What I’m Reading (4.8.24)

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. 

I had the weirdest reading experience with this book, as I honestly couldn’t have told you its plot most of the time I was reading it, and I’m still struggling to understand the point of this book. This book is mostly about Millie, who is trying to graduate college after taking some time off, and it’s also about Agatha, a professor at the college who is trying to gather research for her next book. It’s also about three girls on Millie’s floor who are sharing an apartment and all of the difficulties that come with trying to live with people who are so vastly different than you. This book should have resonated with me because I felt deeply impacted by the storyline of one of the roommates, Kennedy. She was struggling to find her place at school and had a hard time connecting with anyone else. I also really struggled during my first year of college, and I could relate to everything Kennedy was going through. (Oh, that moment of connection with someone else in your class and hoping you were finally going to make your first friend! I remember that feeling so well.) However, this story wasn’t about three girls making it through a year of college… it was mostly about Agatha and Millie, and I just found them totally boring and their storyline a slog. This book has a 3.46 rating on Goodreads and I should have trusted all of the other people who gave this book a low rating because it just wasn’t very good.

Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen (★★☆☆☆)

Audiobook • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2021

Short synopsis: Tabitha Walker thought she had it all—great job, great boyfriend, great friends and family. But then it all comes crashing down with a life-altering diagnosis that would affect her ability to have children in the future. Suddenly, she’s faced with an impossible decision of what to do next.

Ughhh… this book. What a disappointment. Let’s get into my issues with it. First, Tabitha was a hard character to root for. She had a martyr-like demeanor and seemed to think her life was in shambles even though she had so much good going on! I couldn’t understand her attraction to her boyfriend whom she had been dating for a full year and had never been to his apartment or met his family. Girl, he’s a walking red flag. Get out! Honestly, all of the men in this novel were pretty mediocre at best and all of the women deserved better. There was some casual fatphobia in this novel that really grinded my gears, especially once a character started to lose weight and it was mentioned how now she can be on dating apps since she’s looking “better.” Fun fact: There is not a weight limit on dating apps! And do you want to date someone who only dates women who are a certain size? Ugh. After reading this book and disliking my time with it, I wanted to seek out reviews from Black women to see if I missed something with my white perspective. What I found were tons of negative reviews from Black women, which was a bit of a relief. As one reviewer put it, this book “felt about as deep as a kiddie pool.” The final nail in the coffin for this one was the ending, which was so bad that I would have thrown my book across the room if I hadn’t listened to it on audio. Skip this book!

Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa (★★★★★)

Print • Owned • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Ander is a nonbinary Mexican-American teen who is taking a gap year after high school before enrolling at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Santi is an undocumented Mexican who starts working at Ander’s family’s restaurant, and they swiftly fall in love. But can their love sustain Ander’s upcoming move to Chicago, or worse, can it keep Santi safe from the ICE agents roaming around their town?

I’m writing this review a few hours after I finished this book, and I can feel the book hangover swiftly approaching. I miss these two people already and just want to start the book all over again. This book was sensational in so many ways. I loved the way the Spanish elements were completely infused into the book: the food, the language, the culture, the art. I loved the way Ander and Santi fell in love and how palpable their chemistry felt through the pages. I was deeply moved by the exploration of undocumented people and the way the system works for people who may not be the “ideal” immigrant that the news likes to talk about. Santi left Mexico because it was unsafe for him to be there, but he’s not a standout student or a model minority. He’s just a guy who wants to live a quiet, happy life, and not be afraid every minute of the day. I could feel the tenseness of Santi as he navigated life in the United States as an undocumented person. It’s stressful and harrowing. This is a book that shines a light on what the experience may look like for undocumented people. They just want the right to live a safe, stable life, like the rest of us. This book had a lot going on, as you can see, but it all works together beautifully. This book has earned its place on my favorites shelf, for sure.

What are you reading?