I’m going to recommend something unusual, but then this is an unusual book. Before you begin, take a peek at the authors’ note at the end, and yes, I have the apostrophe in the right place. The young adult novel, Dear Haiti, Love Alaine, is written by sisters Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite. The authors’ note gives background for their protagonists as well as how the story came to them, information that makes their fictional tale more interesting.

They write as Haitian Americans with a full understanding of how life goes haywire for Alaine Beauparlant whose punishment for a school assignment gone wrong is a two-month spring volunteer project in Haiti, the land of her family, though she is a first-generation American. Her famous television correspondent mother has an embarrassing on-air incident simultaneously with Alaine’s misstep that will also send her to Haiti. The mother’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s Disease is a secret that leaks out little by little. Since Alaine has lived with her father after the divorce of her parents, she will be spending more time with her mother than she ever has just as her behavior becomes more unpredictable.

The plot thickens in Haiti as Alaine’s assigned volunteer task, under the watchful eye of her Tati Estelle, involves a nonprofit with questionable use of money, a family curse, betrayals by previous generations that affect the lives of the current one, and a distractingly cute male intern who keeps turning up.

In the beginning, with much of the narrative spliced with tweets and emails, I relegated the book to being yet another teen novel, but I found it more than that with issues of honesty, relationships, and heritage. While it is richly filled with Haitian tradition, the book also covers much that is common to all human experience. Those who love the richness of reading about cultures other than their own as well as young adults will enjoy the book. I don’t know how two people can seamlessly write one book, but these sisters have done it.

Alaine might look like she's got a lot, initially, but there's a deeper current. Her mom, Celeste, loses it on television and then Alaine, in defending her mom, loses it at school. Bigger than just a slap, it turns out that Celeste has early onset Alzheimers. They head to Haiti, where this really takes off. Told in a combo of media- letters, blog posts, newspaper articles, emails, etc,- it's the story of how Alaine comes into her own while researching her family and grows up. Her aunt Estelle is a wonderful character. This is marketed as YA and indeed it's perfect for that market but I enjoyed it very much. I also learned a bit about Haitian culture (and kreyol). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

It’s hard to give feedback on this own voices book that revealed a lot of Haitian history and contemporary culture to me than I ever new. I loved learning a little bit of Haitian Creole and about the food. However, I don’t think that this book was everything it had the potential to be because it was too piecey, too disjointed, had too much going on and tried to do too many things from too many perspectives.

This book is written in what can best be described as scrapbook style. There are prose, emails, text messages, reported conversations, reported imagined. conversations, dreams. It’s all really overworked and doesn’t allow what could be a wonderful story to have a cohesive narrative and bloom.

The main character Alaine, in my opinion, tended towards the bratty entitled side. From my view, I think more compelling would have been having Alaine’s mother as the protagonist, or even having Alaine settle down to a cohesive tale.

This book also lacked focus because it was trying to accompany so much- was this a coming of age tale of Alaine’s relationship with her mother, a love story for Alaine, a cautionary tale against prejudice, the story of a family curse? I feel like the authors didn’t really have a cohesive direction and struggled to bring these various ideas together. So everything just felt very all over the place.

I did like the story they were trying to tell and that blend of history with fiction and I could tell this was a passion project and an own voices work of fiction. I just wish in the editing, it could have been streamlined a bit and give more focus and direction. Also, because of the style of book this is, I would HIGHLY recommend getting this in the hard copy (paper back or Hard back) as opposed to the e-version. The scrapbook -style multiple component narrative will work best if you can flip to and fro between pages.

I received an advanced copy of this book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine features a protagonist with a strong voice, rich thematic content, and is deeply rooted in Haitian culture and history. Major themes include cultural identity & Black identity, complicated family relationships, coping with a loved one experiencing dementia, the importance of food in Haitian culture, immigration, sexual assault, magic & religion, colonization, corruption, misuse of power, racism, poverty, and gendered expectations about ambition and parenting. I loved those elements of the narrative, but as a book, this never quite came together for me and was all over the place in terms of genre, which made for a frustrating reading experience. And honestly, the fact that it was trying to address so many important themes may be part of why it felt so scattered without adequately addressing very many of these issues. All of the issues touched on are certainly important and worth exploring, but a somewhat narrower focus combined with greater clarity of plot and genre would have made this more impactful in my opinion. That said, I do think that this offers a window into an place and people group that are under-represented in publishing and certainly in YA literature and I hope we see more in the future.

Written in epistolary format, this is a collection of emails, journal entries, and other documents supposedly gathered for a school project. While this was an interesting idea, it ultimately felt a bit gimmicky to me and I'm not sure it was the most effective approach to telling the story, given the sometimes strange directions that it took. It felt more like a way to include a good deal of Haitian history, but I think that could have been accomplished in other ways. Also, the organization of documents and narrative sometimes went back and forth in time in a way that was disorienting and, if intended to add suspense, didn't accomplish its goal.

In terms of genre, this began like a light-hearted YA contemporary with Alaines great, sarcastic voice. Then increasingly serious and heavy content was added in, which clashed with the continued tongue-in-cheek style. I get that Alaine uses humor as a coping mechanism, but things like dementia and sexual assault of child felt like they needed more gravity in terms of tone than they sometimes got. And then, this creepy magica/mystery element involving a family curse and Voudou gets thrown in, which also could be cool but tonally doesn't fit because the book isn't structured like a mystery. All of that to say, this feels like three different books mashed into one, and I found the experience of reading it to be frustrating. I am all for books that bend genre, but they need to weave together elements from each in a way that feels cohesive yet fresh. This failed to do that.

I wanted to love this book, because I think so much of the content is important and valuable, but sadly much of it I just couldn't enjoy because of the tone, structure etc. I have no doubt that there will be readers who find a lot of value here and feel seen by the content included, and I hope these authors will continue to write, but perhaps without trying to do everything at once. I received an advance review copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Content warnings include rituals, references to sexual assault of a child (not on the page), divorce, blood magic, miscarriage, infidelity, parent with Alzheimer's

A great contemporary YA book. The authors' voice for Alaine is so strong and relatable. She comes across as incredibly genuine. I also enjoyed the authors' using emails, texts, lists, etc. to perpetuate the story. Not exactly an original idea at this point, but I thought it was utilized well here.

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the eARC.

This was one of those time where reading the e-book (and the ARC) didn’t do this book any favors. All the font changes and lack of spacing/chapters/punctuation made me feel lost and frustrated.
This book seemed very discombobulates anyway, though. I’m not quite sure what the point was... that Alaine didn’t know anything about her Haitian heritage or about her mother/her mother’s family/her mother’s family’s curse?
Alaine was a well-written character, though. Very quick-whittled and smart. I liked her best friend and her best friend’s family- their dynamic seemed very cute. And I know Alaine just wanted to be close to her mom because it was her mom and that’s how it goes, but her mom kind of sucked and I didn’t really care about their relationship at all.
Mostly, though, this book was just confusing and unorganized. I hope the final print copy is heavily edited. The general concept is young and fun, and could make for an excellent YA novel, but this ARC is not up to snuff.

In this novel the main character, Alaine,aspires to be a great journalist like her mom, Celeste, who is a famous political TV anchor. Alaine admires her work, but feels estranged from her since shes always busy with work. One day everything falls apart as her mom has an outburst on live TV. After an incident (prank gone wrong) where she tries to restore her mom’s name at school she is suspended and shipped off to Haiti to complete her final project. Will she be able to reconnect with her mother and heritage?

As Alaine tries to bond with her mom and her aunt she finds it difficult. She learns more about her heritage, but finds it hard to connect to a world that seems so different from where she grew up. Things are especially difficult since her mom is suffering from a illness. She tries her hardest to stay strong to reconnect because they have been so estranged for so many years.

Reading the book through Alaine’s perspective is entertaining. She has a lively personality with her heavy sarcasm and humor, but readers see how she uses it cover up how she struggling with all the recent events. She’s a talented writer with great wit and use of words. The final project is a great challenge for her and through researching the history of Haiti she becomes more connected to her heritage.

This book was such a fantastic from start to finish. It paints a vivid portrait of Haiti’s rich culture, people, language, and history. While the story is heartwarming, it’s a bit bittersweet at the same time. Alaine uses her voice best way she knows how to express feelings in her writing. In Haiti she become more connected to family but also learns about her heritage falls in love, and learns more about herself. The journey has its ups and downs Alain comes out even stronger in the end.

I loved the way the book is written in a mixture of narrative, letters ,diary entries, and emails. It kept me engrossed into the story and it also helped to show multiple sides of the story. This is a beautifully written novel with a very strong narrative about family, growing up, and feeling connected to your heritage.

*Trigger Warnings: Illness, Death

I enjoyed this look at life in Haiti, Alzheimer’s, and family secrets from the viewpoint of an outspoken teenage girl. I wish there had been more substance to the story, however. It felt unfinished.

Alaine’s mother is a leading political journalist, who is always breaking the leading story. This leaves very little time for actually interacting with her daughter. Alaine wants to follow in her mother’s journalism footsteps and asks her mother to come to school for career day and surprisingly her mother is planning on coming. Alaine’s mother asks her classmates to watch her show before she comes, which turns out to be a disaster. On the show that the school is watching, Alaine’s mother slaps one of her guests, on camera, live. Alaine’s mother quickly retreats to her family home in Haiti. After Alaine pulls a stunt in response to the bullying over her mother’s faux paus, she is quickly sent to serve out community service in Haiti near her mother. Alaine finds out that her mother is suffering from early on-set Alzheimer’s and they must use what little time they have left to grow their relationship. While in Haiti, Alaine interns for her aunt’s charitable organization and works to save her mother by breaking a family curse. There is a lot going on for this family.

This book was real, but was funny. Alaine never lost her sense of humor, even while she was dealing with a difficult set of circumstances. It was fantastic seeing all of the pieces and parts of Haiti, instead of just focusing on the best and worst aspects. I enjoyed this novel and am willing to read any future items by these authors.

I think I had high expectations for this one and I still love the cover so much! I found myself bored and I don't think the fact that the ARC was not properly formatted helped. This is a great concept and had some unique aspects but it needs editing -- the authors really need to better find a voice. Also, for a book told in only other writings - diary entries, texts, phone calls, emails, etc. . . . that aspect was not done as well as other books I've read that employed that same tactic. I usually love books like that but this one was a bit of a disappointment.

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine comes out next month on September 3, 2019 and you can purchase HERE.

What have I got to lose? The sad truth is that I'm already losing my mother. Whether I sit down and accept her diagnosis or not, each day that goes by is one less with her. That terrifies me. She's not perfect but she's mine, and she's all I've ever wanted to be. I dream of being as passionate about something as she is about her work. These days, I cry into my pillow, imagining a future where I won't have her around to disappoint. I always figured we would get closer when I got older and more mature. Now I'm not sure she'll be around to see me hit thirty (the age when presumably all juvenile problems melt away and peak humanhood is reached).

The way Dear Haiti, Love Alaine wasn't at all what I was expecting and unfortunately I couldn't get into it whatsoever. I think I might be too old to enjoy this book.

This book might just be one of my top five of this year. It is well-written and evenly paced. The characters were fleshed out, and they felt like real people. The relationships were genuine. The story just felt important in general. Can't wait for whatever comes next from these authors!

I am going to start my review by explaining that not only did I get an advanced reader copy of this book, but I got it in eBook format.... and I read most of my eBooks from my phone even though I have a tablet because it's easier to cart around.  Any issues I found with the pagination and style choices in this book may not be an issue for anyone buying the paper copy.  Now then, with that said.... let's get started.

I find it amazing that two authors, sisters, wrote this book together and made it seem like it was one.  There were no abrupt shifts in character or narrative voice.  Word choices and phrasing remained the same throughout.  I do appreciate that.  The characters themselves were amazing and I adored them.  It was easy to feel for each of these characters, to root for them and want them to succeed in everything.  Celeste and Estelle were both very well done, I actually really liked how they interacted, and how Celeste's illness was portrayed.  It was messy and imperfect.... and completely in character.  Alaine is another character that I loved- smart mouthed and a tad over-dramatic, she gets herself into scrapes.  She's proud, loyal, and bull-headed.  I love her.

I also have to give props for the way the authors incorporated different techniques into the book.  You have letters, chat, email, post cards, diary entries and school assignments here, as well as Alaine's narrative.  It's an interesting idea, and certainly made the book more fun.  Unfortunately I feel like the execution was messy.  I won't get into the areas that I assume will be fixed upon publication (odd pagination and misplaced sentences/ paragraphs) and will only highlight the issues I found that seem to be the purposeful.

The font changes.... a lot.  Color, size, sometimes it's bold and sometimes italics....  There are some moments where I feel like this was placed in order to tell that something was a different median- like email or a hand written note.  But we are always told that these things are coming, so using such devices seems unnecessary and only makes it harder for those reading in eBook format.  You see, some of the words will be in this color and sometimes not.  There was one time where the color changed in the middle of a word!  Add to this, some of the pieces will be in normal font size, some half font, and one area was four times larger than normal making me change my font size on my app constantly.  This is completely unnecessary and actually makes me mad.  I do understand that it won't be an issue for the hard copy- you don't have to do anything special for a paperback.... but not all of us read paper books anymore.  I probably buy fifty to seventy books a year easy- that's right, not library rentals, and not books given to me.  I have a hard time letting books go, and a very small home that I share with my husband and two cats.  If every book I bought was paper we would have a serious problem!  

Ugh! Where was I?  Oh yes.  Obviously this book has a lot going for it.  It has fantastic characters, a great premise, it's a fun fast read that allows you a peek into Haitian culture and history.  These are all pluses.  Add to this fact that there are some really strong females to look up to, and serious character growth being shown by the main character, and I feel like it would be good for a lot of teens to read.  My only issue is that the actual execution- pagination, etc... well, there were some questionable choices here.  Save yourself a headache and buy the paper copy, that's what I am going to do.  For me, this is a three star book with an extra star for creativity.  I loved it, and I highly recommend it... but it was just a little messy to me.

On the adult content scale, there's some drinking and language.  Nothing major... it's definitely geared toward teens and I would have no issue handing this to a younger teen.  Let's give it a two.

So this wasn't bad at it, it's just the more I read the more I raelized that this wasn't the book I thought it was going to be be and I just started enjoying it less. And while I love mixed media book formats, the ARC for this one was jumpy and hard to read. But it was wonderful seeing a spotlight on Haiti and Haitian culture - and Alaine's love for her family both in Miami and in Haiti. So overall, not for me, but I'm positve many readers will enjoy Alaine's story.

I had requested this book based on the cover and description as I haven’t read many books set in Haiti. I really enjoyed the characters and how the author developed the plot. I would definitely recommend this book to other readers who are interested in this setting.

You're going to love this book. Not only does it have Caribbean representation, it's all about family relationships. Especially those that occur with mothers and daughters and sisters. I was definitely in love with Alaine's outlook and attitude on life. She's highly opinionated and stubborn, which is how she lands herself into a heap of trouble, and on a flight to Haiti. The story that occurs is unlike any I've read, and reads so fluidly, you'll forget that two people wrote this book. Even having met them, I had forgotten that the sisters worked together on this masterpiece. Honestly, the book is raw in terms of feelings. It looks at life with someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, as well as how curses and superstitions can often be a way for people to look at something with a hope that things will change. People are going to love this story and I can't wait for our library to have it so that we can get it into the hands of all young readers that so desparately need to see themselves in books.

This book was a bit disappointing for me. I typically enjoy an epistolary format because it seems to read quicker. I didn’t feel that with this book. I slogged my way through many of the excerpts. It all felt a little disjointed. I’m not sure that YA readers will be interested in Alaine’s family history. I lost interest at the family curse.

Told from mostly emails, reports, and notes, Dear Haiti, Love Alaine is a story about making sense of our heritage and family. It's lyrical and what you will fall in love with is Alaine's personality. She is kind, incredibly clever, dramatic, and honest. In the way we can only be when we're writing to others and in our own memories. There's an openness from Alaine that keeps you reading. Whether it's envy or curiosity, Alaine will hook you.

What's more, Alaine's journey about researching Haitian history, and her own family's past, is an adventure. But it's more than that - introspective, deeply emotional, and intimate. Her fears that she is afraid of claiming her heritage, for fear of being 'not enough'. It's easy to fall in love with Alaine's charm, her hilarious jokes and drama. But it's as easy to fall in love with her honesty and vulnerability - her hurt feelings and disappointments.

The layout of this book threw me off at first. It's written like a journal with emails, text messages, and diary entries from others. But once I got past that, it's a beautiful story. I think teens will love this especially ones who can identify with Alaine, the main character. She is first generation Haitian American who has to return to Haiti while serving a school suspension. I loved all the Haitian history and the descriptions of Haiti's iconic landmarks. This book was both authentic and entertaining. The twists in the stories gut punched me. I was not ready for the book to end and I crave to hear more about Alaine in her college years.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so great that I basically read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down. Alaine Beauparlant is a senior in high school who is dealing with family issues that have made their way into her social interactions at school. After "The Incident" at school leaves Alaine suspended from school, and on a trip to her parents native Haiti to volunteer she begins to learn more about her distant mother and her family history.

I love this book so much! The mixture of contemporary fiction with magical realism drew me in and had me hooked!