Welcome to Litsy!

#BookMail, or better yet #TeaAndBooks and gummi pigs.

Thank you Helen! @squirrelbrain
😘😘😘😘

Huge thanks to #harpercollins for gifting me a copy of this book that‘s just come out in paperback in the UK.

I read it last year as a digital ARC and loved it - it‘s kind of a rom-com but darker whilst still being wickedly funny.

Definitely recommended as a summer read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I listened to this on audio. It was entertaining enough and the narrator was excellent. However, I didn‘t find that it dug as deeply into the cultures represented like I wanted it to and I felt it was pretty predictable. It‘s a good beach read, which just isn‘t really my thing unfortunately.

This was a book riot #gettbr recommendation. Looking forward to the other recs they sent me!

I w asn't quite sure what to expect of this book. I read it because it was recommended, and taking a peek at the reviews made me very curious and a bit apprehensive. It was very entertaining, so I had no issues getting through it fairly quickly. However, the overall impression that I have is that these were some excellent characters who were placed in a storyline that wasn't very well written.

Fast paced mix of humour, crime and romance set in Trinidad amongst illegal Venezuelan migrants, by a new Trinidadian author.

Worked for me!

He waggled a finger at me. ‘As a writer, you of all people should know that someone‘s art is the clearest reflection of who they are. The better I know my subjects, the better I can keep them in line. If I was tracking a writer like, say, Echeverría, I‘d know to keep my gun locked and loaded. Someone who‘s more of a Neruda, I‘d know not to worry.‘

Trinidad likes to tout itself as this cosmopolitan melting pot.... But in fact, if you‘re not one of, or a blend of, the two majority races on the island, a pall of Otherness follows you like a lingering fart that won‘t waft away, the stench manifesting itself in relentless catcalls, the unshakeable instinct that you should always keep your eyes on the pavement, and a keen awareness that you are constantly being watched.

Despite enjoying the overall writing style, I didn't end up truly liking this book. I thought Yola's character journey and the romance plot were poorly developed and the middle third of the book kind of lost the thread of the story. I liked the idea of focusing on the life of a Venezuelan refugee family in Trinidad through a humorous lens, and the author has talent, but the pieces never came together for me.

I‘d never heard about Venezuelan refugees. This is the story of the Palacio family and their new lives in Trinidad. It‘s funny and dark, especially when Trini crime lord, Ugly, makes his appearance. I have to admit to feeling some guilt when laughing at some of the more inappropriate bits, but the author has said that this was the approach she was after, and let‘s face it, in times of adversity there are always those who can see the funny side.

Yola and her family, illegal Venezuelan immigrants in Trinidad, find themselves in debt to a local criminal called Ugly. This novel is very funny, despite its very real subject matter, as we explore what happens over the year that the family have to work for Ugly.

Just to confuse matters, Yola finds Ugly‘s right-hand man, Roman, rather attractive....

Another one for Trinidad for #readaroundtheworld @BookwormM

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