethnic minority writing a book for ethnic minorities, so stuck she is to this that she uses the words that fit her mouth the best (Spanish) which she does not explain nor does she italicise. I love that about this. Those who wrote classics did not write them for black or brown people and I think it's high time books were written for us an audience and for other people after.

I absolutely loved this book, it spoke to me so much and I wish I had this book when I was in my formative years. I will be buying a hardcopy version of this book.

4/5

Never in my life have I read a book that reflected such similar experiences to those that I have gone through. As a Latina daughter of immigrants, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez excellently captures my struggles and that of other Brown and Black women. She covers topics such as colorism, feminism, and societal values through beautiful and moving writing. I was blown away and truly recommend this eye-opening piece. Especially to my fellow women of color, this love letter powerfully arms us with tools to maneuver life on our own terms.
Positives:
- Rodriguez is an excellent writer. There were some sections that were so smooth and lyrical in their expression,
making the message truly impactful.
- It is clear that the author writes from the heart. The book was passionate and raw with memory and experiences.
This creates a wonderful connection with the audience.
- All the topics discussed were relevant and honest conversations. Every chapter was relatable to Rodriguez’s
intended audience.
Negatives:
- The reading grew tedious at times when the author continuously explored and emphasized every single point.
This lead to a loss of attention to the story.
Overall, Rodriguez has crafted an exquisite and liberating novel that I believe many will enjoy.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishing company for this arc!

Where do I begin? I am not LatinX but I am a brown girl so I definitely looked forward to reading this book because...hey...even if their are nuances the bottom line is the same. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Such an uplifting and insightful read in the authors deal with topical issues like sexism, racism, imposter syndrome (I can definitely identify) and the like! Can't wait to share this with my friends and my niece

A Love Letter and A Call to Action

For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez is a book, that everyone should read.

I hesitated to pick this book up because I wasn’t sure if it’s where I, a white reader, belong. The last thing I wanted to do is claim a book that was not intended to target a white audience in the first place.
This book is not an objective take on white supremacy or an analysation of racism and oppression of BIPOC – That’s exactly what makes it stand out.

Divided into different chapters, the book breaks up major topics, such as decoloniality, toxic masculinity or the politics of respectability. In the process of reading, I became more and more aware of institutional racism and the ground that it’s built on. Prisca’s writing style is very declamatory and emphatic: to read of such painful experiences as hers is not easy but at the same time it’s reality and this book just shows one more time, that society has to face that reality. White people need to do more then just rely on their privileges; there are major problems that must be addressed and dealt with.

While reading this book I learned a lot – probably more than I ever did in school or at university, regarding the above-mentioned topics.

This book opened my eyes and I hope that, as Prisca herself mentions, for all BIPOC who feel helpless or alone, it can be a support and a guideline on how to demand their space in the places that they belong and on how to shine, even though white supremacy doesn’t want them to.

“They cannot wrap their minds around people like me loving ourselves.”

For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts is a masterfully written book that ignited the kind of fury in me that made me absolutely enraptured with this book. Starting by describing the effect of colonialism, American intervention on the so called ‘third world’ countries and how volunteerism is selfish at its very core, this book went on to completely revolutionise my thought process and how I used to perceive things.

“In exchange for life-giving goods we had to give them a life-changing experience.”

It made me reflect on how grossly the ‘Westerners’ from the developed countries had wronged us, painting us as some rug rats who couldn’t govern themselves who needed their help to stay afloat, whereas they were the ones who put us in this predicament by looting us in the first place, forcing us ‘to rebuild from the scraps’.

“I was born female and Brown, in a culture that hates females and especially hates the darker ones.”

“We continue to be rewarded for our proximity to whiteness.”

The way colourism is dealt with in this book makes me ashamed of the fact that I too, once used to cover up my brown skin, beginning my mother for products that would lighten my skin tone. Being dark is equated with being poor even here, in a country far away from Nicaragua. I deeply identify with the feeling of not belonging, of being an impostor, as I walked with my fair mother and fair sister. This book opened my eyes to how wrong I was. “My brown skin is beautiful.” My brown skin is me, it has shaped my insecurities and who I am as a person. This book taught me there is no shame in brown skin, it is me, it is worthy of my love.

“No one told me I had been fooled into believing in a system that was fundamentally designed to destroy me.”

These are just a few topics that the author has described so poignantly and with such immense passion that her words resonate in my mind endlessly. Be it white supremacy, skin colour, toxic masculinity, marriage, sexual freedom or the sexist theologies of her church, the author doesn’t shy away from narrating harrowing truths that have affected her life and the lives of many millions of people who may not have had the same experiences as her, but will deeply relate her experiences to their own lives. The impeccable eloquence of her words act as fuel to a raging fire.

“Gatekeepers use the myth of meritocracy to distract busy working-class and working-poor folks with so much self-blame when they fall short that they will not think to revolt against their oppressors.”

With such hard hitting truths in the book, it is impossible not to be swept into the rage the author must have surely felt while writing this piece of art. She channelled the rage felt by all people of colour across the globe, towards destroying white supremacy and the idea that we are inferior to anyone, through this book.

The title is apt. I am a brown girl, with sharp edges and an unfortunately tender heart.