I don't think I ever related a to character more, when reading this book. Everyone go pick this book up.

Fabulous and engaging normal about first generation trauma, mental health and that problems immigrants face in American society. I absolutely loved it for its vibrancy and brutal honesty. I also relished in the emotional rollercoaster it took me on. I would say this is perfect for readers 14 and up who are just beginning to enjoy the YA genre

I loved this as a YA novel about real issues facing teenagers - fights with parents, how to deal with death in the family, hormones, first love, anxiety, teenage pregnancy, social acceptance, school work/exams/getting in to uni. I loved Julia's strong voice, her attempts to find a place in her family after the death of her seemingly perfect sister, and her desperate cries for help were heart-breaking to me though. I also loved the descriptions of Chicago and Mexico - two places I have only 'visited' in books.
I am in no position to comment about Mexican culture but some of the descriptions of Julia's Mexican family felt a bit stereotypical. Poor Julia seems to be affected by every single crisis/drama/plotline a teenager can experience, If I have any criticism it may be that. There is so much thrown at Julia that it felt a bit too contrived. I know we all face hardships growing up but this novel seemed to throw everything at Julia and her family. I was exhausted for her. But I did love her and feel for her and wanted the best for her. And I romped through the book quickly to find out what happened - always a good sign!

Amazing. I will be looking out for more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez is a powerful coming of age story focussed on a young woman growing up in a Mexican American household. Julia has always felt the burden of comparison to her older sister Olga who was happy to live at home and attend a local community college while working, who went to prayer group with their mother, who hadn't had a boyfriend in years, in other words a perfect Mexican daughter. Julia is very different, she dreams of moving to New York for college and becoming a writer ,she longs for more freedom and independence than her strict parents are willing to give her. When Olga is tragically killed the pressures on Julia mount up even more, making her already difficult home life even harder, and when she finds some very unexpected items in her sister's room she starts to wonder just how well the family knew their "perfect " daughter.
This was a really powerful book full of raw emotions , from the hollowness of grief in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy to the pain of acceptance that life is forever changed for your family. It is not without hope however, as we follow Julia on her journey towards understanding her parents, and their experiences as immigrants which have shaped their relationships with their children. I loved Julia as a character, her determination not to settle, in love or in life was admirable, and it was great to see such a well fleshed out teenage character who had dreams and ambitions as well as doubts. The writing itself is simply stunning at times, I was not surprised when I later found out that the author was also published as a poet, This is a book that I know I will come back to and read again, a rarity these days and one that I know I will be recommending to friends,
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I am not your perfect Mexican daughter follows 15 year old Julia after the sudden death of her sister Ogla. Ogla appeared to have been the perfect daughter, in contrast to Julia, but not everything is as it appears. Julia finds out many secrets about her sister throughout the book. Although the plot is mainly driven by the story of Ogla, its really focusing on Julia accepting herself and her family accepting her.

I enjoyed the premise of the book however I felt at points it fell flat because the focus was shifted from Ogla to Julia and then the Olga storyline kind of lost its way. That being said YA isn't normally my genre and I feel it would be an interesting read for an older teenager. It's also being turned into a TV series likened to Jane the Virgin so I might give it a watch when that comes out.

Thanks @netgalley and @oneworldpublications for the e-copy

Julia's elder sister Olga has died, knocked over by a truck when she descended from the bus. She only had to get the bus as their Mum had to collect Julia from school where she'd got into trouble yet again. So Julia thinks it's all her fault. Their parents miss their daughter with Julia's Mum taking to her bed and neglecting everything else. Julia too misses her sister but that's overlooked.
Both Julia's parents illegally crossed the American/Mexican border and have never secured papers to make their status legal but now wanted their children to work hard at school and get nice steady jobs close to home. That's what Olga did. She didn't go out but constantly helped around the house. Julia however, is not like that. Julia is smart but wants high grades to get into a good college in New York, far away from home. Neither does she want a 'nice steady' job, but would like to become a writer. Even her friends are disapproved of by her Mum.
But when Julia goes into her sister's room - against her Mum's instructions, she discovers something to make her think that Olga was not what she made out to be, so she needs to know more.
Julia is a typical teenager wanting freedom and space to be herself. That is not her Mum's culture and she cannot understand it so tensions arise.
Julia's elder sister Olga has died, knocked over by a truck when she descended from the bus. She only had to get the bus as their Mum had to collect Julia from school where she'd got into trouble yet again. So Julia thinks it's all her fault. Their parents miss their daughter with Julia's Mum taking to her bed and neglecting everything else. Julia too misses her sister but that's overlooked.
Both Julia's parents illegally crossed the American/Mexican border and have never secured papers to make their status legal but now wanted their children to work hard at school and get nice steady jobs close to home. That's what Olga did. She didn't go out but constantly helped around the house. Julia however, is not like that. Julia is smart but wants high grades to get into a good college in New York, far away from home. Neither does she want a 'nice steady' job, but would like to become a writer. Even her friends are disapproved of by her Mum.
But when Julia goes into her sister's room - against her Mum's instructions, she discovers something to make her think that Olga was not what she made out to be, so she needs to know more.
Julia is a typical teenager wanting freedom and space to be herself. That is not her Mum's culture and she cannot understand it so tensions arise.
When Julia is pushed to the extreme the restrictions are tightened, but it does allow her to voice and try to understand the motivations of others.

'"Sometimes I wonder if I'll make it to college. I mean, I can't take this anymore. It's not like my life was great before, but then Olga dies and everything turns to complete crap."'

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is the story of Julia, the teenage daughter of two undocumented Mexican migrants in the US. It is the story of a headstrong and proud young woman, fighting for what she wants, freedom, going to college, being allowed to be who she is. It is the story of a young girl dealing with the sudden death of her older sister, the story of a girl dealing with familial expectations after that harrowing event. It's Julia's coming of age story.

I will be honest and say that in the beginning I was ready to give Julia a good smack in the face and shake her by the shoulders a couple of times. There is being a recalcitrant teenager and then there is being a recalcitrant teenager. Wow, But as I continued reading the moody teenager (and let's be realistic, this is a YA novel and Erika L. Sanchez seems to capture this really really well) began to grow on me. Julia's struggle is quite real, and I think the book carefully handled the subject of trauma, grief and depression, and realizing and accepting you are dealing with it all on top of more regular teenage issues.

What I enjoyed most was not so much Julia's search for Olga's 'secret life', or even the internal conflict Julia experiences between wanting her own person and meeting her family's (cultural) expectations. The best part for me was when Julia spent time with her family in Mexico and learned a lot about herself, as well as her mother's story. To me, this is where the real character growth happened.

When her older sister Olga dies in a car accident, there is only 15-year-old Julia left to be the perfect Mexican daughter her parents want to have. Olga was a role model, she always obeyed, did not go out, helped her mother with her cleaning job and even at college did not have a boyfriend. Julia, instead, wants the full life that all girls in Chicago have, she dreams of becoming a writer, likes to go out with her friends and have fun. Quite naturally, she over and over provokes conflicts with her parents. After Olga is gone, the situation worsens increasingly until it becomes unbearable and she only sees one way out of it all.

Erika L. Sánchez is a journalist and writer of Mexican decent. Her novel “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” was nominated finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She brilliantly portrays the perspective of a teenager who struggles with all the problems of a typical teenager but additionally has to live up to the expectations of her parents who have grown up in another country, with another culture and other values which they have taken with them and which they now project on their daughters. Additionally, which only becomes clear throughout the novel, the loss of her sister has left a greater scar on Julia than was obvious at the beginning.

I totally adored how Erika L. Sánchez found the tone of a teenager who is emotional and only wants to be free, free in her very own understanding. Julia is a sympathetic and adorable girl and it is not difficult to follow her line of thoughts. She wants to be a good daughter, she hates the fights with parents, but she is also stubborn and demands to be treated like the others, the American girls, and not to live up to the old, overcome Mexican values.

Living between two cultures means much more than just growing up, fulfilling the expectations of the peer group and the parents is impossible but nevertheless expected from teenagers in a time of rebellion. They all have to find their individual way of coping with this, Olga found hers and Julia only bit by bit uncovers that her sister wasn’t necessarily the girl she thought she was.

A great read in many respects, full of life, emotional, funny but also reflective and dark at times, it captures the full range of teenage life and takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride.

'The sun is beginning to set. A blaze of orange light outlines a giant cloud. I love dusk; it always astonishes me that something so beautiful happens every single day'.

I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is a surprisingly epic story of a family living through grief and trauma. When Julia's sister Olga tragically dies, Julia has to come to terms with two kinds of losses; the loss of her sister and the loss of who she thought her sister was.

I know some readers struggled to 'like' Julia. But I work with teenagers and to me she read as a teenager full of pain; she didn't bug me, I just wanted to hug her.

I'm really excited that America Ferrera is going to create a movie based on this story; I think she's the perfect person to do it.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC.

please check trigger warnings for this. i made that mistake and ouch it was hard to read at times.

i really liked learning more about Mexican culture and i liked the mental health representation in this novel.

i don’t know if i just read the blurb wrong, but i feel that it misled me. i thought this story was going to be more “investigating the secret life of my dead sister” in like a YA Mexican mystery/thriller type of way. instead, this story details the life of Julia, mourning the loss of her sister and trying to find herself (even though she is constantly scrutinised by her parents for not being like Olga, her sister). the character development was brilliant, don’t get me wrong, it just was a different story to what i was expecting.

the story was interesting, funny, and sad at times but during other parts, i found myself trying to read as fast as i could just to try and find the next interesting bit.

the ending was cute and i liked the reconciliation between Julia and her parents.

This was a book that dealt with heavy themes sensitively with a bit of mystery thrown in. The plot was based around Julia and her problems while she also solve the mystery of her dead sister, Olga. The writing was powerful and delivered the message across effectively. I really enjoyed reading this as the writing and plot were quite gripping and seeing Julia and her mother's relationship get better was satisfying. Overall this was a great read and I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-arc.

This was such a gripping read that I couldnt put down. It was well written with good character development and a good story. It is full of rich descriptions and vivid imagery and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was quite excited to receive an ARC of this book but found I was left with mixed feelings at the completion of the story. Whilst I enjoyed the plot and found it to be a good combination of mysterious and hilarious; I struggled to connect with any of the characters. Julia was plain obnoxious and difficult to like and often found her impulsive nature to be frustrating. I understand she may have been written to reflect this for the sake of the story, but I believe character connection is key for me to enjoying a book. I appreciated the Mexican culture infused throughout the story and the little nods to representation. Some of these cultural aspects I was familiar with, and some were quite new to me, which was engaging. This book felt like it could have had much more potential and was simply let down by stock standard characters that threw me off the whole experience.

I loved this book, so much. It’s a coming of age story mixed with being a first generation child of immigrants mixed with grief.

This is a character written story that was immensely vivid. The premise seems like it’s been done before but this book is well worth the read.

The book heavily focuses on Julia’s Mexican upbringing, with her parents holding different expectations for their daughter, compared to American culture. Whether it’s fantasy or contemporary, I love world building. I really enjoyed learning about Julia and her family’s background and her past interactions with them. I admit that it was very frustrating to see Julia’s mother restrict her daughter’s life so much, but it showed how much Amá struggles to understand her daughter. Their disagreements, from Julia’s style to her post-graduation plans, really showed the difference between Mexican and American culture.

While there is some humor in the novel, between Amà beliefs on American culture, Julia’s POV, and her interactions with her friends, I Am Not Your Perfect Daughter is a heavy novel for its discussion on grief and depression. The on-going mystery in the novel involves Julia trying to figure out Olga’s secret relationship, but her investigation takes a bit of a backseat as Julia deals with her depression. I did not see Julia’s mental illness coming, but it made sense as we see Julia grieve over her sister’s death.

There was some sexual tension/sexualization in the novel distracted from the story, but I can understand why it was important to include in how Julia views life in her area of Chicago and Mexico. Although I don't normally read YA, I enjoyed I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter for its diverse discussion on culture and mental health, as well as being an all-around great contemporary read.