Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers’ Favorite.

In Every Step of the Way by Sofia Ramirez Castillo, Noah meets Derek when she is playing guitar outside a coffee shop, and the connection grows into a partnership that shapes her life and the future they share. Years later, financial pressure tied to Derek’s family puts a strain on their home and exposes decisions Noah did not know had been made. As their communication breaks down, Noah demands honesty and desperately tries to keep the life they built intact. A single night upends those plans and leaves her facing loss and vulnerability, destroying her sense of security. However, a legal reprieve that under any other circumstances would be horrifying opens a window, and her grandmother opens a door. Now, Noah must learn to carry on through the responsibility shaped by the passage of generations.

Every Step of the Way by Sofia Ramirez Castillo is an absolutely beautiful story, and Castillo tells it deftly by moving the timeline intermittently between a “Then” and “Now” alternating format. Noah, as a main character, is a creative, and because the novel is written in the first person, we see how she thinks and responds to things through her own lens. She is not perfect, and there is a naivete that frequently makes me want to wag a motherly finger at her, but she is likable, and so the desire to root for her is even greater. Derek is a problem we can see from a mile away. He is complicated and difficult, although he is also charismatic and persuasive. As readers, we really do want to see him pull through, also. Castillo then hits us with three twists in quick succession that are brilliant, even if two are sad. With a journalistic writing style and a touching premise, this novel is well worth reading.

Very highly recommended.