(Thanks to NetGalley, which kindly provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review.)
Dear Haiti, Love Alaine, the debut novel by Haitian-American authors Maika and Maritza Moulite, chronicles the adventures of sassy, wisecracking Haitian-American protagonist, Alaine Beauparlant. A high school senior and daughter of divorced immigrant parents, Alaine returns to her ancestral homeland of Haiti for a senior service project, joining her mother, famous social and political affairs commentator Celeste, who has retreated to the island following a disastrous professional incident. On the island, Alaine begins interning for a charitable non-profit, finds romance, and uncovers a plethora of family secrets. The novel is epistolary with magical realism elements, and unfolds via a series of texts, emails, and narrative diary entries peppered with pop culture references, giving the book a decidedly contemporary feel. The aforementioned style, however, also arguably creates some fragmentation in the story’s narrative arc, an issue further exacerbated by an error-riddled ARC—several places in the manuscript had omitted passages. Quibbles aside, Dear Haiti, Love Alaine is both entertaining, as well as thought-provoking, providing a lens into Haitian history and culture and addressing the complexities inherent in navigating family and teen relationships.

Goodreads review URL: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2872093233

This was one of my most highly anticipated books this year. I don't know if it was because this novel has two writers but I found that Dear Haiti, Love Alaine was not quite sure what type of book it wanted to be at times. And there were so many different angles it tried to take. Was it a coming of age book about a teen girl who embraces her West Indian heritage and has a romance with a college boy? The parts of the novel featuring Alaine working with cute intern Jason as her aunt's startup certainly felt that way. Was it an adventure novel about breaking a family curse? Because some of those allusions to blood magic felt like a segway into a fantasy adventure. Though you can't mention Haiti without mentioning vodou. Were they trying to tell a story about about coping with family hardship through the plot with Alaine's mother?

I learned a lot about Haiti from this book. I already have had a bit of a fascination with Haiti culture this year but this just solidified it. It was nice to read about it from a perspective not told by the media. Yes, we know Haiti is poor but there's so much more to the island. Alaine's family on her mother's side is very prominent in the country so they give us a look into the wealthy side of Haitian society. This book also brought into perspective the positive and negatives effects of American aid.

My least favorite part of this novel was the mixed media (social media chats, newspaper articles, emails, letters, postcards,etc) that took me right out of the story each time. Especially since in the ARC they are formatted horribly to the point where you'll be reading one line before it skips to another paragraph and then you find the rest of your sentence after that paragraph. The tone was just different in those parts too.

I rate this book a 3.5. It wasn't perfect and was a little slow in the middle but it picked up at the end and there were many parts I did enjoy.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I did enjoy this book, I didn't love it like I wanted to. I did like Alaine and reading about her relationship with her parents, especially her mother. I also loved getting a look at the culture and history of Haiti.

The writing was good but I was a bit thrown off by the multiple formats that we get here. Speaking of being thrown off, the generational curses was a weird touch as well.

All in all, I did enjoy this one despite some issues and I'm excited to see what these two sisters write next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin TEEN and Inkyard Press for the advance reader copy of Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by debut authors and sisters, Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite. Teens will love this action-packed story, narrated by fearless, sassy Alaine, daughter of a psychiatrist and a famous talk show host mom, who finds herself punished for a school joke by being sent to her parents’ home of Haiti. There was so much to love about this story; the rich past and present history of Haiti, a family curse, strong female characters, and a plot that includes lists, emails, letters, transcripts. This is such a diverse, authentic, multi-faceted book with rich storytelling by the Moulite sisters; I loved the cover, Alaine, her aunts, the beauty and poverty of Haiti and all who work tirelessly for Haiti’s survival. Highly recommended!

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine weaves multiple issues of class, identity, and culture in a highly engaging story. Readers will like the multi-faceted format of narrative, emails, and texts that bring depth to the story. This book is perfect for diaspora readers who can relate to the experience of learning about one’s culture. Highly recommend.

I requested to review Dear Haiti, Love, Alaine because I've been to Haiti a few times, and I was interested in a story written by native Haitians and set in Haiti.

The format of the book is interesting. The story is told in the form of journal entries, Twitter chats, emails, news reports, etc. But all of the different "writers" sounded the same. The teacher's email and news report sounded the same a Alaine's diary entries.

A bigger problem was formatting. The font color, size and spacing were confusing. Sometimes entire sentences either appeared out of order, or perhaps they were supposed to have been deleted, but weren't. I'm assuming the formatting problems were because I was reading a prepublished electronic version.

Once Alaine moved to Haiti, the story became more interesting, but also more sloppy. It reminded me of a soap opera - shy on detail and character development, but full of drama. (Spoiler alert) when they suffered a terrible shipwreck, for example, they had watched the sun set on deck but after the wreck, a character's death was called at 17:32 (5:32pm). The flow of the story was a bit random.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.  #DearHaitiLoveAlaine #NetGalley

Thank you to Harlequin TEEN (US & Canada), Inkyard Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine follows Alaine, a witty, amibitious, hyperbolic 17-year-old who wants to be an award-winning journalist, just like her mother. Alaine's parents immigrated to the states from Haiti and when Alaine gets into trouble at school, she's sent there to intern at her aunt's non-profit PATRON-PAL, while meeting her extended family and learning more about the country's history.

A large part of the story revolves around Alaine's relationship with her mother who she both idolizes and resents. Her father Jules, a pamphlet-slipping psychologist and anxious baker, is a gentle, dorky-dad type character who really shines. Alaine's relationship with her parents was one of the highlights of the story for me.

I enjoyed learning about Haiti and getting a feel for its culture and history. It was interesting to read about the disparity between rich and poor and how the outside perspective of the country differs from that of its inhabitants. The book was co-written by sisters Maika and Maritza Moulite, but you'd never know as the two blend their voices imperceptibly and the flow is cohesive.

What made the story unique was that it was told through different different elements, such as emails, project assignments, postcards, etc. But formatting mistakes on the e-ARC made it difficult to follow along and kept me from feeling fully immersed in the story. I wish the family curse and Celeste and Estelle's relationship had been fleshed out more, as the relationships were really what this book was about for me.

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE this book! Set both in the United States and in Haiti. Haitian-American teen, Alaine Beauparlant lives with her dad in Miami and her mom is a host of the roundtable debate show, Sunday Politicos.⁣⁣

One day Alaine’s life is flipped upside down after a prank in school goes horrible wrong and her mom has a meltdown on national television. Alaine and her mom head to Haiti to basically get their minds right. While Alaine is trying to adjust to life in Haiti, she uncovers some family secrets about her mom. The writing styles is seamless, filled with so much Haitian Pride, the culture and history! Representation is EVERYTHING!

I laughed and cried, this was such a great read! An absolute must read! 5 out of 5 stars. Thank you, Netgalley & Harper Collins/Inkyard Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I saw this book and immediately fell in love with the cover, because well it’s gorgeous. And while you should never judge a book by its cover I feel that in this case the book is as good as the cover.

The novel centers around the main character Alaine, who seems to be a very self-aware teenager who attends school. Both Alaine’s parents are from Haiti, but they are divorced and she lives with her Dad. Alaine’s mom is an on air reporter and makes a huge mistake slapping a senator on TV, cringe. At the same time Alaine also gets in a little hot water in school, almost getting expelled and both women are shipped to Haiti to take a little time out. Since Alaine is suspended she must go to school in Haiti to make up the credits.

I’ve never read a book that was written through a series of emails, tweets, texts, letters and journal entries but I really loved it.

I also loved the fact that the book also looked at so many aspects of Haiti including immigration, poverty and colonialism that has plagued the people for centuries. I don’t know a lot about Haiti and this prompted me to learn more. Such a great book!

There’s a lot going on in Dear Haiti, Love Alaine! There may be too much plot, going in different directions, almost to confusion for the reader. The story is told through diary entries, text messages, emails, news articles, and narration, which was too abrupt for me as a reader because there were so much plot happening. A flow, segue, or connection would’ve helped. With that being said I enjoyed the family relationships and the setting of Haiti. Having the story set in Haiti, along with some history, is much needed for a diverse novel.

The cover drew me to the book--because the cover is GORGEOUS--but the story is good as well; that said, the multimedia format used within (via the inclusion of text exchanges, emails, letters, news reports, etc.) made it confusing to read in electronic form and often took away from what was, on its on, an important story about family connections being lost and found.

I wasn't particularly interested in the use of a family curse as the means through which Alaine attempts to reconnect with her estranged mother. It was convoluted and, at times, confusing;while I can understand why the Moulite sisters chose to use it as a plot device, it wasn't necessary and took away from Alaine's voice--which, to be honest, was the best part of the book.

Alaine is the only child of immigrant parents. Her mother is a famous journalist and her father is a well-respected therapist within the Miami community. Her parents are long-divorced but have found a way--or so they believe--to successfully co-parent their only child. However, after an embarrassing incident at Alaine's prep school puts her at-risk of derailing her academic career, they decide to send her to Haiti--hoping she'll get her act together and find some humility in the process.

The story is at its best when things are happening in real-time: Alaine's voice is refreshing, funny, and real. Her observations of the world, as well as those who inhabit her tiny section of it, are where this story shines most.

I only wish there had been more of that within these pages; so much time (too much in my opinion) is spent attempting to tell the story via use of other media/detailing the history of the aforementioned curse.

Alaine's voice is the star of this story but in giving it a backseat to the above elements--elements which, in many ways, made little sense and, ultimately, didn't feel as necessary--took away from my ability to truly enjoy the voice of this amazing character .

Perhaps that will be an issue with just me but it definitely influenced my decision to give it a lower rating than I otherwise might have.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and hope to see more work from the Moulite sisters.

I love Alaine! She gets sent to Haiti after an unfortunate school presentation. While there she volunteers at her Aunt's non-profit. We follow Elaine as she navigates life, bonds with her Mother, and deal with old family curses. Alaine is smart, funny, and feisty. She is great character. I love the epistolary style of this book. Great debut!

Thanks Netgalley and publishers for this book I was so so so excited to get This Arc I been wanting to read this book since I first saw it! This book was very good I loved it it teaches you about another culture and it has romance in there also and it is just good and I feel like everyone should read it Teen and older people

I wanted to love this book, and maybe it was due to the editing, but it didn’t do it for me. The story was hard to follow and it wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me.

This story is at once an exploration of identity, a swoony romance, and an homage to diversity. With realistic characters, vivid writing, and intimate storytelling, this book will grip you.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 



Author: Maika and Maritza Moulite

Release Date: September 3, 2019

SUMMARY:

When a school presentation goes very wrong, Alaine Beauparlant finds herself suspended, shipped off to Haiti and writing the report of a lifetime…

You might ask the obvious question: What do I, a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience, have to say about anything?

Actually, a lot.

Thanks to “the incident” (don’t ask), I'm spending the next two months doing what my school is calling a "spring volunteer immersion project.” It’s definitely no vacation. I’m toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle at her new nonprofit. And my lean-in queen of a mother is even here to make sure I do things right. Or she might just be lying low to dodge the media sharks after a much more public incident of her own…and to hide a rather devastating secret.

All things considered, there are some pretty nice perks…like flirting with Tati’s distractingly cute intern, getting actual face time with my mom and experiencing Haiti for the first time. I’m even exploring my family’s history—which happens to be loaded with betrayals, superstitions and possibly even a family curse.

You know, typical drama. But it's nothing I can't handle.

REVIEW:

Well, this was a mixed bag...let's break it down in bullet points. 

WHAT I LIKED 

The Alzheimer's subplot (spoiler alert: Alaine's mom is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's). I've never read a YA book that deals with Alzheimer's before, and I think "Dear Haiti, Love Alaine" did a great job of showing how devastating it can be both for the patients and for their loved ones. Great take on a rarely-covered but very prevalent real-life issue. 
Alaine's voice. Though she often came off as really entitled and reckless, she was written with a wicked sense of humor and a lot of intelligence, and I liked the way she narrated her story. 
The glimpse into Haitian culture and class structures. "Dear Haiti..." went to great pains to show multiple facets of Haitian society, and to point out the extreme divide between Haiti's upper and lower classes. We get glimpses of both privilege and poverty, and the characters who fall into the "privileged" category (mostly) show an admirable desire to bridge the gap between classes. The story also presents Haitian worldviews and customs (the best example of this is the "family curse" subplot) in a way that left me feeling like I'd learned a lot about the culture. 
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE 

The busy-ness of the plot. There were sooooo may subplots, and I didn't dislike any of them, but there were just way too many of them. From the family curse to the Alzheimer's diagnosis and the romance (more on that later) and everything else, trying to follow all of the plot threads left me mentally out of breath. 
The romance seemed super rushed. There was almost no explanation of it: Alaine's aunt tries to set her up with a guy, and she is vehemently opposed to this. Then, she meets said guy, and boom! Love. I was a little confused - "where did that come from?" was all I could think. It was cute, but came out of absolutely nowhere; it didn't really feel earned. 
I liked Alaine's voice, but her personality grated on me. A lot. She seemed so entitled. In a lot of cases Alaine acted like she expected to be allowed to do whatever she wanted without consequence. (Case in point: the school project that initially gets her sent to Haiti.) She was very self-centered and not particularly mature, and although she grows during her time in Haiti, she never loses that above-the-law attitude. I know a lot of people like it when people show that kind of assertiveness, so they'll probably like Alaine, but it drives me nuts. (To be fair, a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that she uses humor/snark/acts out to cope with grief.) Alaine's mom had a lot of the same personality traits, but she didn't get as much page time, so it wasn't as bothersome.
RATING: 

Plot: 4/5. The story was fascinating, but at times, there was a bit too much going on. There were a LOT of subplots and none of them were ostensibly weak or boring, but there were just so many of them.

Characters: 5/5. The characters' relationship dynamics were really the beating heart of the story. Not all of them were entirely likable, but their motivations were fleshed out enough to make that lack of likability understandable.

Pacing: 3/5. Slow in parts; some of it was really redundant and in other parts, there was simply too much happening at once.

Handling of Subject Matter: 5/5. The plotline involving Alaine's mother's diagnosis with Alzheimer's (what a lot of apostrophes) was handled well and Haitian culture is lovingly and respectfully incorporated into almost every element of the story. 

Writing Style: 3/5 - I probably shouldn't take points off of this category for the formatting of an ARC because it probably won't stay like that in the actual publication version, but the format was so incredibly incoherent that it was difficult to read. The writing itself was nice, but I couldn't get past the formatting issues. 

Content: 4/5 - generally pretty clean save for a smattering of strong language. Also, Alaine makes some choices that I should hope most teenagers would not want to emulate.

Overall: 4.00/5

Truly loved this book. It felt good to read and it taught me a lot about other cultures. This book is the perfect summer read and a great book for people who want to connect with characters who don't resemble their own self. This book was light when it needed to be and deep other times. It was everything I needed to read.

This was a really creative book told as a school assignment with journals, tweets and emails. This made it harder to read as an ebook. I think this is YA book will appeal to youth and adults. It is well written and I loved the main character.

A big thank you to NetGalley for this advance reader copy. Note, this book debuts September 2019, so I'm thankful for the chance to read it early.

First, writing a novel must be spectacular challenge, I'll grant any author that. But writing one with your sister? Spectacular times 10! The Moulite sisters succeeded spectacularly with this exceptional debut novel. Main character Alaine Beauparlant, is "sentenced" to a visit to Haiti after a school presentation goes terribly awry. Both her mother and father, now divorced, are originally from Haiti, and she still has family there.  It might be perceived as punishment, but Alaine is not unhappy with the prospect. She's actually looking forward to spending time with her mother, a famous reporter who is dealing with her own problems. Other benefits for Alaine include working with her super motivated aunt on a nonprofit initiative, getting to know the island, and spending time with cousins. There is even a handsome young intern at the nonprofit who seems pretty interested.

Complications ensue in the form of theft, illness, a boating disaster and of course a voodoo spell in need of breaking! But don't worry, spunky heroine Alaine makes the most of this summer of learning and loving opportunities.

Great book! I love Alaine- she’s funny. Endearing and dramatic. And I love her relationships with her family and the setting in Haiti!