This debut was a marvel, and I've already placed it in the hands of some of my teens at the library. I couldn't put it down, and I'm excited to see what's next from Natasha Diaz.

Some books just surprise you in the best of ways. When I added this book to my TBR, I only expected to read a nice YA coming of age contemporary, but wow did I get so much more. I’m emotional and delighted and thoroughly impressed, so let me share my thoughts.

Nevaeh’s life is completely turned upside down due to her parent’s separation and she is struggling to find her place in this new reality. She wants to fit in with her mother’s very religious Baptist family living in Harlem, but she has never the chance or maybe even desire to explore her Black identity before, so she doesn’t know how to do it. She tries to channel her confusion, her rage and her feelings into her writing but she is still afraid to show it to anyone. But slowly with the help of her extended family, the friends she makes in the vibrant community and getting to know her mother better through her old journal, she starts expressing herself through spoken word poetry. She is also initially hesitant to understand her Jewish identity but that slowly changes because of the influence of the very interesting Rabbi Sarah. I liked how the author shows us all facets of Nevaeh - she isn’t perfect, just a realistic teenager with faults, who doesn’t know everything, makes mistakes and can’t even understand why she is wrong - but ultimately she owns up her mistakes and tries to correct them, strives to be better.

Every other character in the book also has their own arc. They all influence Nevaeh in her growth, but they have lives and their own issues independent of her. That’s why this book is more reading about the daily lives of a family and their friends, rather than just about the main character. Her mother’s despair because of the divorce and her deep rooted anxieties are cleverly integrated into the story through the journal, which was also probably one of the hardest parts of the book to read. Jordan is her vivacious cousin who has dreams and ideas for her future, but has to constantly fight for her opportunities because the world doesn’t think a young Black woman deserves them. Stevie is Nevaeh’s best friend and I just adored his wit and his confidence to go for what he wants. Her aunt Anita comes across as abrasive but they are so many layers to her character and it was beautiful to get to know her. And Rabbi Sarah is one of my favorites - faithful but also open minded, she is charming and delightful but there’s also a deep sadness in her. She plays such an important part in the book and I would have loved to get to know her better, but the way her arc is written is kinda perfect for this story. I wasn’t sure what to think of Jesus initially but I liked the developing romance. He is also probably one of the most sorted characters in that he knows what he wants from his future and has worked hard for it, despite the world trying to snatch it away from him. Abby is the typical mean girl classmate and Ashleigh is the usual evil stepmother - while I understood the parts they played in Nevaeh’s character growth, they both didn’t feel as real as all the other characters in the book and that’s probably my only issue with this book.

There are so many themes explored in this book, I’m just in awe of the author for being able to talk about all of them in a sensitive manner. The main theme is obviously the issues faced by biracial people, their confusion with finding their place and trying to fit in with both sides of their identity. Both Nevaeh and Stevie have similar kind of issues personally, but they also affect them differently in the outside world because Nevaeh is white passing and he is not. She makes mistakes and is forced to check her privilege many times, sometimes brutally - until she realizes that her privilege allows her to voice her thoughts in a safer manner and sometimes, she has to use this privilege to just listen and give the opportunity to other marginalized voices to speak. There are just so many instances of racism in the book, both micro aggressions and some outright ones - we see how it chips away at the soul of the person who has to encounter them everyday but still wake up and go through it all over again, knowing that their life maybe cut short with even a little misstep. This harsh reality is depicted with raw honesty in the book and it just pained me so much. On another note, the despair of having to go through a divorce after having depended on a person for years is also depicted in a very real manner. The one part which I felt really hard though was, how deep it cuts to lose a childhood best friend and having to go through life without being able to share everything with them. As a single child like Nevaeh, I understood her pain all too well even though my circumstances were different, but I think more books should highlight the deep impact that friendships have on us and how losing them affect us even profoundly than a romantic breakup.

Finally, I just want to say that pick up this book and I promise, you will be affected. It is brilliant, insightful and heartfelt and you just can’t help but feel the raw emotions that the characters are feeling. It clearly shows that this is the author’s lived experience, a fictionalized version of her own life which makes every word feel very honest. The author’s note at the end is even more moving. However, this is a very character driven, slice of life kinda story and there is not much of a plot, but it didn't impact my reading experience at all. It's an amazing debut and I can’t wait to see what more the author has for us in the future

Thank you so much to random house kids publishing for giving me a chance to review a copy of this early!

Wow. This is such a powerful novel. I don’t know if this review will do ‘Color Me In’ justice. I didn’t know what to think about this book when I first read the blurb – I was of two minds, either it could tackle the story really well and be a masterpiece of a book I won’t stop shouting about. Or, it could end up butchering the story it was trying to tell and i’d still be left yearning for a story like this. To cut a long review short, this book was EVERYTHING

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In Short

In Short: A Story That Needed To Be Told + Hilarious & Grounded Characters + The Bi-Racial Story We Needed

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In Detail

This is a story about being that I wasn’t sure I wanted, but I certainly needed. It focuses on Nevaeh, a biracial teenager growing up in New York. Her mum is African American and her Dad is Jewish and also white, for the majority of her life so far she’s been raised in an affluent suburb of New York however that’s all about to change. Her Mum & Dad split up, then Nevaeh and her mum move in with her family. Suddenly she’s faced with getting to know this other-side of her and a different of her family who she barely knew, due to being cut off by her father. Whilst at the same time dealing with:

Mum whose having a breakdown
Dad who doesn’t understand her and doesn’t even try too.
Dad’s new girlfriend who is so up her own arse it hurts
Figuring out who she is and where she fits in between these two totally different worlds
Planning for a batmizvah that she doesn’t really want
Her cousins looking down on her for not understanding their culture & going to a private school.
As she tries to navigate this brand new situation, she finds out a deep dark secret about her mum which changes her perspective about the world we live in. My favourite part about this whole story is how it’s so character driven and it makes the book much more powerful and special. Natasha really nails the whole aspect and feeling of Nevaeh being torn in two – a bit like a game of tug of war where she’s being pulled apart by the two different cultures her parents are trying to get her to be.

This book is split into three main parts in my view:

The Story (What’s Happening)
Nevaeh’s Poems (Her writing down how she feels)
Neveah’s mum’s Journal (Flashbacks to her mum’s past)
All of this really helps to bring this book to life. I loved the little flashbacks you saw of her mum’s past, it really helps you build this sense of connection to the characters and understand their backstory. Towards the end of the book I ended up getting so angry with the injustices in the book and this is truly a testament to how incredible this writer is. Nevaeh’s poems are also such a treat to read – I found myself rereading them and speaking them out loud just to get a feel for how Neveah would say them.

One of the main strands of this story is Nevaeh planning her batmizvah which her dad is forcing her to do, to connect with her jewish heritage since he despises the fact she’s becoming more and more connected to her mum’s side. A part of this includes getting Nevaeh tutoring so she can learn more about her jewish side in preparation for her batmizvah. This is where one of my favourite characters come in – Rabbi Sarah. I loved her so much, mainly due to how at first Nevaeh is at odds with the whole idea of being forced to have a batmizvah and tries to avoid Rabbi Sarah as much as she can. But over time they slowly get closer and she ends up being her rock to navigate Nevaeh through all of this. Plus there relationship is EVERYTHING.

Another big strand of ‘Color Me In’, is the fact that Nevaeh is mixed race and comes from privileged background and has light skin. This leads to her cousins feeling that she doesn’t fit in with their family and it leads to Nevaeh questioning ‘if she isn’t jewish, but can’t be African American because she’s not black then where does she belong? Who exactly is Nevaeh?’. This book tackles everyday racism and white privilege in such a privilege until she starts trying to connect with her mum’s side of the family.

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In Conclusion

This book does something special. Like really special, it helped open my eyes. It showed me that it’s okay to be different, and it’s okay to be a part of two totally different conflicting cultures. In fact, the world is so much better off with you embracing who you are and attempting to mesh those two cultures into who you are. You can be who you are even if you feel like you’re so lost in the middle because you don’t exactly belong to either side. You can find your middle ground to be part of both sides.

Also, on another note. I didn’t figure this out until i’d read the book, but the title is SO clever. It sums up the book and the story perfectly and I loved the book even more for this once it’d clicked. How Nevaeh wishes she could fit in by being coloured in and fitting in with the rest of her family.

As you can tell, I ADORED this book, like SO much. I’m going to upload a separate post detailing my thoughts on this book in-detail because I didn’t have enough space to talk about it entirely in this review! I hope you enjoyed this! Are you going to add this to your TBR? Let me know below!

Color Me In made a likely fan of me as soon as I read the description, several months before I even got my eyes on an ARC. I'm often drawn to books that grapple with the complexities of identity, especially when the ideas of home and faith are part of that equation. Natasha Diaz has crafted a standout YA debut, tactfully exploring 16-year-old Nevaeh Levitz's burgeoning crisis in the wake of her parents' separation. Nevaeh has left the home she knew in the affluent suburbs and moved in to her mother's family home in Harlem, where she struggles to fit in with her Baptist relatives. While she's trying to find her footing in Harlem, her previously secular father has decided that he and Nevaeh need to connect with their Jewish heritage—in a public way, by throwing her a bat mitzvah several years late. I particularly appreciated the journal Nevaeh finds and reads to learn more about her mother's past, and the poetry Nevaeh writes as a way of finding and hearing her own voice. At times, I did wish the plot had slowed down just a touch so that the story may have had more time to play out on the page—there seemed to be a few unexplained, sudden leaps in time, eliding details and reflection, and the romance sped forward within only a few scenes. Overall, though, this is beautifully written, featuring great character development and thoughtful exploration of a host of relevant social and political issues.

A good comp for readers of Misa Sugiura, Brandy Colbert, Susan Kaplan Carlton, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte/Random House for providing me with a digital review copy.

This book was so incredibly beautifully written? Just, wow?
This book was definitely longer than the YA contemporaries I usually consume and I felt a little intimidated by it because of it, especially because I just have a hard time focusing on longer books and I usually end up getting a little bored, but I didn't struggle with that in this book at all. I kept wanting more. More of the author's beautiful writing. More of the difficult themes themes this dealt with (of not knowing where you fit, of suddenly having this whole new community and sides of yourself to explore after your parent's divorce, of learning how much your dad is just Not a Good Guy, of learning how privileged you are as a multiracial white passing woman and how to navigate and use this privilege). More of the breath-taking poetry included in the book.
Sadly, even though the book was already on the longer side for me, I still wish it had been a little longer because it felt it was lacking in a few things. The side characters, even though I liked them, just felt a bit under-developed, and I also wish the relationship between Neveah and her dad was a little bit more explored, especially at the end. (Spoiler) It felt like he just... disappeared, and that just didn't feel complete, like there were things left to resolve, which made the whole ending of the book feel a little unsatisfying.
Overall though, I really enjoyed the book and I'm excited to see what this author comes with next because I know I'm going to read it.

Sometimes I read to escape, but more often than not I read to learn more about the world and the people around me. Color Me In provided me with the chance to examine how difficult it can be to establish ones' identity and know just where you fit in in the greater scheme while being part of a multicultural family.

This is an especially difficult journey for Neveah, who is part African-American, part White-Jewish-American. It was really interesting to watch as she navigated her journey to determine who she is and what she values. I loved reading about how she was able to blend the two cultures and communities.

This is a thought-provoking debut that is definitely worth your time.

Color Me In made me go through so many emotions. Sympathy for Nevaeh who is caught in not only in the crosshairs of her identity but also in the divorce of he parents. Anger for her as she is unjustly punished for how she looks like. Happiness when she finds her voice through her poetry. Natasha Diaz wrote this story beautifully and in times where one's racial makeup is even more under a microscope, it is a story that is much needed for many who struggle in terms with who they are and who they want to be. The story also made me realize how tough we as daughters can be with mothers. As Nevaeh gets frustrated with her mother for not moving on from the impending divorce (unlike her sleazebag of a father honestly), she becomes harsh and cold towards her. But when she reads her mother's diary, she learns of the woman that is her mom. One thing I took away from this is that change is inevitable. It is one thing that is constant. But like Nevaeh, you must let go in order for yourself to move on.

I cannot recommend this book enough!

eARC provided by Random House Children's on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

This debut easily made its way onto my favorites of the year list. Color Me In was absolutely phenomenal and I can't believe I was lucky enough to read it, recommend it, and sing its praises.

I wish I could make up a list of all of the things that I deeply love about this book - but that would be... the whole thing. There's the characters, the writing, the plot.... wow. To be honest, I was excited to pick this up but I did not expect to love it so much. But it was truly everything I didn't know I needed and just, amazing. There's so much I want to say about this book, I don't quite know how to break it down.

Before I start, there are a lot of things that could be triggering and hard to read in this book: sexual assault, cheating, police violence, racism, and parents struggling with their mental health. I just think that's important to mention about this book, because it deals with a lot of heavy topics and something you should be aware of!

Nevaeh is going through the aftermath of her parent's divorce as well as trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. There was a lot of character growth for her during this book. So much of her life changed, as did her perception of how she exists in this world. I rooted for her so hard, and I loved watching her grow in so many ways. But she wasn't the only stand out character to love and root for, her Mom and her side of the family were all wonderful, Jesus and Rabbi Sarah need to be protected at all costs, and her best friend Stevie and their relationship was WONDERFUL (the friendship we NEEDED, messy, not always perfect, but just so full of platonic love??? We have to stan, there is no other option). Her dad, on the other hand, made me truly filled with rage, and I don't have a nice thing to say about him outside the fact he introduced Nevaeh to Rabbi Sarah. Oops.

This book dealt with a lot of heavier topics, but the writing style was a perfect balance of comedic and lyrical to feel like it was properly handling it while also allowing some alleviated tension. The writing style was one of my favorite parts of this book. I loved Diaz's style and can't wait to read everything they put out.

Though I love this book so dearly, I must say that the female antagonists in this story and how they were handled were not my favorite, hyper sexuality and unintelligence is not... it but outside of this I loved all of this book.

Please, pick this book up. This book, these characters, and their experiences deserve your love!!

The writing in this was a little erratic. Sometimes it was genuinely lyrical, and sometimes there were abrupt or clunky sentences that pulled me back out of the story Natasha Diaz was crafting.

But Nevaeh’s story resonated with me — as she struggled to reconcile her Black and Jewish halves in the wake of her parent’s’ separation; and comes to confront her own privilege inherent in her (accidental) ability to “pass” as White.

I think the few odd bits of writing are probably just the mark of a first novel, and I will definitely read more Natasha Diaz in the future!

Disclaimer: I bought my own copy but then got a copy on Netgalley. Yay me! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: August 20, 2019

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: 15+ (self-identity)

Publisher: Delacorte

Synopsis: Who is Nevaeh Levitz?

Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought much about her biracial roots. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she relocates to her mom's family home in Harlem and is forced to confront her identity for the first time.

Nevaeh wants to get to know her extended family, but one of her cousins can't stand that Nevaeh, who inadvertently passes as white, is too privileged, pampered, and selfish to relate to the injustices they face on a daily basis as African Americans. In the midst of attempting to blend their families, Nevaeh's dad decides that she should have a belated bat mitzvah instead of a sweet sixteen, which guarantees social humiliation at her posh private school. Even with the push and pull of her two cultures, Nevaeh does what she's always done when life gets complicated: she stays silent.

It's only when Nevaeh stumbles upon a secret from her mom's past, finds herself falling in love, and sees firsthand the prejudice her family faces that she begins to realize she has a voice. And she has choices. Will she continue to let circumstances dictate her path? Or will she find power in herself and decide once and for all who and where she is meant to be?

Review; I thought this was a very lyrical and poetic book. The book kind of just sings to you and I loved how the book was mostly about the author's own and I liked how the characters were written dependent of each other.

However, it did feel like this book didn't really have an overall plot, but it was still amazing.

Verdict: Read this now!

COLOR ME IN is such a wonderful #ownvoices debut novel -- not only is it beautifully written, it is also an important story with lessons that are more important than ever in today’s world. Although it is a work of fiction, it hews closely to the author’s lived experience, which you can feel shining through on each page. You often hear authors speak of the book(s) of their heart, and it certainly feels this is that book for Ms. Díaz.

Nevaeh feels like she just doesn’t fully fit in anywhere -- not with her mother’s Caribbean-American, Black Baptist family and not with her Jewish father and grandmother, Bubby. Nor does she feel fully at home in either her grandfather’s Harlem neighborhood or her incredibly white, affluent private school in a ritzy section of New York City. She finds herself challenged on all sides: by her Black cousins, twins Jordan and Janae; by her former friend turned enemy and racist tormentor, Abby; and by her own secular Jewish father, who has decided to force her to have a (very) belated bat mitzvah, despite historically telling her, “It’s not about being Jewish.... It’s about being a Levitz.” No matter what she does, she cannot seem to be comfortable in her own skin in any of these places or with any of these people. And to top it off, the one person she has always been able to count on to truly see her for who she is, her best friend Stevie, seems to be pulling away from her.

Nevaeh’s story is one of a struggle to figure out her identity and just where she fits in the world. Her cousins seem to think she’s not Black enough, and that she clearly doesn’t understand the privilege she gains from being able to pass as white. She definitely doesn’t feel Jewish enough to have a bat mitzvah, as she has been completely disconnected from the religious Jewish experience her entire life. She feels like she stands out like a sore thumb at the Baptist church where her grandfather is a pastor. On top of all of this, her mother seems disinterested in everything since separating from her father and having to move with Nevaeh back to her father’s Harlem home, where Nevaeh’s aunt and uncle and cousins also live. What on earth can she do to finally become comfortable in her own skin?

Nevaeh’s journey to figure out the answer to that question is fraught with difficulty, but it is also utterly sweet and satisfying. While we all undertake a journey to find out who we are, Nevaeh’s unique circumstance of multiple ethnic, racial, and religious identities to navigate makes hers especially difficult. While at first she wants to cower away, ultimately she faces the hardships, the pain, the awareness of her own privilege as compared to her family, and all the rest head on. Nevaeh writes to deal with all of the questions she has, although she never shows her writing to anyone; however, we are privy to her private thoughts, and this is my favorite aspect of the book. The poems she writes are stunning, thoughtful, and beautiful in and of themselves, on top of the rest of the story. She grows into a confident, strong young woman who has really done the hard work of examining both her hardships and her privilege.

COLOR ME IN is an incredible contemporary debut that is so timely, one that teaches all of us important lessons. I thank Ms. Díaz for baring her soul and sharing her own life story with us through Nevaeh, and I hope any young person who is struggling to fit in or to be comfortable with who they are will pick this up. There is so much beauty and heart to this story, and I highly recommend it.

RATING: 4 stars!

**Disclosure: I received an early e-copy of this book for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part and reflects my honest rating and review of the book.

Color Me In centers around Nevaeh, our heroine who finds herself dealing with the aftermath of her parents splitting up and soon to be divorce. She is living with his mom’s relatives in Harlem, with relatives that she knows but hasn’t spent that much time with. Because of this change and her own identity, Nevaeh is caught up between two worlds, her dad’s and her mom’s. Her mom’s West Indies/black world and her dad’s rich white jewish world.
Two worlds that collide in her but also set her apart from each of it, she’s not white enough because of her black relatives. And to her black relatives she’s too white to fully partake in some parts of black culture. The book mostly deals with Nevaeh’s struggle with accepting herself and her identity, with knowing and understanding where she belongs when she feels she can’t fully be part of either culture. But also how she sees herself and how others see her and the privileges afforded to her because of being white passing.
The writing was lyrical, flowing beautifully from sentence to sentence with the added touch of poems and spoken poetry that made some statements and especially Nevaeh’s voice even more touching and honest. Every character of the book was marvellously written and crafted, each were good, bad, flawed and beautiful. Also shoutout to having the love interest be a dominican boy, i love a cute, soft, hard-working good dominican boy representation.

Color Me In was a book I’d been anticipating for so long, as it sounded exactly like the kind of contemporary I’d love, a beautiful coming-of-age story and, it really was.

If it took me a little while to get into the story and to stay into it (but this is more likely because of the circumstances, as I read this on and off while traveling), once I got a moment to really get into it, I really loved it. Nevaeh was such a great main character and the growth she goes through within the story was stunning, as she found her voice, claimed her identity, grew stronger and fiercer and her character arc was amazing.

One thing I loved about Color Me In is the strong presence of family. With her parents on the brink of a divorce and Nevaeh learning about her mother’s past, Color Me In perfectly includes family stories and history and complexities of the parents-children and parents themselves relationships in the story, something that I really loved. I also deeply appreciated seeing Nevaeh growing closer to her mom’s side of the family.

With a side of romance, sweet and flawed, (that could have been a little more developed, though), a side of friendship with its ups and downs and most of it all, Nevaeh’s growth, Color Me In is definitely a book I’d recommend to every contemporary, coming-of-age, character-driven kind of reader. It’s a beautiful diverse read.

This is definitely going to be one of the best books I've read this year. There was so much to this story, things that if you aren't in that situation, you have no idea about what really happens. Knowing that the author grew up with this type of life totally made this stand out so much for me. But not only was it a really deep look at that, it totally was a teenager's story. First off, as much as Nevaeh was going through herself, she soon had to realize that she wasn't the only one going through things. Her friends were; her family, including her cousins, mother, aunt, uncle, grandpa, were all going through stuff. And not just them, but even people like her rabbi that was helping her go through to get ready for her bat mitzvah. There was also poetry in the book, poetry that the main character was fitting to her current feelings and situation. Nevaeh also found her mother's diary, and for her to see what led up to her mom and dad getting together, as well as what her mom dealt with as a teenager was so perfect for this story.

Personally, at my age, it really stood out to me that now we have stories about teenagers who their parents were young when 9/11 happened. As someone who was a teacher at the time, that really makes me feel even older. But reminds me of all the things that I hear my parents talk about that I wasn't alive for, but that was such a major event in their lives.

This was an incredible read. I could tell that the author had poured in all the hurt and pain that came with feeling like an outsider wherever she went. While this is specifically about being biracial, the way this book is written allows for the feelings to extend to various different types of social ostracism. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and can't wait to buy my own personal copy.

I really enjoyed this book and its in-depth examination of being biracial and white-passing. Nevaeh started out really loathing how disconnected she felt from both sides of her family, and I loved how much she grew and how she learned to accept herself and accept her family.

I loved Nevaeh’s relationship with her mom—and her mom’s family—and how to changed over time as Nevaeh began to empathize with her mom. I thought the poems in between bits of action, as well as the opening scene at the park, helped center this book on their relationship specifically.

I was also pleased with the lyrical prose in general. The poems never felt out of place, but helped to move the plot along.

However, I was constantly frustrated with how Nevaeh lied to try and fit in—especially when she lied, rather unnecessarily, to Jesus. I’m glad that she had to own up to her lying and grow from its consequences, but it was definitely frustrating in the moment. I wasn’t a huge fan of Nevaeh’s relationship with Jesus, but it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

I was also frustrated with how the female antagonists were mostly the same stereotypes of “pretty-but-evil bimbos;” it also felt like Abby’s character in particular was done a sort of disservice. It seemed like Abby would get some sort of redemption or we would grow to empathize with her, but the book ends before we really get to that. (Abby does end up doing some really horrible things to Nevaeh, though, and I’m glad that this book demonstrates that not all bullies deserve forgiveness or redemption. I felt like this could have been handled better within the context of the story, because it felt mostly glossed over.)

I really loved the author’s letter at the end that tied everything back to the author’s own life; it really made me appreciate the book more.

Overall, I think this book was a very poignant examination of Nevaeh’s relationship with her identity. There are lots of scenes that, while very realistic, hurt to read—like when the police officer stopped Nevaeh to make sure that her uncle “isn’t hurting her.” I would definitely recommend this to anyone struggling with their own identity, or to anyone who wants to understand what it’s like to be biracial and white-passing.

Author: Natasha Diaz
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never really thought much about her roots or her racial identity, but when her black mother and Jewish father split up and she and her mom move in with her mother’s family in Harlem, she comes face-to-face with it. Nevaeh loves this family and wants to be a part of them, but one of her cousins hates that she passes for white and doesn’t understand the injustices their family has to face.

When she spends time with her dad—and his new girlfriend—her dad pushes for her to embrace her Jewish side—the side he never gave much attention to himself, guaranteeing her life at her posh private school becomes even tougher. She doesn’t know which side of her heritage is really her.

Then Nevaeh falls in love and starts to realize she has a voice, a voice she can use to speak out against the hate and oppression she encounters every day, as she embraces her newfound identity and all the joy—and sorrow—it brings with it.

The journey of self-discovery and realization Nevaeh experiences is riveting and the opposition and prejudice she experiences is infuriating. Her entire world has been turned upside down, and she just wants to find where she belongs, but everyone opposes her, making her more confused than ever. The power and strength she uncovers when she embraces her true identity is inspiring and uplifting. This is a fantastic read!

Natasha Diaz was born in New York and lives there still. Color Me In is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Delacorte Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

COLOR ME IN by Natasha Diaz is a new young adult novel and I am honestly having trouble deciding if I would recommend it or not. Some positives are the ideas that the main character, a high school sophomore named Nevaeh, is bi-racial and has a mixed religious heritage (Christianity and Judaism); plus, her main friend, Stevie, is very interested in the fine arts and is competing for a dance scholarship. These are the types of characters not often featured in realistic fiction for middle or high school students and we need to see more of them. The biggest negative however, is that Nevaeh is not at all like-able. As Stevie says to her, "It's always about what you need and you want.... I had one shot to get into that program and you couldn't even support me. I needed you, and you're so full of yourself you couldn't see it." In addition, her parents are in the midst of divorcing and her Mom is almost totally checked out and depressed. Her Dad has suddenly (and manipulatively) decided that Nevaeh should be studying for a bat mitzvah even though she is much older than the traditional age. That provides a reason for her to develop a relationship with a young female rabbi (another positive aspect) who, however, also berates Nevaeh for her attitudes and actions: "I think you spend a lot of time complaining about what's out of your control instead of considering and appreciating what you've got." School Library Journal suggests this debut book for grades 8 and up and I think that it would probably have more appeal for students in late middle school and very early high school although there is some casual alcohol and substance abuse.

Gabrielle
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Color Me In by Natasha Diaz
Color Me In
by Natasha Diaz (Goodreads Author)
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Read in August 2019
3☆

ARC received from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All of my opinions are my own, and are in no way affected by the exchange.

Let me first start by saying why I requested this ARC. I am a 25 year old Caribbean African and White woman who grew up in America. As a child, I never felt completely comfortable in any social group. I always felt either too white for the black kids or too black for the white kids. I have several vivid memories of people saying things about my mixed race or how I was somehow wrong for being biracial. It took me years to feel whole/comfortable enough in my skin and with my genetics. I was excited about a book that featured a biracial woman coming to terms with her identity.

Ultimately I found this book just...fine. Perhaps I am too old to feel the way the main character is anymore? Or maybe I dont connect to her as much as I had hoped? For some reason I did not connect to the story at all. The writing was all over the place for me. At some points I felt that the story was lyrical, while other times there were choppy sentences which pulled me out of the story. I think this book can be very impactful for some people and I am beyond grateful that there are more diverse stories coming out but this wasnt for me. :/

Anyone that can read this book and still not understand the importance of own voices literature just isn’t trying anymore. There is no one that could have written this that hadn’t lived it or something close to it and I don’t care what anyone says.

Nevaeh Levitz always thought she had an idea who she was… Until her mother and father split and she sees that the life she always had in the suburbs isn’t the only one she could have had. Nevaeh wants to get to know her mother’s family and find out more about her biracial background. As she grows, she realizes that she can’t do what she’s always done and stay silent when things get hard. She realizes she has a choice like everyone else… To accept all of herself or only the parts people can see.

The number one thing I like about coming of age stories is the feeling of knowing the character inside and out. I felt such a connection to Nevaeh, not because I experienced things she did (but trust me when I say, I have) but because I just felt like I knew her. I felt like I was learning about her along with her. If that makes any sense at all.

The thing I liked most about this book was also its downfall. Because this is a coming of age story, the pacing is off. As Nevaeh learns more and more about herself, that’s how the plot advances, and sometimes it leaves a lull in the story to where not much is happening. I realized this when I saw how long it took me to actually read the story. I can normally finish a book in 3 days, but this one took about 5 because I kept putting it down to do other things.

The one thing that kept bringing me back was the writing style. Diaz has BEAUTIFUL words that I really liked reading. I remember writing down large chunks of this book because there were so many quotes that I just adored. I think I would enjoy listening to this as an audio because I’d like to hear her words spoken out loud. I’m sure they sound like a song. Especially the written words part.

This book had it’s ups and downs, but with the great own voices portrayal and showing what it’s like to find yourself if you thought you already knew, you can tell there’s more ups than downs. This is the type of book that I would put on my recommended school reads. Believe me when I say, everyone should read it!