SO different from what I usually read, I couldn't put it down. The story of Yola Palacio and her multi-generational family who leave violent Venezuela to live illegally in Trinidad. Her Aunt Celia dies and they find that she owed lots of money to a local criminal named Ugly.. Definitely not light read and it does make you expand your thinking about immigration and being illegal. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity.

I'm exhausted - this is NOT a light-hearted humorous look at multi-cultural lifestyles. This book takes you down a dark alley into a wild, sexy, loud story line of a family from Venezuela who seek illegal refuge in Trinidad. Multi-generational, from the viewpoint of Yola Palacios, a young woman hurting from the loss of her favorite Aunt Celia and trying to keep this emotional group of family members alive after being threatened into control by a drug lord named Ugly. Forbidden romance blooms in this dangerous mine field while the discovered memoir of Aunt Celia sprinkles the matriarchal energy throughout.

The cover was beautiful and very attractive, and combined with a very nice synopsis I was hooked. This book is well written and it tackles the subject: if you're in the same situation where does your loyalty lies? Is it with your family? Yourself? Or the man you love? The story was a little slow at first, but nevertheless, I liked it and enjoyed it till the end. The main characters are well developed, and of course I'm rooting for Yola and Roman. There are sex and romance, but nothing too explicit. Overall, I highly recommend this book for its unique story.

First...the positives:
The cover is beautiful! It alone would have made me pick up this book.
I really enjoyed whenever Aunt Celia's novel was included in the chapters...that gave me a smile and put a little character and personality into the point and plot of the story.
The chapter titles were hilarious, but slightly distracting.

Ok, now for some honesty...
I wanted to read this because the cover was beautiful, it was getting so much attention on social media, and initially I thought the story description sounded enticing, suspenseful, and intriguing. But, I found myself forcing myself to want to enjoy and like each chapter, rather than it happening naturally.

I think this book is great to bring awareness to something in a way that makes it honest, yet funny...and hopefully the humor brings awareness as more people will read and understand. For that, it does it's purpose. As a book I'd want to read over and over, it doesn't.

One Year of Ugly
By Caroline Mackenzie

Have you ever gotten so sucked into a book that you start reading at a furious pace and have to go back and make sure you actually read what you think you just read? That your pulse rate actually quickens? That you lose track of time and become angry at any distractions (even if it is your child asking you at 7pm what’s for dinner)? One Year of Ugly did that to me and more. It is a combination of street and cerebral writing and is overflowing with drama and humor. The characters, dead or alive, are unbelievably memorable and unique. Even their quietest moments felt rich and engaging. This was a five star read for me and I am so glad that NetGalley allowed me to read and review it ahead of it’s publication!

What is the most unique book you have read?

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#NetGalley #OneYearofUgly

- Crazy complicated family✅

- Hot steamy forbidden romance with a bad boy✅

- living under the thumb of an evil crime lord while struggling to live in a country as illegal immigrants😳

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Thank you so much to @simonandschuster @netgalley and @carolinemackenziewrites for the free ARC of One Year Of Ugly!

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Synopsis from the publisher: After fleeing crumbling, volatile Venezuela, Yola Palacio wants nothing more than to settle into a peaceful new life in Trinidad with her family. And who cares if they’re there illegally—aren’t most of the people on the island? But life for the Palacios is far from quiet—and when Yola’s Aunt Celia dies, the family once again find their lives turned upside down. For Celia had been keeping a very big secret—she owed a LOT of money to a local criminal called Ugly. And without the funds to pay him off, Ugly has the entire family do his bidding until Celia’s debt is settled. What Ugly says, the Palacios do, otherwise the circumstances are too dreadful to imagine. To say that the year that follows is tumultuous for the Palacios is an understatement. But in the midst of the turmoil appears Roman—Ugly’s distractingly gorgeous right-hand man. And although she knows it’s terrible and quite possibly dangerous, Yola just can’t help but give in to the attraction. Where, though, do Roman’s loyalties lie? And could this wildly inappropriate romance just be the antidote to a terrible year of Ugly?

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What a unique and often laugh out loud story this was! This book has all the drama of a great soap opera, while at the same time showing the terrors and hardships that can face illegal immigrants. I will say this book started out intense, then kinda dragged a smidge, and then was unputdownable for the last half! I LOVED romance between Roman and and Yola! The Palacio family was full of interesting and dynamic characters that made up the colorful tapestry of this story. If you ever were a fan of the tv show Weeds, this is a book for you! It has the same tense situations combined with dark sarcastic humor and a side of romance. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As other reviewers have said, reading this novel elicited a mixed bag of emotions. But, at the end of the day, <u>One Year of Ugly</u> was a four star read for me.

Upon starting this novel, I did not realize that <u>One Year of Ugly</u> was not an "own voices" story. In recent years, hearing of the atrocities of the mostly white publishing industry and their constant abuse of BIPOC authors, as well as the controversies behind numerous recent bestsellers about BIPOC as told by predominantly white, privileged people; it's no wonder why anyone would want to avoid a seemingly white washed novel told from the perspective of an immigrant minority. Had I not also learned that Caroline Mackenzie is a born and raised Trinidadian, then I probably would have given up on reading her novel right then and there. With her firsthand experience residing in T&T, I decided to go ahead and give <u>One Year of Ugly</u> a fair shake.

As others have also pointed out, this novel is lewd, loud, and unapologetically in your face in regards to many sensitive subjects. I understand that there was some obvious stereotyping of the hyper-sexuality of the Venezuelan characters (particularly the women) within this novel and I at times found that hard to ignore. But, when you get to the meat of the story, I cared so much and so deeply for each of these characters and that's what pushed me to keep reading. Mackenzie is a gifted writer and this novel showcases her ability to draw you in to Trinidad and Tobago and the plight of the increasing number of Venezuelan refugees who call it home. As Mackenzie points out in her author's note, there are some very serious and traumatic themes in <u>One Year of Ugly</u> and they are often approached with a dark sense of humor. But laughter can truly work as the best medicine, as the cliche goes, and those moments of comedy never made me lose sight of Mackenzie's ultimate goal-to make you fall in love with this refugee family and find yourself wishing you could risk your own wellbeing to see them all safe and sound.

One Year of Ugly made me laugh, hold my breath, cringe, and everything in between. Mackenzie introduces us to a fascinating world of family, human rights, forbidden love, and humanity. It took me a few days to get into One Year of Ugly, but once I was in, I was HOOKED. Mackenzie writes compelling and believable characters. Some of the characters I couldn't help but love, and some I wanted to shake.

My only critiques are:
1) that the book started at 60mph, and it took a few re-reads of the first few pages to fully grasp what was happening
2) the abrupt ending with little resolution for many of the characters.

I was hooked and am so happy that I was given the opportunity to read this debut. Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and the author Caroline Mackenzie for my ARC return for an honest review.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year! It’s laugh out loud in parts, touching in others, but all in all it’s a wild ride! Maybe having an intimate knowledge of Trinidad helped making this book so relatable to me, but I could literally picture everyone the author described and every nook and cranny she took us to. The characters were all colorful and vibrant like the Trinis and Venezuelans are and the domestic scenarios all so very realistic. There were some parts of the story that were so good I had to regale my Trini husband with those passages. The terminology and patois is not too heavy for other readers not to be able to follow, while still being true to the island. I’m hoping that the author continues to write more novels as she has a wonderful way with words.

I was intrigued by the description of this book and decided to read it. Usually not my type of reading material. However, I became enthralled in the lives of Yola and her family. Very well written and the characters are so real.
Yola and her family are Venezuelan refugees living in Trinidad. Her family with a younger sister, her Mama and Papa, an older brother Sancho, a spinster Aunt, Aunt Celia, her husband and 2 daughters.
Life is comfortable for all of them in their middle class lives until Aunt Celia dies and Ugly shows up to control their lives. A year of ugly for the whole family. Yola does meet the handsome and dangerous Roman and her life will never be the same.
#ayearofugly

This story took a few chapters before I really got into it. The first few chapters were a bit overly done... so much flowery descriptions it overwhelmed everything else. Thankfully that stopped, (or maybe I just got used to it)!!

About halfway into the story I became fully invested into the main character and her family. It almost felt a bit like a telenovela, except you know this happens in real life.

I ended up liking it more than I thought I would and the characters weren’t just black and white... these were morally grey characters. Basically these were real people making their way through the real world and all that comes with it.

I wanted more from the ending but that’s a personal, subjective qualm because I like things neatly wrapped up and happy lol.

Thank you netgalley for this copy for an honest review!

Yola Palacio and her family are so funny. This story reminds me so much of my family, and all of their craziness. Yola's Aunt Celia dies and leaves her family to pay a debt she owes a man. She leaves behind a novel and Yola reads and discovers more about the aunt she thought she already knew so much about.
I really loved Yola's hardness, she did not give a shit and would let you know she didnt!
This story sheds light on the illegal immigration and criminal activity in Trinidad.
Overall i did enjoy this read, but did not love it. Half way through i did get bored, but glad i finished it.

FUN FACT...My family last name is Palacios.

While this was humorous it also dealt with some serious subject matter; a family forced to leave their home now living in a country "illegally" and the constant fear of being deported, and the extortion, violence, and bribery they have to deal with to stay in their new home. I didn't know much about either country prior to reading this, so it was eye opening for me. That being said, it wasn't a heavy, dreary read, not at all. I really enjoyed the entertainment of reading this book.

One Year of Ugly

💥All of the stars for this book!💥

I requested this from @netgalley awhile book, solely based on this beautiful cover. I was certainly interested once I read the synopsis but this cover is what hooked me.

This was delightful and I didn't want it to end- I felt like I was a part of the Palacio family, and Yola's fierce determination and loyalty to her family made her such an engaging narrator. I laughed so many times. And can we please laugh at some of these chapters: It Ain't All Booty-Poppin and A Turd Wont Grow Tail Feathers, to name a few.😂

While this was humorous, serious subject matter was also portrayed; namely, a family forced to leave their home now living in a country "illegally" and the constant fear of being deported, and the extortion, violence, and bribery they have to deal with to stay in their new home. I didn't know much about either country prior to reading this, so it was eye opening for me.

The author's note at the end was helpful for me. Being from Trinidad, she wrote this based off her experiences on the island, and also interviewed Venezuelan immigrants. "I wrote the book as a comedic novel because there is nothing that makes even the heaviest subjects more accessible than humor. Then, of course, there is the other immeasurable value of comedy: it engenders hope...no matter what form of ugly crosses your path, there’s always a way to laugh through it."

I'm very rarely a re-reader, but this is one I look forward to reading again. I will definitely need to grab a physical copy in the near future.

This is a wonderful debut novel by Caroline Mackenzie! She did a wonderful job covering heavy subject matters of criminal life, illegal immigration, and alcoholism with a touch of dark humor that I found completely endearing. I enjoyed the vast array of quirky characters, the family drama, and the forbidden romance! It was a very quick read for me. It's become one of my favorite reads for this year. I'll look forward to seeing more of this author's works in the future!

I can clearly tell that im in the minority here but i tried several times to get into the story but ultimately DNF at 10 percent, I couldnt tell if this was a book about sending the characters back or not. Because all the Venezuelans we encounter seem to partake in illegal activity and they all seem to have the same solid jobs people accuse them of stealing.

My absolute favorite thing about this story was how honest and gripping and outright funny it was. The story starts with the death of Aunt Celia, who leaves a manuscript of her autobiography for her niece, Yola Palacio, who is also an aspiring writer herself. The bulk of the story is the inner dialogue of Yola who narrates the whirlwind of shit that Aunt Celia leaves for the Palacios, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I might even say that I enjoyed more of the narration than spoken dialogue. Even in death, Aunt Celia is one hell of a character, and it’s such an interesting parallel as we read about Celia through Yola. The characters really were at the heart of this story and they were all such full personalities, complete with a dark, bleak sense of humor that I couldn’t resist.

Another thing that I liked was that at its heart, One Year of Ugly is a love story. It’s about the familial love between the Palacios (Yola and her dad are so cute they make me wanna cry), the forbidden love between Yola and Roman, and the adopted love they share for their new home in Trinidad, along with some new friends they make along the way. Getting caught up with local criminal Ugly (yes, that is his chosen name), the Palacios are forced to carry on Aunt Celia’s debt by acting as a halfway house for other Venezuelan immigrants. While the family is reluctant at first (and honestly, throughout most of it), they find ways of making it work. Sure, at first it’s because they’re being blackmailed, but I saw so many similarities between the Palacios and my own mixed immigrant family, and Yola narrates how their lives change and how their own resilience has prepared them. But like all good things, there is also the bad and the ugly.

As much as I love the Palacios and their story as undocumented immigrants themselves, I couldn’t help but find similarities to my family. For immigrants, resilience is a survival mechanism and you can clearly see it in the Palacios. However, this isn’t what I disliked, but it was that the novel seemed to romanticize the struggle sometimes. Behind the humor and the undeniably charming stubbornness of the family, there was pain and a world of self-inflicted assimilation. This isn’t to say that it didn’t seem realistic at all; I couldn’t say what is realistic for a Venezuelan family of immigrants in Trinidad. I just think that they were really lucky to get a fairly happy ending.

I could not connect to this story for the life of me! I wanted to and I pushed through, but these characters weren’t ones that I fell for. I couldn’t take their situation seriously at all! How terrifying to be blackmailed by someone as scary as Ugly... but, there didn’t seem to be much fear in the storyline. This was such an odd rom-com for me.⠀
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I did enjoy learning more about the culture of this family and understanding their struggles living as refugees. One of my favorite parts of this book was seeing how tight knit this family was. I loved how they stuck together no matter what- I get the feeling this is a common part of their culture as well. ⠀
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This book was comical and a bit romantic- I just wasn’t able to connect with the story like others seemed to.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read this one in exchange for an honest review! ⠀

Yola and her family are illegal immigrants from Venezuela living in Trinidad. They are living a middle class existence when Aunt Celia passes away and they find out that she owes $600,000 to Ugly, an organized crime boss. In order to pay off her debt he has the family work for him taking in other illegals until they can be moved away. After Aunt Milagros goes a little nuts and can't take in the illegals anymore he devises a new plan for them to also work in his strip club. There is a romance between Yola and Ugly's right hand man, Roman. A crazy bunch of characters that were all pretty likeable, Uncle Mauricio who has two kids living with him from other relationships, spinster Aunt Milagros, the Irish twins, and Yola's sister Zulema. All through the book Yola, who is also an aspiring writer, is reading her Aunt Celia's autobiography. Aunt Celia would be what my mom would call a ball buster.

It was a serious story. They were illegal and always waiting for a shoe to drop and for them to be deported back to Venezuela. They were terrorized by an evil man, forced to take strangers into their home. They couldn't call the police so they did what he told them to do. Then the last straw was having to work in his strip club. It was an easy story to read but it was written as a playful romp and that just didn't fit with the story line for me.

A word of warning. This story sinks it’s talons into you and doesn’t let go, in the best possible way. I am ashamed to admit that failing governments of foreign countries and the ultimate results held very little interest for me. I paid no attention to the plight of the immigrants caught up in the chaos. A Year Of Ugly makes you pay attention in the best possible way.. it is incredibly witty, funny and poignant. I know it is fiction, but it does serve to open your eyes and your heart to the situations that people around the world endure. It’s characters are like any family, dysfunctional, loving and crazy! I devoured this and laughed out loud too many times to count! Many thanks to Netgalley for allowing me this to enjoy this fabulous read!