Unfortunately was not a big fan and did not finish. Thanks for the opportunity. Likely more personal preference only - as I tend to prefer romantic themes in fiction.

DNF at 25%. It was so so so SLOW. I wanted to love it and kept picking it up over 5 weeks' time before giving up.

I thought this was an excited premise and I was excited to read work from this author, but I just didn't find it very engaging. It was slow and after reading the first half of it, I DNF.

I wanted to love this book so badly; it had every ingredient to become a book I'd loved for years. Sadly, that is not the case. Between the writing style that didn't work for me. I think that this author could eventually write something that works for me, so I will love to read future works.

It took me some time to get into this story, but once I was in I was engrossed! The non-linear story telling and jumping back and forth between the past and present threw me a little, but once I learned more about the characters and their history I was all in. The story is extremely relevant dealing with allegations of sexual assault, abusive/manipulative relationships and one’s loyalty to their friends/neighborhood/community.

This one ended up being a top 2022 read for me. Thank you @netgalley and @harperviabooks for the ARC.

I had such high hopes for this one, a coming of age story between tjree friends in Queens. (Kelly, Brisma, Brian) Their friendship shifts when one of them gets a serious boyfriend in high school and then their paths cross years later when Brian gets accused of sexual assault bringing up memories from the past. I typically like slow burns with deep character studies but this one just didn't feel all that deep to me. Unfortunately I found this one slow and boring and couldn't understand what any of them saw in each other.

*Thank you NetGalley and HarperVia for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

Loved the coming of age story and I liked the writing style a lot. I thought this book was a tad slow at times but overall I really enjoyed reading it.

this was an incredible debut. i think it was a super important read, as it focuses a lot on sister-like friendships, which is something a lot more books should do in my opinion. i loved brisma so much, and i enjoyed seeing her development through the years.

Ok so here’s the thing, I really enjoyed the writing in this and think Torres is a talented writer, but it was so incredibly slow. For so long, it was giving no plot, just vibes which would have been fine, but because there were smaller pieces of sexual misconduct sprinkled in, you knew it would be a bigger theme later so you were left waiting for something to happen and I’m not sure the pay off was there. The cast of characters were extremely unlikable, which I know was the point. Like after a chapter I couldn’t be convinced Kelly even liked Brisma and I couldn’t rationalize why they were even friends aside from the need of acceptance on Brisma’s end and the need to be wanted from Kelly’s end.
Each character was flawed and was wronged so you could almost understand why they were the way they were, but it was hard to read sometimes because I just wanted to shake Brisma to WAKE THE FUCK UP. All in all, it was a just ok book. I would definitely read from this author again but hope that there is a stronger story behind it.

I love the setting and connection to the 90s--I guess that is where I am in my life now. I love the representation of the Latin women and their experiences.

The Girls in Queens is a coming of age story of Brisma and Kelly, two very different young women growing up in Queens.. I was drawn to the characters and to their journeys but sometimes it was a slow read. The alternating views and movements through time largely worked., and if you want a well written character study and you can be patient with the pace The Girls in Queens is a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Brisma and Kelly are best friends. They have done everything together and will do anything for each other. When Brisma starts dating Brian, the popular baseball player, life for the duo quickly begins to change. When Brian is accused of a crime, Kelly and Brisma rush to defend the man they once knew while battling with their shared trauma. When Brisma begins to have doubts about Brian’s innocence, she’s left to wonder if her and Kelly’s relationship can make it through another obstacle.

Oof. I wanted to love this one, but the pacing made it difficult. The beginning had absolutely no depth or intrigue to it and most of the action was packed into the second half of the relatively short book. I’m glad I stuck with it through the end, but for me personally, I needed more to make the first half appealing and interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperVia and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

⁉️Are there any sports teams that you root for? I’m a south jersey girl and have been a Philadelphia sports fan my whole life (go birds! 🦅)

BOOK REVIEW
The Girls in Queens @christinekandictorres
Pub date: June 14, 2022
@harperviabooks
304 pages

I heard this author during a literary festival on zoom a while back and remember immediately checking netgalley for this book.

I really liked this one. It read like a really authentic coming of age story for a handful of (mostly Latino) kids growing up in nineties’ Queens. I’m a sucker for some nineties nostalgia, as some of you well know. There are definitely some trigger warnings to consider before picking it up, but despite some of the difficult content, it was a really interesting take on navigating a misogynistic culture as teenage girls (then later, women). I definitely was engaged in the friendship between Brisbane and Kelly, despite how differently they viewed the world around them and their position in it.

It’s a little bit of a slow start, but I’d recommend it to readers that like something more character driven. A solid debut 👍

Thanks @netgalley and @harperviabooks for my gifted ebook.


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The Girls in Queens is an evocative, thoughtful novel about the collisions between who we were and who we are, the various ways we deal with trauma, the inconstancy of memory, and the complexities of relationships of all types -- romantic, platonic, familial.

Brisma and Kelly couldn't be more different. Brisma is quiet and introspective, while Kelly is brazen and vivacious. Nevertheless, growing up together on Clement Moore Avenue in Queens, the girls are inseparable -- until high school, when Brian, the star of the school baseball team, chooses Brisma, cracking the solid foundation of her friendship with Kelly. Years later, Kelly and Brisma are watching their beloved Los Mets make a run for the World Series when Brian reenters their lives. He's been accused of sexual assault, and Kelly and Brisma find themselves choosing sides once again as they reexamine their memories of Brian and high school in light of the accusation.

The Girls in Queens is a quiet novel, but it's also a powerful one. Using specific Queens geography and pop culture references from the time, it's an atmospheric, eye-opening novel that completely transports the reader to Clement Moore Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood. You feel like you're right there with the characters, living their lives intimately alongside them, and it makes you understand them on a much deeper level.

This is a slow-paced, character-driven book that explores a variety of difficult topics like sexual assault and issues of race, class, and culture through two vivid young Latina women who, although they grew up four houses apart on the same street, have very different life experiences and vastly different methods of dealing with trauma. Brisma and Kelly's complicated, messy friendship is the beating heart of this novel, and I loved how Christine Kandic Torres wove the threads of their relationship in all its heartbreaking complexity. Through them, she perfectly conveys the universality of growing up female, defining your worth by how others see or feel about you. It's powerful and relatable.

There's a lot to unpack here, and I think The Girls in Queens would be a great book club selection for that reason. The issues these characters deal with are universal and relatable, and I think most readers -- especially female readers -- will see something of themselves in Brisma or Kelly...or maybe even both of them.

The Girls in Queens is a beautiful and tender exploration of friendship and both familial and romantic love as well as what it means to leave our childhood behind. Christine Kandic Torres's writing is smart, funny and poetic - the sense of time and place is almost visceral. And so true to Queens! I live right in the area where the book takes place where I'm a teacher and am raising a Girl in Queens of my own. This book is so true.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

I had a hard time rating this book - it was very slow, and even though I loved the Mets references and setting, I found myself not rushing back to read it. I was also disappointed that to “make it,” the main character leaves Queens - which we know early on will happen.

That said, this is a good addition to my library’s fiction collection and I hope Torres continues to write!

Those wanting to read dynamic Latinx authors have a new writer to fall in love with - Christine Kandic Torres, whose debut The Girls in Queens tells the story of two Latina girls growing up in Queens, New York, who have their friendship tested when boys enter the picture. This is actually a simplification of a complex plot which explores roots and privilege, perception and acceptance, passion and power. But at its heart is friendship and loyalty, and the lengths we will go to protect those we love.

Entirely told from the mid-90s to mid-00s, The Girls in Queens is narrated through alternating timelines, jumping back and forth from the 90s to the aughts, and delving into the friendship of Brisma and Kelly, best friends who are always by each other’s side until the day they are not. Brisma plays yin to Kelly’s yang, the quiet, sensitive moon to Kelly’s bright, vibrant sun.

So imagine Brisma’s surprise when she is the one to catch the eye of Brian, a popular baseball player at their high school. Brisma and Brian begin dating, but Brisma can’t help but feel some tension between herself and Kelly as her relationship grows. Brisma and Brian’s relationship burns white-hot as they get closer, but Brisma’s world eventually comes crashing down after a betrayal at a backyard party, and she and Brian go their separate ways.

Brisma has no way of knowing that years down the line, Brian will come back into her life in an inexplicable way, making her question everything that happened the fateful night of the party. Brian is accused of sexual assault, and she and Kelly have a choice to make - do they stand by Brian or do they trust the voices of his accusers … and themselves?

Christine Kandic Torres writes with a spirited, energetic voice, and despite few commonalities between myself and her characters, I was able to imaginatively visualize their lives and the world they inhabit. On the surface, Brisma and Kelly come off as a Latinx Thelma and Louise, best friends who have each other’s backs through thick and thin, but Torres’ nuanced writing soon reveals their relationship to hold shades of toxicity and malevolence, hinting that despite their purported love for one another, they actually hold onto feelings of resentment, jealousy, and competition. I found these subtle suggestions to actually be the most fascinating part of this story, far outweighing the truth about Brian. This book is definitely Brisma and Kelly’s world with Brian playing a supporting role in the larger dramedy that is their friendship.

If you enjoy diverse books about complicated relationships between friends written with great heart and emotion, then check out Torres’ The Girls in Queens.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted tale that feels natural in its pace and language. It's about understanding who you are, where you come from and the sometimes unseen forces that shaped you.

The Girls in Queens, the debut novel by Christine Kandic Torres, is the story of 2 Latin best friends, growing up in Queens. Brisma and Kelly have been friends forever, they are like sisters. They are very different but their friendship is the tie that binds them. They grow up in Queens NY and the location is prominent in the story. As they are navigating life, both women find themselves at different sides of an incident that has occurred by a mutual friend, Brian. The girls at first defend their friend but as the story unfolds they here different views and learn past secrets that start to crack their friendship. The story is told by Brisma and she tells the story from two different times in her life. Can the two stay friends? Will the secrets break them? I liked the idea of the story and it an interesting read for me. I just felt that it was slow moving. I loved to NY and the Mets but if I hadn’t lived there, the descriptions would bore me. All is all this was a 3 star read for me. I am sure that others may feel differently and that’s the blessing of reading. I want to thank Netgalley & the author for my copy for an honest review. It was my pleasure to read and review.

I was given the opportunity to read a copy through NetGalley.

Torres' debut novel was a rollercoaster of emotions for this Mets girl who grew up in Queens, and whose age matched our protagonist. Despite moving away during high school, New York will always have a special place in my heart and Torres finds a way to tug on your heart strings.

The story follows two childhood friends, Brisma and Kelly, as they maneuver through three stages of their lives, elementary school, high school, and right before they turn 21. The story goes back and forth in these different times, creating situational parallels between each timeline.

Torres touches on many heavy topics, from parental abandonment to sexual assault, racial divide to debatably toxic relationships and friendships. While this may seem a lot in one book, Torres has a way of writing it that makes it even more powerful.

Just like in real life, there are characters who grow, characters who stay stagnant, and characters who you never expected to be villainous.

The book brought me so much emotion. It made me nostalgic for the New York aura and how, as a Filipina, I felt most at home and that I belonged. It made me aware of everything I experienced in the city as a girl, and how we accepted the cat calls and the "accidental" body grazes on a busy subway - now realizing as an adult, I could've or should've spoken up. It made my heart break to watch these young people live their lives and not be taught differently.


I can't wait to read Torres's other novels.