I listened to the audiobook version of this title, adapted from the original novel-in-verse format. This was a quick read, though poetic and richly textured, from a historical perspective I hadn’t read about before in fiction. I was satisfied with the way that the multiple timelines/POVs related organically to each other in the world of the text. The love letters the main character finds, in turn narrated to the reader, expand her understanding of her family members’ immigrant pasts at a pivotal moment in her own journey toward self-understanding and self-determination. I found all of the plotlines engaging, and when they all came together in the end it had the desired emotional impact. I would recommend this book to adults and young readers alike!

Call Me Athena was such an entrancing book. I absolutely found myself completely enveloped in the story and multiple POVs and the 1930s era Detroit.

This was my first time reading a book in verse and I listened to this one on audiobook, narrated by Gail Shalan, Hope Newhouse and Ramiz Monsef. I honestly wish I had read this instead to enjoy the beauty of the story and verse more.

The other (minor) issue I kept running into in the beginning was names. Once I realized Mary was reading Jeanne and Gio’s love letters, the story really took off. This probably wouldn’t have taken as long is I had been actually looking at the names rather than relying on my memory between chapters.

That said, I absolutely LOVED the love story between Jeanne and Gio. The love letters were both heartbreaking and swoon worthy. This was made even better by the author’s note at the end of the book that noted the story was loosely based on the author, Colby Cedar Smith’s maternal grandmother.

Aahhh this was so good. I got really excited about this books since i Loved Elizabeth Acevedos books, which is also written in verse. This story was perfect as a novel in verse. The writing was gorgeous and intriguing. Mary’s story and life hit me right in my feels and I felt all the feelings as she did. I loved the story of Mary’s parents

The story follows Mary, a girl growing up in Detroit with her immigrant parents. The story shifts points of view between her and each of her parents. I thought the writing was well done and the different narrators for each view added to the story. I enjoyed Mary's story the best but sometimes felt I wanted more from the parents' stories.

Thank you for providing this arc. I found this book to be insightful into live on the immigrant life during time when the US was still building themselves into the nation they are today. I like how the story blended the story of mother, father and child. I really enjoyed the back and forth of the timelines. It made you connect more her father and mother. It felt so real. I wished they spent more time with siblings especially the sister. I didn't have the connection I need to care when she does eventually dies. I had a wonderful time reading this book. I think we need more stories like these that approach immigrant life, womanhood and love with different perspectives. I love the choice of narrators as well.

I really enjoyed this book. It made me giggle, when appropriate, and it made me cry. Listened to the audiobook, and what a beautiful story of love, family, independence and the struggle to find ones identity.

What a delightful story? The story is told from three points of view and narrated by three different people. Each character tells their story from the perspective of their birthplace. Mary is a first-generation American living in Detroit during the Great Depression. She is frustrated that her parents, especially her father, wants her to embrace her Greek heritage. For Mary this means she can look forward to an arranged marriage, a future only as a wife and mother, and absolutely no one listens to her dreams and plans.

Mary is determined to marry for love, show people that she has a brain for business, and be an all-around modern American woman. She is angry at her parents and wonders why her parents even came to America. Wouldn’t her mother be happier in France? If her father loves Greece so much, why isn’t he there? These questions circle around in her head until one day she finds a box of love letters her parent wrote to each other that tells their story.

This is a book I requested from NetGalley to read with my granddaughter for her summer reading challenge. It is a heartwarming look at a young girl dealing with a lot of disappointments. As she reads her parents’ letters, narrated from the parent point of view, she learns about their struggles, and hopes for their future. The revelation of love as the story progresses is touching and made more poignant because the stories are based on the author’s memories of her own grandmother’s tales.

It took a little longer for my granddaughter to get into the story than me, but in the end we both enjoyed learning about life during this difficult time in history. We both recommend the audiobook for parents and teenaged children. It spurs a lot of questions, and discussions plus a desire to learn more about our personal history. I highly recommend this exceptional narration of a thought provoking book.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this Audiobook ARC. The narration was amazing. I just listened to this lovely story while I was at the nail salon. This was a very emotional story. It is set in a period of time when war is the only priority. This short novel follows the life of 3 completely different people. But our MC is named Mary an American born young woman in Detroit. This story takes place during the race riots, the Great Depression and the hunger strikes. This story was sad but it didn’t make me cry. It was involved but it didn’t make me think. I feel like this story needed just a bit more. I had a several questions that required answering and Mary’s sister was the best human ever. Honestly, once she died I wanted to put the book down. Mary seemed to lose her self after this happened. But she finally comes into her self when she decides to take a leap of faith and go for what she believe in.
Give this book a try if you want to go on a ride through history.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

I started reading this book because it was on ‘Read Now’ on NetGalley, not knowing what to expect. It is blurbed by one of my favorite authors, Ruta Sepetys, but other than that I had no idea what it was about or anything. But I am glad I picked it up because it turned out to be a story about living life as an immigrant, family, love, and more during the Great Depression and war-time.

It follows three characters from three different parts of the world who all end up connected. Mary is a daughter of immigrants born in America. She is trying to discover who she is and learning the struggles of being labeled a “foreigner”. It also follows the stories of her parents. Gio, her father who was born in Greece but forced to flee and fight in World War I so he can become a U.S. Citizen. Jeanne, her mother who was born in France who becomes a nurse so she can help people.

I later found out that this story was inspired by the author’s own family which is really heartwarming to me. I love that a bit of their family’s history is now preserved in this book.

It was so beautifully written. This book is a novel in verse and I really enjoyed that format. Even if you are not a fan of poetry or novels in verse I would still recommend this as the prose was so gorgeous and lyrical. You could really feel the emotion in the words and I felt myself rooting for the characters by the end.

The different perspectives and timelines added depth and interest to the story. I will say that sometimes I got a bit confused on which perspective belonged to each character, but it wasn’t too much of an issue. It also could be due to my extreme lack of brain cells-

This story goes over all the issues from that time in history such as poverty, war, inequality, and more. I loved how it went over gender roles because I’ve never seen that in a historical fiction before. You learn about the characters' hardships and triumphs in their individual journeys but also their journeys together and the true cost of freedom. There’s a lot of tragedy in this book, but also love. And most importantly hope.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It made me want to learn more about real people and their stories during that time and I think that’s a mark of a good story.

Absolutely lovely book! This is a quick read but so very good. The book is about a young woman named Mary in 1933. Her family is in the grips of the Great Depression. Her parents are immigrants. Her father is from Greece and her mother is from France. They are in the process of arranging a marriage for Mary to a man in their community who is much older. Mary is dead set against it. She wants to have a career first and then a family. During this time Mary discovers a pack of unsent letters in the cellar of the family’s apartment. They were written during WWI. The letters are signed with nicknames and Mary is left to figure out who wrote them.
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The book is heartbreaking at times but has so much hope and love. This family loves each other. Even though at times they struggle with their relationships they come back together.
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Thanks to @netgalley @andrewsmcmeel for an advanced copy of this audiobook. It is delightful!

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeet Publishing for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Beautifully written book told in three points of view. The main character is Mary, a teen living in the 1930s Detroit during the depression with her brothers, sister, and immigrant parents. Mary wants more from life than what her father and society will allow her. Colby Cedar Smith has some fantastic lines such as “your eyes are the color of cultures clashing”.

I had both the audio book and digital copy. I liked both and not sure I could pick one over the other if pressed. The book is written in verse so it flies by on the page and you can see additional author emphasis by how the words are grouped together and with italics. But the audiobook flowed well and the narrators had excellent emotion. I don’t like reading books on the NetGalley ebook app as you can’t highlight or search by word like on Kindle.

Thank you NetGalley, Andrew McMeel Publishing, and Colby Cedar Smith for the copy of this audiobook!

I really enjoyed this book! It’s been a bit since I picked up a YA historical fiction, and I picked this up on a whim. This book takes place in the 1930s and follows first-generation American Mary, daughter of a French immigrant and a Greek immigrant. Despite seeing herself as American, her parents expect her to behave like a ‘Good Greek Girl.’ This means not riding bikes, not giving her opinion, marrying some old Greek man, and having babies. Being a ‘Good Greek Girl’ does not include working in a store, aspirations of owning a business, or falling for All-American Billy.

But when she finds unstamped letters in her family's small home dated a little over a decade ago, how can she be expected to marry Demetrius, a gray-haired man who she does not love?

This book highlights not only the clashing of cultures but also the clashing of generations. While we see and sympathize with Mary as she grows into a young woman with different views, we also get glimpses into her parents’ pasts and the struggles they had to face while living through a war. These glimpses into the past help us understand whether parents cling to certain safeties such as cultural traditions. It’s also very poetic to pick out the parallels between Mary’s story and her parents’ despite the significantly different circumstances.

A very cute, empowering, and poetic coming of age story set in 1933, this story is an excellent look into life in the 1930s for young immigrant women.

Thank You, Andrew McMeet Publishing house & Colby Cedar Smith for providing me an early copy of this book to give my honest review.


Call me Athena it’s a book that would completely make you fall in love with the story.
I’m one moment I was just listen to the story and the other I was immerse completely in the tale. The writing of Colby Cedar Smith it’s bewitching.

The story follows 3 characters who have completely different but their tale started with happiness and then follows grief, loss, and heartbreak. Their story intertwined beautifully and they learn that their actions have consequences. I feel a super connection with Mary, every time she feels like everything was hopeless, sad happiness of emotion I felt the same way. Gio and Jeanne's story was so heartbreaking and I can see why they were so overprotective with their children. I hate it with all my heart Dominic and I was so happy when Mary dump the drink and Gio hit him. It was completely fulfilling. To be honest, when Billy come into the picture I thought that he was gonna a spoiled brat that only wanted Mary because she was beautiful but I was wrong. Billy won my heart like he did with Mary. In the end, I shipped them so hard. And Mary getting a job was so gratifying. Forsooth I would love it we would learn more about the future of the characters more about Billy and Mary future together.

I guarantee that you will feel all their emotions as your own. It’s thoroughly will recommend this book to everyone.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to review this audiobook. On a whim, I picked this book up, as it was a listen now title. I honestly really enjoyed it. I found the narrators for each of the three characters to be captivating, and the prose were beautiful. The novel is written in verse, which normally is not really my thing, however it was a really thoughtful and interesting format. I think I may have enjoyed it more reading it in the written form however, it was still a very eye opening, and at times heartbreaking read. This book is an interesting history lesson on 1930s Detroit, loosely based on stories from Smith's grandmother, and turning it into something that is so personal, raw and emotional. Mary, Gio, and Jeanne were all fascinating characters, and while at times I wasn't sure how these stories would come together exactly, but once they did, it was a heartwarming and beautiful. Historical fiction readers will enjoy this one!

Loved the story and the way the povs were intertwined, also the cultural references and the little things that for me a romanian ( country next to greece) feel normal but i know feel weird to americans were pleasently introduced in this book in a way that made me feel seen. I liked the narrators even tho Iorgos was a bit hard to understand because of the accent (i also have an accent so the difference probably made it hard) but i also appreciated that addition! A good book for sure !

I truly enjoyed how this story was put together. We’re mainly following Mary, a young girl of immigrant parents living in Detroit in the 1930s, whilst we also get to see her parents stories intertwined with her own. I loved seeing how the different cultures and time periods influences each of the characters and their interactions with each other. It was a great depiction of interpersonal relationships within a family.

The narration of the audiobook was also fantastic. This is a book in verse, and I think listening to it with its different narrators, rather than just physically reading it, truly brings it to life. The voices were distinct and beautifully portrayed, and it made the experience all that much better.

Finally, this story touches on so many themes, from love to life as an immigrant to individualism and I think all of them were very well-balanced. Everything is treated with care and explored in a beautiful way. Despite Mary’s story being at the core of the novel, the themes pertaining to her parents’ stories are equally paid-attention to, which makes this book feel like a very complete family story.

I would also like to add that I think it’s fantastic how the author was inspired by her own family history and how she was able to derive such a beautiful story from that—not without much research, as she mentions in the author’s note.

All in all, I truly believe this book is worth a shot. It’s a fast read that deals with many interesting and important topics in a very delicate way. Additionally, I recommend listening to the audiobook if you can.

A heart wrenching book in verse that follows three characters’ coming of age story during some of the hardest of times in history. This iOS YA, and I think the subject matter is tough but perfect a perfect fit for a highshool-aged or older individual. The author packed so much into this and there’s honestly not that much writing on the pages (again, in verse). It’s perfect for that small snippet info that youth love these days. I always like to have hard copy and audio for verse. I highly recommend having both, but if you have to choose the audio was fantastic!

Net Galley was kind enough to allow me to read an ARC of “Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit” by Colby Cedar Smith. I was giving this ARC as a digital copy but for myself I cannot read on my phone. Luckily, there was an audiobook which was very enjoyable!

First off, this cover is absolutely gorgeous! And definitely catches your eye.

This story is told in verse form from three different perspectives - Mary, Gio and Jeanne. Gio and Jeanne are Mary’s parents.

Mary is young, dreamer, full of life and is looking for love. She does not want to be a typical good Greek girl as her parents aspire her to be.
She meets a young man while working at her parent’s store and she is immediately smitten. He is not what her parents would approve of and she often wonders what it would be like to have a “regular last name” like Smith. We see Mary grow up in the course of this book. She starts off timid and aspirational and in the end she is strong and bold.

Gio & Jeanne’s stories are of their upbringings and we learn how they eventually met while he was injured at war. Gio by the end has an accident at his employers were he lost his thumbs and now can no longer work. We learn that once Jeanne had Mary, she given up her job as a nurse to be a stay at home mother. Gio goes to return home for a bit and Mary knows she has to work.

I am not going to spoil the ending but Mary is introduced to a very powerful man and brought in how groundbreaking it was for a woman to do man’s job.

There was a lot going on and having pretty much 3 different stories happening at the same time was a little confusing for me. Overall though, there are so many stories similar to this family and should continue to be told.

Call Me Athena follows a young woman in 1930s Detroit who is not only living through the Great Depression but is struggling with her identity as a woman under the pressures of familial and cultural obligations. We get her perspective as we also volley between her mothers and fathers perspectives as they tell their stories of their childhoods and how they came to immigrate to the U.S.

First of all, that cover is absolutely gorgeous. Smith does a good job of weaving these stories together while touching on many topics including poverty, war, hunger, disease and the social expectations of woman in particular. I actually did not read the description at first so I didn't know the other perspectives were of her parents and I thought that was a better way to consume the story.

Personally, I dont think the book needed to be in verse (I listened the the audiobook though) and it would have provided more ground to really dig into each of these stories. Often times I felt like the perspectives were changing too quickly without enough time to settle into the story being told. Each of the stories was really interesting and engaging so I wanted to spend more time with them, especially the mother. Considering this book deals heavily with the expectations of women, I thought it would have been really powerful to see more about how those expectations were placed on her mom and how they are now effecting her and how Mary is raised.

Overall, I thought this was a beautiful story that grants a short snap shot into the immigrant experience and the circumstances that lead to people wanting/needing to immigrate. I also appreciated the historical aspects about Ford in particular and that bit of micro history from Detroit.

I received the paperback of this book as well as the audiobook.
Since it was my very first time reading a novel in prose, I figured it best to have it in different formats.
In general, I did really like the story who speaks for so many immigrants, and children of immigrants, moving countries and trying to adapt to everything while still wanting to hold some of their roots alive.
I enjoyed the different narrators reading part in the audiobook.
Novels in prose won't be my favorite type of novels. I just can't enjoy them. But that is just a personal preference.