There was so much to love and unpack with this book. We’re given authentic perspectives from each sister as well as two daughters of the Marte family. At times it got a little confusing and overwhelming with all the characters. But the slow pacing allowed room for each of them to shine just some more than others. We follow each member between the past and present as they unpack their family history, secrets, and personal issues.

Things begin with Flor she’s the sister that has a gift where she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. When she decides she wants to throw herself a living wake. The sudden decision sparks something within the Marte women. Which takes us back through various points in each of their lives leading back up to where the women are now.

The book was structured rather uniquely with the interview transcripts. I think with there being so many characters and having everyone’s POV it took away from the overall plot. I didn’t feel we got enough from everyone involved because the author tried covering so much.

I did enjoy the magical elements incorporated with certain family members having a special gift. Flor was the seer of death, Pastora could read people’s truth, Camila also known as the forgotten sister had an affinity for herbalism, Ona had the magical vagina which I found that hilarious, and Yadi heiress to a taste for limes.

Overall, the book was great. She covered different themes surrounding family, marriage, sisterhood, sexuality, and motherhood. The ending disappointed me a little cause why did she end it like that I needed more at that point. Special thanks to the author & @eccobooks for my gifted copy!!!
Rating: 3.75/5⭐️

I’ve always been a “I’m not into fantasy” girl but I am learning that I really enjoy magical realism! Some of my favorite books of the year have been magical realism and I’ve devoured them.

I love the relationships in this book. I’m big into connecting with people and building relationships and I loved how intertwined everyone was and how their relationships were different and similar.

I will say all of the different names and POV were a bit confusing in the beginning but the list of characters in the beginning was very helpful!

I loved the Author’s Note at the beginning!

It pains me to say that I didn’t not enjoy this novel as much as hoped! I have read everything else she is has written so maybe my expectations were too high. It was beautifully written and seemed to be well thought out. I feel like in this case, it was perhaps just the wrong time for me to read it.

I do not want to give this a negative rating 😭. I had a really hard time following this story. There were too many characters and too many perspective changes throughout the book with characters that often had similar tones. There was also SO MUCH being said that I just could not comprehend what Acevedo was trying to convey. Whenever we were making progress on a certain part of the story, another story is thrown at us, making it a constant cycle. I will try and re-read this book again at another time and see if I have a better reading experience but I might not be the targeted audience. Highlight this is the first time I'm reading a book with my name as one of the characters!

While I love Acevedo's beautiful writing and style, I had a hard time getting into this book. The pace was a little too slow for me and I had difficulty keeping characters straight or really connecting to them.

Latin author, Acevedo, is a fantastic storyteller that puts her heritage front and center. Her previous novels are excellent for YA and adult readers alike. But she fell a little short in her "grown-up" novel. What would have been well suited for her style and league of readers, is if the novel was narrated by one of the younger girl cousins. Instead it is the older generation with their paranormal "gifts" at the center, then the family lore trickles down to the younger generation. Those younger onlookers would have told a different story of how and why the Marte family is different.
A great book club selection with so many women to identify with but I really wish their paranormal "gifts' were more front and center.

Elizabeth Acevedo has done it again. I have been saying it since The Poet X, I would read her grocery list. Acevedo is able to write such rich characters.

Elizabeth Acevedo is a beautiful writer and the way she has with words is breathtaking. This story was no different. While it does have a large cast of characters, they are so rich in their individual personalities that it just blended the storylines so perfectly. I enjoy stories thick with family and culture and if you do too, this one is for you! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

While I have loved Elizabeth Acevedo's young adult books in the past, this story just did not hit the mark for me. I found the pacing to be a little off, and the timelines confused me a little bit. I may try and pick this up again for a reread when I have a chance to really absorb the text. I am however looking forward to her future works.

I really wanted to love this book, but I didn’t. The idea of a multi-generational story about all female family members, each of whom has a special talent or gift, is typically right up my alley. I just really struggled getting through the book. I even contemplated not finishing it, which is something I almost never do. For me it was hard to follow the time and location jumps from the campo, to the capital Santo Domingo, to New York and also follow which character’s story was being told. The chapters were so short that it didn’t give me time to connect with any one character’s story. Finally, I can speak, read, and write passable Spanish, but it was also challenging to feel like I didn’t always understand the text without a direct translation (which could be a feature of my ARC and not part of the final edition). Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was my first book from this author and I am looking forward to more. This is a wonderful and insightful telling of a an extraordinary family. The pages are filled with love and a little magic. Highly recommend

This was chosen for my Book Club's BOTM this fall and I am so excited for everyone to read it. Every Elizabeth Acevedo book I have read has stunned me. This was no different. It was a beautifully told family saga that will captivate you from the very beginning. The entire cast of characters was so engaging, particularly our MC. I've seen people say there were too many characters to keep track of, which I disagree with, there was a key! Overall it's rich in culture, family themes, magic, and just beauty and I highly recommend you add it to your end of year TBR!

A wonderful, expansive novel about a Dominican-American family. Acevedo is such an accomplished story teller, especially in her details.

I love Elizabeth Acevedo. This book was hard for me to get into. It was just slow to get invested in the characters. But I still admire and enjoy her lyrical, poetic writing style that features strong, unapologetic women. I will continue to read everything Acevedo writes, but this was not my favorite of hers.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Elizabeth Acevedo is such an amazing storyteller. Each book that she writes immediately pulls me in and makes me feel like I am part of the story.

Flor can predict when someone will die. She has decided that she wants a living wake. Everyone starts worrying that she has seen her own death.

As they are preparing for the wake, we learn the stories of Flora, Pastora, Matilde, and Camilla. We are told about their lives in Santa Domingo and how they came to New York and their lives since then. This story touches on infidelity, fertility issues, love and grief and the lives of this Dominican family

There are parts of this book I enjoyed, but as a whole this book is not a favorite for me. I expected the magical realism to be much more prevalent in the story. This story is a sweeping family saga spanning decades and locales with heavy feminist themes. This sounds perfect in itself. Throw in the women of the family holding magical powers??? Sounds perfect. But something here just didn’t work for me. Part of the problem may have been that there were 6 POVs. I had trouble keeping everyone’s narrative straight. The magical realism element was only prevalent in certain characters and I had trouble keeping everyone’s “powers” straight. I did appreciate the idea that the women’s trauma was manifesting as their power. Something here just missed the mark for me. I started reading this as an eBook and ended up having to swap to the audio version because I was dragging through it so so slowly. That being said, I love Acevedo’s YA novels and I will continue to read her work. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this novel.

I love this author and loved all of her previous works. This is really her first book that branched out into something that was not YA and this is also the first book i've read that dealt with the older generation of men and women. The journey this book sent me on can never be forgotten and I honestly love this book but it was not one of the best for me. The changing of POVs every chapter is something that I'm not familiar with but I enjoyed it. It was seamless and I didn't feel like I was thrown off from the changing of POVs. The SECOND HAND EMBARRASSMENT I felt in some of these scenes almost made me run away from the book and I would scream and laugh. Justice for Pastora!

I absolutely loved The Poet X and I had high hopes for Family Lore. Honestly, this book is…fine. It’s written by a fantastic author, is a GMA book club pic and is getting all the press. But, it was a bit odd to me and I didn’t particularly jive with jt. 🤷‍♀️ It’s probably just me and I will definitely read whatever Acevedo writes next, but you won’t see me singing this one’s praises from my rooftop.

I think the story itself depicts the resilience of women, especially within a family - the closeness that can be attained and just threw the knowledge of things left unsaid. It was a very beautiful story. I really liked following the different stories.

***3.5 Stars rounded Up to 4***

Mini Review...

One of my MOST highly anticipated reads of 2023 by one of my all time favorite authors, I could not wait to get my hands on a copy! and since I've always listened to Acevedo's books while reading along, I couldn't break tradition. If you haven't done so already, you should absolutely treat your ears to Acevedo's narrative style and join the many readers who simply adore this author's storytelling/voice. This is Acevedo's first adult fiction debut and we follow the six women of the Marte family in past + present timelines between Santo Domingo and New York City. Sisters Flor, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila have gathered to organize a living wake for Flor. The Oldest of the sisters has always had a close relationship with death, experiencing premonitions at a very young age that predicted which family members were close to passing. After watching a documentary of a man having a living wake with his loved ones present, Flor decided she would have one for herself. This story is slow paced as we get to know the sisters and some of their offspring, cousins Ona and Yadi also have chapters of their own as they navigate their mother/aunts live funeral. 

There's something comforting in reading one of Acevedo's books and I believe it's because family is always at their core. Also, as a Latina woman myself having grown up in a large family there is one universal truth and that is...everyone is deeply invested in everyone elses lives for better or worse. Matilde is dealing with a husband who is always having an affair and this time has taken his extra marital activities much further. Pastora is tired of seeing Matilde put up with her philandering husband and wants her to end her marriage. She's also trying to get to the bottom of the reasoning behind Flor's live wake. Camila is the youngest and most forgotten of the sisters and she's grown tired of that. Flor's daughter Ona is struggling with fertility issues and wanting more than anything to have a child with her husband. Pastora's daughter Yadi has her world rocked when her boyfriend from her teenage years returns after having been in prison for some years. 

I found some of these women's stories to be  more compelling than others but can appreciate what Acevedo set out to achieve. It was during the scenes that took place back in Santo Domingo where you can see where and why these ladies have unhealed generational trauma and wounds to heal. Although they're all deeply woven with one another, six lives to follow can get chaotic and sometimes I found myself getting lost. I felt some women were better developed than others and this led to some blending in of voices and difficulty keeping the story lines straight. Even though we Know Camila is sick of being the forgotten one, I still felt she pretty much was forgotten in this story which seemed like a missed opportunity. If you enjoy reading slower paced stories with a strong focus on family dynamics paired with a unique storytelling voice, you can't go wrong with Elizabeth Acevedo. 

Favorite POV's: Matilde and Yadi