Slightly unhinged but highly relatable, this novel in verse about a lonely young woman who resurrects her favorite pop-star was quick and engrossing. Put on some Selena and binge-read it.

A lonely, witchy poet called Melissa resurects murdered Tejano pop star Selena and then has to watch the chaos unfold without her. Reanimated Selena absconds with Melissa’s best pair of jeans, and is back in the public eye. Despite being the person who brought Selena back from the dead, Melissa is relegated to the sidelines and she struggles to accept that her literally life-giving love of Selena does not mean the pop star owes her anything. The reader is taken on a rollicking-yet-macabre tour by Lozada-Oliva, touching on all the uncomfortable emotions surrounding our obsession with fame. The result is a slightly uneven, very powerful and always funny reading experience that will have you eagerly anticipating Lozada-Oliva’s next collection.

I read this book about a week ago and have not stopped thinking about it. I have read a lot of books in my life time. I know what I like and I stick to it however this book was unlike anything I'd ever read before. The book revolves around a girl called Melissa resurrecting the famous pop star Selena and then absolute chaos ensues. I couldn't tell you another thing about the plot if I tried as it is such a fever dream I believe I will have to read it another five times before I truly understand it. It was a real joy to read. I'm amazed more people don't talk about it. Truly the perfect book for those looking for weird girl books

ahh gosh.. this was okay it was just fine.. I didn't love it. I think it was too weird for me. This was a 2 star read for me.

I was able to see Melissa Lozada-Oliva at an author event for this book and it made me appreciate this work even more! She's a brilliant and gifted writer and showcases how to have fun with her stories.

A sporadic stream of consciousness collection of loosely labeled poems. Sometimes there are glimpses of a world that I can relate to and other times it twists into breaking the fourth wall and author self-reflections. Some of the notations of her childhood in Texas really spoke to me and my lived experience as if she was reading my journals, but this may not feel the same for most. My favorite of her musings were the gruesome, morbid ones of skeletons and corpses. And the moments where she seems to be processing the Selena-sized hole in her life and the grief of Selena’s passing because she represented so much to so many of us.

My favorite poem of the collection: 6’3” Looking for Something Casual that Has the Potential to Be Something More;)

I’m really sorry to say that I did not finish this book. The synopsis sounded so interesting and right up my alley, but I was too confused to continue.

I appreciate the opportunity to be given a digital ARC but this book just wasn’t for me and I’m sorry that I’m unable to give it a proper review.

I tried this one and it really wasn't for me. It is possibly that I was just not in the mood for this type of story. Instead of a DNF, I consider this a Not Right Now; I will hopefully get back to this again someday. The poetry seemed really cool of what I read but I could just not get into it.

Melissa Lozada-Oliva's Dreaming of You is an absurd yet heartfelt examination of celebrity worship.

A young Latinx poet grappling with loneliness and heartache decides one day to bring Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla back to life. The séance kicks off an uncanny trip narrated by a Greek chorus of gossiping spirits as she journeys through a dead celebrity prom, encounters her shadow self, and performs karaoke in hell.

This is a story of mirrors, or what happens
when you bring the mirror back from the dead
and when you look in it,
you see yourself eating yourself

Alright, so I can't possibly explain to you how much I adored the heck of a wild ride that is this book and how much the crazy of these poems vibed with my crazy! I mean, just WOW! This felt like a fever dream, a roller-coaster ride, a lyrical feast, a surreal theatrical performance, a series of thoughts that moved my synaesthesia in extremely unpredictable ways, all of those things in the best way possible!

What do I even talk about first? The way the author perfectly connects her past and her heritage with modern themes? The absolutely needed queerness that warmed my heart and made my soul so happy? How incredibly innovative and unlikely anything one could ever read or perceive the idea of the zombie-Selena was? How real and personal even the most absent-minded of descriptions felt?

One of my favorite poetry collections I read in 2021 and definitely one of the most underrated poetry collections that came out in 2021 as well!

God, I can't even put into words how original and cool this felt! Just... WOW!

Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s Dreaming of You, an unconventional novel-in-verse, is a mesmerizing examination of self-reflection. Contemplating everything from loneliness, desire, and death, Dreaming of You does at times meander, but Lozada-Oliva has such a way of recapturing the reader's attention with her poignant writing. The story revolves around a poet who brings back Selena Quintanilla, the iconic Tejana singer. Resurrecting a dead celebrity has its fair share of complications. Hiding her becomes an impossible feat and even more so when Selena begins to reclaim her own life, throwing the world into chaos upon her return. The narrator wants to hold on desperately to her own ideas of who Selena is, but with celebrity worship, this version is incomplete. Celebrity worship always results in painting a person in an idealistic way, stripping them of their humanity in the process. One thing that really stood out to me is how much the narrator related more to Yolanda Saldivar than to Selena. With Yolanda, the flaws are hard to miss because she is defined by the murder she has committed. I could not tell you a single thing I know about this woman beyond that. Selena on the other hand has become something of a god. She is eternally young and gifted and like Lozada-Oliva points out, she didn’t live long enough to disappoint us. Dreaming of You manages to be interesting and thought-provoking, but did feel like it lost direction occasionally.

Queer, millennial and oh so gross but in a fascinating way.

I often love gross millennial stories, and expected to love Lozada-Oliva's work based off of the pitch given. I obviously expected the way in which Selena Quintanilla would be used, which personally made me feel weird.

The heavy handed view on ethnicity over shadowed my ability to fully enjoy, though the stream of consciousness writing style was unique and perfectly aligned with what I enjoy. If you love strange and queer millennial stories that will definitely make you uncomfortable and do not contain a nuanced portrayal on Latinidad, this is for you

What a wild, wonderful, fever dream of a book! I absolutely loved it and wish I could read it again for the first time.

I usually wouldn’t say that I’m a poetry fan at all, but the fun, contemporary feel of this prose sucked me in. So many times I didn’t completely understand what was going on but I didn’t care.

Melissa, the narrator (and somewhat the author?), is a young Latina woman who waxes lyrically about love, life, and celebrities. Then one day she has a seance and brings pop icon Selena back to life. (I told you this was wild.) She’s teaching Selena about modern day life, singing karaoke together, and grappling with their identities as Latin women. And then Yolanda, Selena’s murderer comes in the picture. It’s trippy y’all.

This is told as a stream-of-consciousness which I intend to enjoy. Add that with the macabre imagery and modern poetry and you’ve got a book here that definitely isn’t for everyone. BUT if you love to read something different and even if you enjoy Selena’s music, I think you should look this one up.

This one was not for me, but I can see many loving the style, drama, and chaos! Will keep in mind to recommend to friends.

Dreaming of You is a beautiful and raw ode to loneliness, love, and of course Selena. The poetry speaks to my millennial heart and the life and society we find ourselves navigating. The writing is a mix of direct and whimsical as the poems themselves are written in a variety of styles. The overall theme and story is brought to life through snippets of imagery, emotion, and style but many of the poems can also be appreciated and read independent of the overall story and still have quite an impact. I will be looking back to a few to add to the catalog of poems I discuss with my middle schoolers.

I love versified novels, though this read more as a collection of related poems that vary in quality, including a few spectacular ones. I just wouldn't say it worked as a coherent whole.

I grew up listening to Selena so when I heard about this book, I jumped at the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy. I appreciate the uniqueness of this book, as well as the beautiful cover art, but I was not in the right headspace for this one. I'm familiar with the novel in verse structure, but I had a really hard time following along with this storyline.

I don't think I have the right words for how much I love this collection. It is very easy to get confused at the beginning, especially if you make the same mistake as I did and focus too much on the narrative of bringing Selena back to life. Though it is the central theme in which the pieces evolve, what really made a great impact to me is how her words made me feel. This is definitely the most "freaky" poem collection I have ever read this year. I loved how it pushed the boundaries of reality and magical realism while discussing feminism, coming of age, sexuality, life and death. Absolutely gorgeous.

I still have so much to unpack but will probably do so on my blog later. Big thanks to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for the eARC.

3.5 Stars

CWs: some mentions of sex acts; death and mentions of blood; references of animal death, gun violence, and suicide ideation.

Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a poet first and foremost, and think that attention to lyricism and word choice is extremely prevalent in this debut verse-novel. That said, Dreaming of You is not your typical verse-novel where the story is highly narrative and then broken up into easily-digestible lines and chapters. There's a risk sometimes that verse-novels can come off as purple prose that's just been divided into lines. But Dreaming of You is non-linear, and erratic, and emotionally confrontational in a way that forces the reader to reckon with the fact that this is undeniably honest-to-god poetry on the page.

Let me zoom out a little bit and say that this is not the book to read if you don’t know anything about Selena. If this book is your first introduction to Selena—as a singer, as a person—then you’ve made mistake. This novel isn't focused on explaining her life, her career, her music, or her legacy. It just sort of assumes you know that as a starting point. I feel like this book is really *for* Latine readers in a very specific ways that non-Latine folks will never understand, because there’s so much collective trauma and also collective joy that we, as a community, have towards Selena, and I think that’s really what the story’s trying to unpack.

With that said, where the verse and where the commentary on Selena really excels is in how the poetry does such a great job of creating space for the reader to project their own thoughts, and feelings, and experiences. Again, the relationship that Latine communities—especially Chicane communities—have with Selena's music is (in some ways) universal, and I think the story allows the reader to tap into their own relationship with Selena while still following the unique narrative of the book. I think the idea of resurrection is also really compelling, because it speaks to how we as consumers are basically dragging Selena back from the dead with every new compilation album, TV adaptation, or documentary so that her artistry—and her trauma—can give meaning and purpose to our own lives.

The potential downside of this novel is that the poetry doesn't always feel connected. I think it would be fair to say that there are times when this feels more like a poetry collection rather than a cohesive story, which could leave some readers feeling stranded or confused. But depending on how you approach this verse-novel, that could also potentially be an upside. I also wasn't sure how much liberty the author was taking with the characterization of historical characters (like Selena herself and Yolanda), so I think that's also something worth reflecting on. With all of that in mind, I still found this verse-novel to be moving, powerful, and deeply cathartic in ways that I can't quiet put into words. But I'm very glad that I got a chance to read it and share space with this story.

A young LatinX poet resurrects Selena Quintanilla from the dead. I requested this because of the premise and the book cover. I was really excited to read it. I grew up listening to Selena and Dreaming of You is still my go-to karaoke song. It's a shame that I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. The author's writing style is very intriguing and unique. There were some poems I enjoyed but I was confused most of the time. It also didn't read as novel in verse. For me, it was more like a collection of poetry.