When asked to recommend an author or genre, I typically recommend an anthology. These books have multiple stories by authors both celebrated and new. Each author flexes their skills to give readers a complete story in fewer words than many chapters. Most anthologies have a common theme; this one is "own voices" and identities. Each story builds around this theme to give the author's version of how it will fit into their worlds. As with any collection, some stories are better than others, but all of them are winners.

If you’re into stories that explore identity and culture with heart, this one’s for you. It’s full of connected tales about love, tradition, and finding where you belong with a diverse and thoughtful vibe.

I liked a lot of these stories, but also couldn't deny that they felt repetitive after a while. Some of them were so short I struggled to derive meaning from them at all. I think this is a read best broken up over many reading sessions, so you can fully get immersed in all the stories without feeling like you're reading the same thing over and over.

The collection of stories spoke to me on a personal level giving reflection to my experiences. The authenticity spoke loudly and I think this collection should be required reading for young adults.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I think this was a me problem, but I didn't manage to connect to this story the way i wanted to. I found myself being excited to get it over with.

I absolutely loved Boundless: Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Identities. Each story provides invaluable insights into the lives of multicultural youth, offering a diverse array of perspectives that are both relatable and eye-opening. The anthology is beautifully curated, with every voice adding depth and authenticity. It’s a powerful read that celebrates identity, belonging, and resilience.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories that are heartfelt and thought-provoking, regardless of their background. A huge thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Life got in the way and I could not finish the book. Thanks to the publishers for the chance to read the book.

This anthology, featuring 20 stories by multiracial and multicultural authors, offers a vivid exploration of adolescence and identity. From the poignant struggles of unrequited love to the complexities of cultural belonging, the stories delve into the highs and lows of navigating a diverse existence. While some tales offer humor and lightness, others delve into deeper themes with a deft hand, showcasing a range of voices and experiences. Despite the occasional lack of cohesion and varying levels of maturity among the characters, the anthology remains a compelling and diverse compilation that readers can dip into at their leisure.

Boundless; Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Identities by Ismée Williams; Rebecca Balcárcel was an absolutely breathtaking read! A MUST READ FOR ALL!! I will definitely be reading this again. I was truly thankful to have gotten to read this before most people! I would like to purchase this one for my physical library!

An engaging and deep anthology of stories. The first two and the last two were quite good, and very memorable.

It’s so important for people to be able to see themselves across different media, and Boundless does a great job pulling experiences from so many different people. The twenty stories in this book range from the silly to the somber, all striking your emotions in different ways.

I really admire the goals of this book and the different stories I got to read. However, I do think this book works best for teenagers and preteens. As an adult, reading some of these stories felt very much like I was being subjected to the complaints of whiny teenagers. I feel very old saying that as someone who is barely (she lies) out of her teenage years. The middle stories of this book had me leaning towards three stars, but a few of the stories near the end brought it back up to a four for me.

I’m excited that I got introduced to quite a few new to me authors, some I hope to read again in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.

3.75 rounded to 4

The anthology BOUNDLESS is an example of what Inkyard does so well: showcase a range of diverse experiences, perspectives, and authors. I've already bought the book and marked several of the stories to share with my students in my first semester creative writing courses. I love that we can discuss outstanding writing and experiences we haven't read enough of yet.

Boundless is a collection of stories centering characters who do not fit into one race category. They are multicultural or mixed race and embrace (or try to) all parts of themselves. The representation in the book is powerful and folks who can relate will love seeing their loved experienced on the page. Unfortunately, I did not finish the collection, as the writing of most of the stories wasn't "rich" enough for me. I expected more poetic or description language but it was a lot more straightforward. I would still recommend this collection for the unique representation.

This is a fantastic YA anthology.

It is approachable for teens and quite varied in its contents. Some of the stories aren't as strong, but that is not unusual in an anthology.

The book is very clearly written for the YA audience.

Boundless is a new anthology containing twenty stories celebrating multicultural identities. It delves into experiences that teens and young adults with multiracial/multicultural identities may have. There were some stories that explored more emotional issues such as self acceptance, abandonment, grief, and familial separation. There are some stories that will hit your feelings hard. The other stories are more carefree written to make the reader feel good.

Overall, I enjoyed this anthology. I could tell that each of the authors had put their heart into their story. There seems to be a little of everything that a reader may be able to relate to. The target audience is young adults but, I think everyone can take something from these stories. Anthologies like Boundless will help readers feel less alone.

**Rating: 3.5 Stars**

Thank you net gallery for the advanced copy of this book. This is an anthology of young teen stories of all those awkward firsts like crushes and tryouts and tampons. The teens in the stories are facing these moments through a multicultural lens. Definitely a read for a younger audience.

Our library is trying to order titles to help bridge our immigrant and native-born communities and this title is perfect! The language is approachable, the cover art is trendy and appealing. I look forward to seeing how it does on our shelves.

This one was really cute. I think the short stories were really digestible and really gave a lot of perspective. I really wish I could have seen these as full-length novels or maybe even novellas.

20 authors from multicultural/multiracial backgrounds create 20 main characters who mirror their heritages. These young people are just moving through life trying to find meaning and to contribute in some way. But no matter their background, readers in junior high and high school will find a plethora of ways to connect to each character as they experience kids whose parents don’t understand, peers at school looking at them differently, losing a parent, not achieving a goal and so much more that is universal in the age group. However, there may be another connection for those who sometimes feel like they are split into two distinct parts because two cultures are represented around the kitchen table. And for those who do not have a kitchen table with widely varied skin tones, maybe these stories allow them to understand, just a bit, those who do and encourage them to think twice when potentially hurtful words are about to slip out. I found some of these stories to be uplifting and insightful while others made me uncomfortable and possibly a bit defensive. But no matter what, when I turned the last page, I found myself still thinking about some of those teens and I hope that all who come from diverse backgrounds will eventually come to the same conclusion as Lydia did in Tara Sim’s “Between Layers”: “I had to remember that I was formed from love, of maps being rewritten, of histories being merged. It’s all right to tell people what I am and remind them when I need to, because then it means I’m not passing—I’m embracing.” Maybe some will remember the closing of Rebecca Balcarecel’s short story: “Tell yourself you’re not a coconut-brown outside, white inside. You’re not a mash-up or a crash-up or a mix-up. You’re not parts. You’re a whole. Not a spark, but a fire. You’re not a piece of perfection, but the whole dang enchilada. You are one molten glow, light indivisible.”

Text is free of violence and sexual content is limited to only a few kisses, hand holding, etc. Profanity is present in several of the short stories with one having several f-bombs dropped and another using “effing” in place of the actual swear word. There are some milder words used periodically as well. In addition to diverse races and cultures, family groups range from traditional two parent/heterosexual to one parent homes and also include two parent/homosexual. Most of the main characters are cis but not all. Sexual orientation is varied among friend groups and family of main characters as well.

Likely audience: grade 8 and up

My favorites: Eric Smith’s “Irish Soda Bread” (adoptee), Rebecca Balcarcel’s “A Halfie’s Guide to Mexican Restaurants,” Aldi Alsaid’s “Between Visibilities.”

In a Nutshell: An anthology themed around the troubles of coming from multi-racial/multi-cultural origins. Great in terms of authentic rep. In terms of writing, well… it’s YA as advertised. So it will work better with the YA crowd.

This collection of twenty stories comes with an amazing theme. What happens when your identity crosses boundaries of race, culture, religion, or nationality? You are ‘boundless’; your identity cannot be contained within a single checkbox. Do you lean more towards one side of your parental ancestry? Can you keep one foot on each side of your cultural origin and do justice to both? Do your peers accept your holistic persona or see you only as you are visible to them, in terms of your facial features (or perhaps, I should say – racial features)?

Sounds like a relevant theme, right? In today’s world, where boundaries keep getting diluted and a “country” is nothing but a geo-political unit and citizens are more global than local, the number of people who come from multiracial and multicultural origins is at its peak. However, this doesn’t mean that they fit into their dual identities with ease, and the problem is as much because of their own split-personality feelings as because of others’ judgemental comments.

Each of the twenty stories in this collection features such a protagonist, and this should have hence led to a satisfying anthology experience. However, the hurdle I couldn’t jump over is the writing, which is adamantly YA in style. I was hoping that the powerful theme would be enough to push aside the shortcomings of the YA approach, but unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. Most of the main adult characters in the stories are either idiots or ignoramuses. The emotional exploration of the protagonists is primarily at a surface level. The characters are typical young adults who feel that they know more than adults.

The biggest disappointment was that the theme is addressed with justice only in a few of the stories. In most of the stories, the protagonist deals with YA problems rather than cultural-identity issues, with the latter being the background than the prime focus. This makes the collection feel like a generic YA anthology, and also makes the stories feel repetitive after a while.

All in all, this might work better for YA readers and for readers who are fond of YA-style writing. If you are an adult reader who wants to try an anthology about a set of teenagers who go through life mortified at the ignorance of their peers and the adults in their lives, this will work for you. But if you are a reader who has a low threshold of tolerance of flat and/or opinionated young characters, avoid it regardless of the outstanding theme.

I rated the stories individually as I always do, but after a point, every story began to get the same rating – between 2 to 3 stars, with just a couple of exceptions. So I am just going to hit the halfway mark here, and round it up as I know a part of the displeasure is because of my inability to accept YA writing without rolling my eyes.

A shoutout to the cover designer - you did a wonderful job!

2.5 stars, rounding up.

My thanks to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Boundless: Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Identities”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.