I can see the intent here. I like that its more than just a family dealing with sudden racism. The racist act forces them to deal with old trauma and resentment. It forces them to look a themselves and the way they've acted with each other and within their community. The characters themselves are deeply flawed and often frustrating in a way that is realistic if unlikable. The pacing is a bit sluggish, more wallowing in misery than actually moving forward, so it's a difficult read.

A timely and heartfelt story of two sisters and their fight for justice, belonging, and love.

Told in alternating perspective, sisters Margaret and Annalie couldn't be more different. Margaret has always been fiery and vocal about injustices, calling them out when she saw them. Annalie is quiet and popular in her own way, always embarrassed by her sister's activism. But when a racist incident happens to their family, the sisters begin to fight in their own respective ways to discover the person behind the incident.

The voices of these two characters are distinct and I loved that each of their chapters took the reader to two different places. Often times, alternating perspectives can be repetitive, but this one was not. We get to see two sisters carry the story in completely different ways (Margaret balances an internship with her ex-boyfriend; Annalie has budding romances while working at a bakery shop) while struggling with the incident that continuously lingers in the forefront of their minds.

I also highly recommend this on audio!

This was such a wonderful story, my heart was hurting for these girls, i could totally empathize with what they went through, and I loved the outcome. Just gives me encouragement that, even though this is fiction, bringing light to racism and racist acts will be brought to light and these things are NOT ok. And should not be over looked at "silly young mistakes". We need more stories like this!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

I found all of the characters in this novel frustrating at times, which is, I suppose, an endorsement of its realism. I found that it struggled to strike quite the right tone, as each sister was so polarized in her view of how to handle the shocking crime.

First off, the cover of this book is exquisite; then I went ahead and read the premise, and was further intrigued to pick this up. Unfortunately, the execution left much to be desired. I wanted more of the sisterly dynamic and while romance in a book is fine, this insta-love plot line with Annalie and Thom did nothing for me. There were instances of poignant emotion, but nowhere nearly enough to pack the emotional punch the synopsis promised. I really wanted to love this book, but, in the end, it just didn't hit the mark for me.

This book had no business being so relatable but I appreciate that it did. A couple of key take always before going into a full review:
1. Never trust a Thom with an H. Got bad vibes off the name alone.
2. Complex family relationships, are especially strained relationships between sisters and mother/daughter will always be my kryptonite. Major bonus points if it’s an immigrant mother.
3. Stories about people of color in predominantly white spaces (especially high schools!!!) causes an amount of introspection I never ask for but need deeply

I really enjoyed this book. I think it was super topical, relatable, and a book that really makes you think from so many different perspectives. It begs the question of how would you react when adversity strikes and is there a singular right way to handle it. I also appreciate that we get to see how these sisters navigate the very white space they live in: one who is very clearly Chinese and one who is constantly told that she’s not Asian enough since she took after her father and how those very physical features impact how they deal with things. It’s an interesting conversation on white privilege, white passing privilege, and how some people react when assimilation can be pushed on children of immigrants. Also, I’m kind of glad that she touched how people of color can still be racist because!!!! That truly needs to be called out. Loved this and excited to read more from Tian!

This book is breathtaking. It is completely original and yet totally familiar. Tian has delivered us with a remarkable debut that tackles racism, relationships, sisterhood, identity and more. The two sisters, Annalie and Margaret, are complete forces in their own right and I loved getting told the story from both their perspectives.

This book was such a wonderful read. I loved the complexities it explored, and I really loved the characterization of Annalie and Margaret. I am rlly just a sucker for books about sister relationships, and the nuance this book provided just made it all the better.

This book follows 19 year old Margaret and 17 year old Annalie throughout the summer after a racial slur is spray-painted on their garage door. Their experiences and reactions to the incident are strongly juxtaposed against each other; Margaret looks more visibly Asian and wants to pursue justice for the attack, while white-passing Annalie wants to keep her head down and move on from it. In alternating narratives, they each explore what it means to be biracial, Chinese-American, and young women of color in a mostly-white Midwestern town. Margaret and Annalie are both teetering on the line between adolescence and adulthood, and are learning to take agency and make choices for themselves—their bodies, their relationships, and their futures.

The novel is also very focused on familial relationships between girls and women. An already complicated sisterhood between Margaret and Annalie is further put to the test by the aftermath of the racist incident, and they struggle to understand each other. Another focus is the relationship each girl has to their mother, who is a Chinese immigrant and holds many traditional values and expectations for her daughters. The girls push back against these expectations in order to forge paths forward for themselves, while also unpacking internalized racism & colorism within their family, and taking steps towards healing. It's very much a story of Asian-American identity, justice, sisterhood, and the transition from girlhood to womanhood.

Overall, a lovely book that I couldn't believe was a debut! Will definitely be recommending this one a lot at my library.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books, Balzer + Bray, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of This Place is Still Beautiful.

This book is part coming-of-age, part romance, and part social justice with a lot of YA internal conflict and angst. Margaret and Annalie are Chinese-American, biracial sisters who couldn't be any less alike. Margeret looks like their Chinese-born mother and has been affected by racism because of it while Annalie favors the white father who abandoned the family when the girls were young. Their personalities are as different as their appearances. When the family's garage is vandalized with hate speech, the sisters have the same initial reactions but ultimately want to deal with the incident in very different ways. While I enjoyed the book overall, I felt that the author could have left some parts out or given them less detail in order to help give the main themes of the story more focus.

4.5 stars

I really liked this book. It was beautifully written, emotionally poignant, complicated, and full of heart. I wish it had been longer, partially so I could have spent some more time in Xixi Tian’s beautiful words, and partially because so MUCH happened that I would have liked a bit more time with some of the plot points and characters (especially Violet) - to develop them more. This book was messy, beautiful, and powerful.

This book is... fine? I read it 10 days ago and barely remember it even after reading some of the other reviews, but i didn't dislike it. It's the kind of book that i am likely to love--complicated family dynamics, confronting oppression, romances--but it just was a little flat for me.

In retrospect, i wonder if that's because there were so few friendships really explored throughout the book, so most processing was really internal. I really love watching how friendships help people grow and i think that would have helped make this more meaningful of a book for me. Also the sisters were complex, which i appreciate, but they made some bad choices and i didn't feel like i was able to have empathy for them partially because of how the growth was supposed to happen in the book. This may just be a YA book that is NOT written for 42 year olds which is fine!

NetGalley ARC, unbiased review, etc.

It takes so much talent to write an unlikeable character that you still want to root for. It takes even more talent to write two. Throughout reading this, I felt so frustrated by Annalie and Margaret’s actions but, in all honestly, I can’t say that I wouldn’t have done most of the same things if I were in their situation. I especially saw a lot of myself in Margaret. Even when I knew she was in the wrong at times, I found myself thinking “but I would’ve done that, too.”

The plot, characterization, and themes flowed together wonderfully. The way the characters interacted with one another made so much sense based on their relationships. There wasn’t a moment that felt unrealistic and as I read on, I started to feel like I was part of this small town, too.

THIS PLACE IS STILL BEAUTIFUL by XiXi Tian is a debut young adult novel which deals with an anti-Asian hate crime in a mostly White Illinois town. The two narrators, Annalie and Margaret, are mixed-race sisters who live with their Chinese mother after their White father has disappeared. Annalie is soon to be a senior in high school and dealing with issues related to popularity and dating. Margaret is older, more independent, and has gone off to school at NYU, but she returns for the summer after a racial slur is painted on their property. Tian emphasizes that the two sisters are quite different in appearance and personality while also raising questions about the "model minority" stereotype as well as unconscious bias. Students will find quite a bit to discuss in this book about race, about family relationships, and about the transition to college. One concern, though is that Annalie's angst over her first boyfriend feels overly naïve and repetitive fairly quickly. Still, this title will likely appear on future state award nominee lists and would be an excellent book club or literature circle option. THIS PLACE IS STILL BEAUTIFUL received well-deserved starred reviews from Booklist ("an impressive first novel"), Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly.

Read my review here: https://catstonebooks.com/2022/06/10/bite-sized-book-review-this-place-is-still-beautiful/?v=400b9db48e62

This book was incredible. Difficult issues were handled with grace, and the characters were compelling and real. I cannot wait to get this book into the hands of students.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with a copy of this book.

I knew this book would make me feel a lot, I just didn’t expect it to hurt so much. I didn’t expect to cry so much.
Two sisters with two very different lives. One who looks Asian and the other who white-passes. They are forced into a horrifying situation where someone has vandalized their home with a racial slur.
The POVs of the sisters were very enjoyable, to see how different they were from each other.
Margaret and her ex boyfriend’s relationship hit a little too close to home.
Annalise and the friendship she had with Violet was too precious.
The estranged relationship between the sisters being mended was so sweet.

I just loved this, I choked so much on my tears.

This is a story of two sisters brought together in the aftermath of a hate crime. It deals with difficult topics of racism, tense family dynamics, the culture divide between first and second generation immigrant families, the model minority myth, white guilt and racial gaslighting. It was an uncomfortable and poignant read but also so incredibly important and validating as a mixed-race Asian.

The dual POV of Margaret and Annalie following the aftermath of the hate crime demonstrated their opposing experiences as mixed-race Asians very well. Often times I would relate to Margaret's rage and action over Annalie's passivity and would want to shake Annalie out of her poor decisions. I saw myself and my past experiences as a teenager in her and it was frustrating but also so validating. Her white-passing experience was particularly relevant to me, right down to the microaggressions, the other-ing comments and the guilt of being spared by the brunt of anti-Asian racism. This quote hit particularly hard:

"You're standing with a foot inside the door of whiteness, but you'll never step all the way in."

This book deals with mature themes that I think young adults in high school could appreciate. The writing and plot was not as fleshed out as I would have liked and the ending felt rushed. I wished I was left a little more hopeful by the conclusion rather than frustrated and sad. But as a whole, this story was very realistic and reflected the many experiences mixed-race and Asian-American teenagers deal with in this current age. Definitely a book I would recommend!

When Annalie comes home one day, she finds a racial slur painted on her garage door. Beyond shook and unsure of how to deal with this, Annalie calls her older sister Margaret who is away at college. Margaret was known as a social justice warrior in high school, so who better to deal with this? But soon Annalie and Margret begin to clash on how to deal with this and, well, everything else too.

While I really liked Margaret, it seemed more like Annalie's story than hers (even though the two sisters get their own POV chapters), and to be quite honest Annalie really grated on me after a while. It seemed like her priorities were simply to be liked by a boy and to enjoy her summer. And I get it, I guess. She's a teenager, and pretty, and unlike her sister, she doesn't look Chinese. I didn't hate this book. In fact, I think books like these are important and necessary in our currently climate, but I didn't love Annalie.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.