Firstly, understand that I had a great time reading that stories and loved them so much!! Before talking more, I must tell you that I've never moved to a different country and hence, I cannot be the right judge for that stories. However, they all touched my heart in different ways - especially the stories The Trip by @sonesone2 and First Words by Varsha Bajaj. Being an Indian, I could very well relate to these characters a lot, and I enjoyed reading them so much! The tension, the anxiousness, the dilemma and confusion on being in a completely different land - it all was so enhanced in these stories.

The best part about reading these stories was the fact that I learned and understood so much from the little space. Although these stories are fiction, they are also very raw and honest and drawn from real experiences. These stories really make you ponder upon the ways that people treat outsiders, the microaggression that exists in mere words and jokes, the pain of losing and not fitting in anywhere - you just think upon these and so much more.

Reading Come On In was a whole enriching experience on its own. So many stunning stories from a diverse cast of voices, with a plethora of experiences to learn something from. This book, I feel, is such an important read to know and understand and look at life from a different lense. I hope you'll give it a chance 😁

Thank you so much for an early review of this - I loved it and think it should be required reading for everyone.

What a great anthology! I thoroughly enjoyed every story. Each one has its own trials, tribulations, and laughter.

Adi Alsaid put together a welcomed compilation of short stories from some diverse authors. While I won’t use every story with my students, I know those who choose this novel will find at least something in here they can connect to. Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader copy. I plan to purchase my own to share with students back at school.

I give all anthologies 3 stars by default, because it's hard to review a book by its parts. I appreciated the different types of stories in here, with different immigration stories. Let's get more of these collections out there.

"Come On In’ is a wonderful collection of stories about the experience of immigration. I really enjoyed every single story in here, and the courage and heart they depicted. Even with the short story format, the characters were so well developed and portrayed.

I loved the variety of voice and experience, but with the same theme of uncertainty and hope in each. Their stories explore the different facets of being an immigrant: joy, isolation, hardship, perseverance, bravery, and hope.

Thank you InkYard Press and NetGalley for an e-arc of this anthology in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this anthology. Usually with short stories I find 2-3 are great, most are ok and a few I do not like at all. I found myself enjoying every single story. They all did a great job of establishing characters up front, loved the variety of stories and voice. This would be perfect for a jigsaw or short story unit.

"Come On In’, a collection of stories that focus on the experience of immigration. Each story is written by a different author who shares their unique experience, but there's also an underlining feeling of bravery and uncertainty that marry all the stories together.

The main question that arises within the collection is 'Where are you from?' An all-encompassing question that has deep roots and takes up space. Depending on who you are and where you come from we see that this question can be a tough one to answer. What I love most about the collection is that it looks at a variety of different experiences from many different backgrounds. And although the stories are different essentially many face the same hardships.

It’s always hard to rate an anthology especially one like this one- filled with stories about immigration. I assume many, if not most of the authors are telling something a akin to a fictionalized version of their own story or at least representing people of similar background. And these stories are beautifully told, each so unique from the last not just in terms of country of origin but in style and focus. There was only one that I didn’t particularly care for and several that absolutely wowed me. The rest were all good to great as well. I’ve long loved Young Adult lit for the diversity that’s been thriving there and even with that in mind, this collection exceeded my expectations.

One of the earliest stories that really gripped me and I’m certain I will never forget was The Trip by Sona Charaipotra’s “The Trip” about a 16 year old girl who had moved to the US from Kashmir with her family when she was 2. She’s headed to Geneva with her classmates to participate in a big Model United Nations event but is flagged by security despite her American passport and US citizenship and we follow the entire ordeal and feel every ounce of her fear. Even doing everything the right way and gaining citizenship doesn’t stop government lead stereotyping, racism, and trauma. Most of us have been through airport security so it’s easy to place ourselves into the story and yet so horrifying to see how this 16 year old girl is treated. Absolutely phenomenally written and you can’t but feel her fear deep in your bones.

I also really deeply loved “The Curandera and the Alchemist” by Maria E. Andreu about a bright high schooler from Brazil named Luisa who has started to give up on school and her grades since without a social security number, what’s the point of college. Yet her guidance counselor convinces her to do ESL- English as a Second Language- tutoring at the public library to earn some extra credit and help bump her grades. There she meets a young day laborer who is as sharp and fond of reading as she is and they bond over a special book she found in the library. When he is caught up in an ICE raid, Luisa goes to visit him in the ICE detention facility and to share more of the book they were working through. Speaking with him she finally comes to understand that it’s worth trying even when the odds are stacked against people like them. This description doesn’t remotely do the story justice- but the combination of the magic of books and language and one jaded immigrant seeing a different sort of view from another, it’s beautiful.

There are so many more but my review would go on forever. Some are sad, some are hopeful. We have everything from the airport security scare and ICE raids to a family camping trip or a story told through journal entries that involves a dramatic Big Fat Quinceanera Disaster and embracing being an “Ecudorkian and proud”. As with all anthologies, different readers will relate to and prefer different stories. What’s so cool too is that while folks who are immigrants themselves or the children or immigrants will perhaps find a specific story that feels a lot like their story they will still get to experience a wealth of different experiences. So whether you’ve immigrated yourself or your family has been here for generations, there is so much here, so many beautiful stories that humanize such a complex subject.

I can’t deny when I reached editor Adi Alsaid’s story at the end of the book I was downright giddy when the character’s name was Shmuli. Even cooler- Shmuli was on his way to an American University after immigrating with his family from Israel to Buenos Aires, Argentina when he was 7. His grandparents had come to Israel in 1948 from Bulgaria. And I really loved the details. While most of my own Jewish family has been in the US for at least 100 years, I was deeply close with a couple who were like my second parents growing up, and my secondary father figure was a thickly accented Israeli who was of Bulgarian descent He’s around the same age as the State of Israel which would also make him around the age of the grandmother in this story or just a hair younger and it was super cool to read this story that while not my own still in certain ways felt very close to home. I really loved Alsaid’s reflections on these generations of immigration and on the complicated nature of being a Jew. This passage really tied it all together so well and in a way that I personally connected with deeply-

“What a difference the verbs made, Shmuli thought, as the plane touched down. Fleeing, leaving, moving. The world seemed to have very different reactions to each, somehow hating people more the less choice they had.”
“If you had options and chose the United States, could afford the visas and the tuition, you were the right kind of immigrant. If the only choice you had was to leave or die, to maybe die in the act of leaving, to live a harder life than everyone else in the new country, well, then, you were a scourge.”

And towards the end Alsaid’s Shmuli has landed in the US and is going through customs and immigration and thinks-
“There was something great about the US, how difficult it was to know if someone was local or foreign by appearance alone. Looking at the line for residents, at the foreign line, at the customs agents themselves, it was impossible to distinguish between them with any clarity.”

What a perfect, albeit certainly optimistic, way to end this book and the review. This is why collections like this are so important. From the undocumented families and even those who have citizenship but fear it being taken away in the current climate because of which country they were born in and the many mentions of current struggles for families from Mexico and Latin America to the hardships Muslim-American face at airport security. This collection doesn’t shy away from the difficult realities for so many but in sharing stories like these those political hot button issues become humanized and personal. I believe that books can change the world, one reader at a time. This collection may be geared towards teens but it’s one well worth the read for everyone at any age.

This is an amazing and deep anthology focusing on immigration. Read to explore life through another person's shoes. Read to understand each other better. Read to learn. This was excellent.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc of this anthology for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this anthology, which is out TODAY! YA authors who are immigrants themselves explore the joys, hardships, and heartache that comes along with immigration. This would make a wonderful addition to any middle or high school classroom or library.

I have come to realize over the past couple years that I really, really enjoy anthologies, and Come On In was no exception! I was familiar with a couple of the authors, but most of them were new to me, and most of them also made me want to check out their other work. A couple of the stories didn't shine quite as brightly to me, but for the most part, I fell in love with the characters and their stories, as well as the different writing styles. I would certainly recommend that everyone check this out and enjoy!

It has taken me 9 days to read this book. A collection of short stories that delves down deep into the lives of young adults who have had to leave their home of origin for higher pursuits, because of circumstances or because they had no choice. It took me 9 days to finish, not because the book was long, but because the stories were so intense and emotional that I could barely read more than 1 story at a time. It was so heartbreaking, gut wrenching, stressful, and godawful to see these people, human beings, be treated like filth or worse just because they crossed a border or their parents had to cross a border to survive.

To me, this books shines a light on how the US has become an embarrassment for immigration. Certain people in power have forgotten how this country of the United States came to be because of immigrants. The US, the melting pot of the world, is somehow now the armpit of the world due to the policies and laws/regulations that some want to enforce or terminate because people are seeking the US as a safe haven… as a land of opportunity… as a chance to get ahead and make something of themselves, and to have a chance for their children to grow up without fear or famine.

“They do not come from families of sitters or stay-putters. They come from a family of fence hoppers and explorers. Some, like Reynaldo and Marlene, are pats de per and were born to wander. Others left out of necessity. In either case, their families are a mix of people who can come and go as they please to the country of their birth and ancestors, and of people who are trapped by an inefficiently run and racist system. A system that has enacted laws and physical structures that get people killed for simply trying to leave poverty and reunite with family.” (Quintero, Isabel)

This is such an important book right now, as we embark on electing a new president. This book makes you want to vote right now for change. For hope. For doing right for others. For keeping the DREAMERS here. For not punishing a family for choosing to flee war torn countries for a better life. This book is so important to humanize those who do cross the border. These are PEOPLE! Children! Human beings! Separating children from their families is evil and should be stopped! This book makes me sick in a way that invokes change. To help those who are in situations like these that are shared in this anthology. 

I’ve personally known a family who has gone through similar situations, and to be a witness to all the obstacles it takes just so that the family can be together is life changing. They have had to lose people forever just because of the policies in place that keep them apart. It is sick that the leadership in this country is so against progression and immigration and humanity that they are willing to go lengths so that people from different parts of the world cannot come here.

“Fleeing, leaving, moving. The world seemed to have very different reactions to each, somehow hating people more the less choice they had. If the only choice you had was to leave or die, to maybe die in the act of leaving, to live a harder life than everyone else in the new country, well, then, you were a scourge.” (Alsaid, Ali)

I laughed, cried, contemplated long and hard throughout reading this book. These stories make you feel apart of the journey long after you’ve read them. You hold on, hoping for better, hoping that deportation doesn’t happen, hoping that these young individuals are able to live a better life… hoping that the sadness doesn’t linger always, but knowing that it’s impossible to forget what’s been left behind. There is so much to lose in comparison to what they are hoping to accomplish in this new country. They only hope to hear the words, “Come On In,” and with that the experiences that come and being able to live their life without fear is all they desire.

This book is a must read. Please share it with your friends and everyone you know who has no idea what it takes for someone to give up their home and all they’ve known just to have a better life, more options, education, medical technology, and love to cross a border. The risk is worth it to most, and as as an American minority, this books speaks volumes about how people are judged by the way they look first than by who they are. Our country was founded by immigrants, and it’s because of immigrants that we have what we have. We should be able to say, “Come On In,” but yet… here we are. (4.5 stars)

Thank you to Inkyard Press and Adi Alsaid (editor) for providing me with this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It's always a little difficult reviewing an anthology because it's rare where you like every single story. Every story needs to be unique, but still work within the other pieces in the collection.

I loved that there was such a wide range of topics and themes throughout the different stories, as well as locations. Stories came from the U.S., India, Mexico, and many more. The many perspectives gave readers a well-rounded look into the immigrant perspective. Never will I go through the immigration experience, so the chance to learn and get a glimpse into something that so many people in the world go through was really special.

Some of my favorite stories were: "All The Colors of Goodbye" by Nafiza Azad, "The Wedding" by Sara Farizan, "The Trip" by Sona Charaipotra, "Confessions of an Ecuadorkian" by Zoraida Cordoba

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Come On In // edited by Adi Alsaid

When I first saw this book, I knew I had to read it. I am an immigrant myself that just recently became a citizen. But I am on the end of the spectrum of immigrants that is extremely privileged when it comes to the ease of receiving the papers that allowed me to come here, stay here, and then eventually become a citizen. I am also married to a person that is much closer to the other end of that spectrum. We’ve had many conversations about this in the past and it continues to be a frequent topic, especially in the current political climate.

There are 15 short stories in this anthology that have authors and characters from all over the world. While they speak about many different cultures, the thing they do have in common is that they – or their families – have or are crossing borders in these stories. Despite my own privilege that allowed me to avoid many of the struggles addressed here, I was touched by the many things I could relate to anyways, such as saying goodbye to the many little things in your life, the worry for your undocumented friends, the conflicting feelings about your homeland and your current home, the pull between who your family expects you to be and who you want to be, learning a new language through books, and closed borders.

I enjoyed the majority of the stories but often felt that they ended too soon. As soon as I got attached to the characters, we would get to the end and I would have to readjust to a new narrator. The way they ended though often left me with a very good feeling because of a lesson the narrator learned or a realization they had. I did really struggle with a couple short stories but overall, I was happy with them. My favorites are the last three in the book. They are Hard to Say by Sharon Morse, Confessions of an Ecuadorkian by Zoraida Cordova, and Fleeing, Leaving, Moving by Adi Alsaid. These and a few others are authors that I will be keeping my eye on in the future as they really struck something in me that is looking to read more from them!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

A nice mixture of stories regarding immigrant experiences. As in any collection, some entries are stronger than others: Alaya Dawn Johnson's, for example, had a really lovely writing style but didn't seem fit with the collection in terms of target audience or topic. (Justine Larbalestier's submission was also very different from the other stories, but I found it quite enjoyable; I think she developed the characters and rhythm nicely in such a tight format.) I thought Lilliam Rivera's entry was a particularly powerful commentary on how sometimes shared identity/experience is more nuanced than we might think. I also really liked Misa Sugiura and Maurene Goo's stories, both of which dealt with the feeling of alienation from or irritation with your family/culture, but from different viewpoints and with different but enjoyable writing styles. Overall I appreciated the variety of stories, perspectives, cultures, characters, emotions, and time periods, and I certainly think this is a great read both for those who are within recent immigrant families themselves, or for those looking to read about those experiences.

Come on In is an anthology that talks about immigration in many different facets. I am not an immigrant, however these own voices stories gave me real insight into another persons experiences; the struggle, grief and success that exists. I loved that each story comes with their own unique perspective which added to my experience of the book, the emotion that the characters experiences engaged me fully.

As with most anthologies I read, I found that some were a hit with me, and some were a miss. I think that in this anthology, some will hook you in and you never know which ones. A couple of my personal favourites were: "The Trip" by Sona Charaipotra and "The Wedding" by Sara Farizan. For some stories I struggled to know if some of them were fiction or non-fiction and found myself if these were actual lived experience by the writer, or if they were based on events that have or could have happened. I wish that would have been more clear, just for my own knowledge.

Overall, this book was an eye-opening educational read, and led me to think of things in a different way. This is what I am looking for when I am reading a book like this. This is a YA book, however I would recommend this book to not only teens, but to adults as well. I believe it can add great insight into things many people have not had to experience or endure. I think that this anthology would also be a good way to prompt discussions, which may be good in either book clubs or a classroom.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

When it comes to anthologies, there's also going to be stories that I love and want more of, and ones that I didn't love so much. That is how this book went for me. There were some stories that I loved so much that when they ended, I wanted more. Then there were some stories that I can't even remember now because I just wasn't as invested in them as I was with others. This book also wasn't what I was expecting, I thought it was a non-fiction anthology where the writes wrote from their personal perspective. I'm sure all did draw from their own personal experiences, but I didn't realize they would use fictional characters. I still loved it, either way, I think it was just that I went into it thinking one thing and had to readjust but luckily that wasn't too hard to do.

I really enjoyed getting to read all the different stories on varying types of immigration that happens to a multitude of people on a consistent basis. It's eye-opening and educational which is always a worthy read, so I massively enjoyed the book for that. If I wasn't in the middle of trying to read 3 books at once (don't ask me why because even I don't know), I would have flown through this one because it was a really good read, and I highly recommend reading it.

Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read very few anthologies and review even fewer. They largely tend to be a hit or miss for me, as I tend to prefer one continuous story with the same style of writing and narration, so I rather surprised myself when I requested this ARC. This is going to be a shorter review than is normal for me because I really don’t want to spoil the experience of reading any of these wonderful stories. As with any anthology, no two stories are alike: many were extremely moving and compelling, whereas others, I couldn’t really relate to and they seemed to drag on – but the beauty about anthologies is that even if I didn’t like one story, it didn’t ruin the entire book for me.

Come On In is a truly powerful book narrated by authors who have either themselves or their families experienced immigration for various reasons, and this is beautifully reflected in these fictional stories. Each story focuses on a different aspect of this emotional journey. Some describe the grief of people leaving behind the only life they’ve ever known, not just the place, but also family and culture. Others give us a glimpse into what immigrant arrival experiences can be like, a wide field of possibilities. And finally there are those stories that focus on the difficulties immigrants and their children, even those born in their new home, face and their struggle to define their identity while still holding onto their own culture and traditions. It also emphasizes how every decision surrounding the process of making a new life in another country is most frequently made by the parents and elders in the family, but it is the children who are often affected the most.

As an Indian-Canadian, the stories The Trip by Sona Charaipotra and First Words by Varsha Bajaj were both deeply impactful for me. The stories about those who immigrated young or were first generation also gave me a lot to think about. Every story in this collection somehow leads back to the overarching question that each of these characters is attempting to answer – where are you from?

The struggles, fears and hopes surrounding immigration are topics I’ve seen before in YA novels, but there’s something quite different about having it laid out in such a straightforward manner and it makes it that much more impactful. I really enjoyed that this book has such diverse characters from around the world, all joined together by one experience – yet each individual’s narrative is unique in its own way. This is a book that I feel will really resonate with every reader, whether through their own experiences or simply by seeing through these characters’ eyes. Come On In is a eye-opening book that I would highly recommend to readers of all ages.

I’m not crying, you are.

Thanks to the incredible team at Hear Our Voices Book Tours I had the chance to read and review Come On In, an anthology that I feel is the epitome of show, not tell, when it comes to diverse cultural experiences.

There is something very special about reading so much truth in one place. And this all really resonated with me, specially after talking with Zoraida -a contributing author to his anthology-. In our interview (you can watch it at the end of this review), she mentioned the importance of every writer telling their own truths, and how that, is the most authentic way to write.

I’m big big fan of fantasy, and magic, and everything, you know, not of this world. Even in those stories we can always find that grain of truth, the core of what the authors are trying to tell us.

But there’s something to say about stories that are raw, undilluted and stripped down to that core message. The message being just… This is us. This is this experience. This is how we live, how our parents have lived… This is what happened to me, this is what’s happening to our families, and people we know. This is what we see in the news… Do you see now?

Do you see us?

Even though the characters in this book are from different backgrounds and have different cultures, I found it beautiful, in a sad sort of way, that we all share these questions. We all share the struggles. I feel like anyone can find something to relate to in this story, because we all either have been there, or know someone who has.

I was reading and the themes of family, leaving home, finding home… these themes are universal. So I do feel like this is the kind of book everyone might enjoy.

From the beginning, I was hooked. The first story is so full of vivid imagery that made me feel so much for the girl who didn’t understand why her family was moving away, why she had to leave the only home, the only people she’d ever known, and why her brother had to stay behind. Gosh, that was heartbreaking.

This book made me so emotional and I hope you have the chance to read it soon! It’s literally, an invitation for everyone to COME ON IN and learn a bit more about different people peopleing.