First off I would like to think NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

Unfortunately it wasn’t a favourite. I did read it in one day, but because I just wanted to get through it.

There wasn’t really any twists or developments in the story. It was stagnant. It focused more on Ruthys family rather than her story. I was just honestly bored. Nothing really happened.

The fact that it took until the very last chapter to find out what happened with Ruthy was bothersome. No hints through the book, just false hope and an irrelevant story line. Not only that but I didn’t really like the characters they weren’t super likeable. All very big headed, loud and obnoxious. Not my type of characters unfortunately.

Claire Jimenez's debut book What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez was such a great read. In 1996, thirteen-year-old Ruthy Ramirez goes missing. Years later her sister Jessica is watching a reality tv show when she notices a woman (Ruby) that looks like Ruthy. The sisters Jessica and Nina, their mother Dolores, and Dolores's best friend Irene go on a road trip to find out the truth about Ruby being Ruthy. Her Puerto Rican family from Staten Island discusses life after Ruthy’s disappearance. The books discuss topics such as the family dealing with the loss of a child, the 2008 recession, and family drama, there is some humor, but most importantly it brings awareness to missing black, brown, and indigenous women in the media, systemic violence, and racism.
There are so many relatable ways this book represents the struggles that Latino families have to face on a daily. But there is also the beautiful side of having a loving relationship. This isn’t a thriller or mystery as I thought when looking at the title and reading a little bit of the summary. It is more of the aftermath and impact on a family after losing a loved one. Please check the trigger warning for this book. I recommend the book What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez.

Ruthy Ramirez follows a Puerto Rican family who has lost their teen sister Ruthy. The book explores how each family member has reckoned with the loss of their daughter and sister. And now years later they think they may have found Ruthy on a terrible reality show called Catfight.
I enjoyed this book and it reminded me in the beginning a bit of Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance but with a lot more grit. It’s a sad book and a gut wrenching look at teenhood, the loss of a sister and how a family copes with devastating loss. There is also some social commentary on class and race.

First off, let me say that I finished this book in a day! That barely happens to me 🤣 I needed more and more! Jiménez highlights serious topics, more prominently the topic of Latinx girls who go missing. Ruthy goes missing at the age of 13 and we follow the multiple POVs of her mother, Dolores and her two sisters, Nina and Jessica, helping us understand their thoughts and emotional journey. I felt like I could relate to all these three characters at many points in the book which I really loved. It was also very nostalgic for me in the sense that there are many cultural references that I grew up with! Jimenez was able to bring humor to the story and I found myself laughing out loud many times. She also brings home the main topic at a hand and that ending left me with my heart broken.

Thank you @netgalley & @grandcentralpub for an ARC of this book.

Synopsis: A deeply powerful, raw debut of a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their long-missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and they set to bring her home.

I cannot begin to tell you all how much I enjoyed reading this novel! Although I found myself laughing at many points throughout the story, I can’t turn a blind eye to the pain that lurks at the end of every sentence. It’s a story of loss, familial bonds, faith, racism, cultural complexities and love.

Character development was top notch. I really liked that we are told the story from the points of view of multiple characters, including Ruthy’s. For me, it added a deeper layer that tied the story together nicely.

I’ve said it before that it takes a lot for me to emotionally connect to a book, so I’m always pleasantly surprised when a book makes me feel something. This book did that. It’s a fantastic debut!

[3.5 stars Rounded Up]

I really liked this debut novel through the first half, but things took a turn. This is the story of a Puerto Rican family living on Staten Island with 3 daughters. Their middle daughter, Ruthy, goes missing when she was a teenager, leaving her family to struggle with grief that manifests in various ways with each of them...until someone resembling Ruthy turns up on a reality TV show (called Catfight). Don't let the "missing girl" premise fool you...this book is extremely character-driven and is a slower read. I loved the chuckle funny voice and the delightfully brash women in this story. But, the farther I read, the more meandering it got. And, the ending both dragged and felt rushed. It did remind me of a 2022 novel I liked called Notes on a Sudden Disappearance by Allison Espach.

A Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their long‑missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and they set out to bring her home.

This book was a mix for me. It was different from what I was expecting but I thought the raw & real focus on family trauma and drama was done well. Overall I liked this book and all the point of views but wish there was more on finding out what happened to Ruthy and less on the family drama.

A portrait of a family struggling -- with finances, lost dreams, childhood scars, and from the disappearance of 13-year-old Ruthy. Twelve years after her disappearance, Ruthy's sisters see her on a reality show and try to figure out how to bring her home and hopfully bring the family back together.

"What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez?" by debut author Claire Jimenez, is a wonderfully written, heart-wrenching, and touching story that occurs 12 years after the sudden disappearance of Ruthy Ramirez, when her mother Dolores and her two sisters, Jessica and Nina, see Ruthy (now Ruby) on a reality TV show and plot to find her with the intention of bringing her home.

The story, written from the viewpoints of each of the 4 women (including Ruthy), shines a light on some of the cultural and socio-economic challenges experienced by Puerto Rican women in Staten Island. And, at the same time, reveals the familial bonds that have remained tethered despite inexplicable traumas.

The author writes with a sincerity, thoughtfulness, and humour that keeps the plot moving while providing a deep understanding of each of the characters and their individual traumas that have formed them

This would be an excellent book for any book club and I would highly recommend it! Thank you so much to Net Galley and Grand Central publishing for the ARC!

Loved this it was really well written and I was surprised multiple times by the direction the book took. I truly was guessing until the very end.

This book had me hooked from the very first chapter, I wanted to know where Ruthy Ramirez is and did her sister Jessica really see her on TV? I had to know, and for that reason, I read this in one sitting. The ending did not disappoint, and was a really great debut novel. It is definitely a character driven book rather than a plot driven book, which I personally didn’t mind because I loved the Ramirez family.

A family is struggling to deal with the unimaginable loss of their family member. There is hope that they will find Ruthy when her sisters think they’ve spotted her on a reality tv show years after her disappearance and plot out how they will find their sister. I loved the characters in this book as they are so colorful and full of life. The banter between friends and siblings is witty but sometimes a bit much. I enjoyed learning a bit about the Puerto Rican culture that was weaved into this book. 3.5 rounded up.

There is something really special when a story can talk about serious and emotional topics while keeping a tone that is funny and engaging — and Claire did it so well.

‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez’ follows a Puerto-Rican family in Staten Island. Ruthy disappeared after not returning home from track practice one day after school. Years later they discover their Ruthy to be cast on a reality tv show (think Bad Girls Club 🤣) and the plot unravels from there as we find out what happened to Ruthy.

The story is told through different POVs of the Ramirez women who have strong voices and separate experiences and feelings about Ruthy’s disappearance. I love multi-generational family dramas and the inclusion of the mystery surrounding Ruthy was the perfect amount of added suspense for me.

The women are at different places emotionally, intellectually, and financially and we see how they figure out how to come together after Nina’s return from college.

Jessica, the oldest daughter, is a new mom living with her high school boyfriend managing how to navigate her career and her family.

Nina, the youngest, is a recent college grad from a PWI who is struggling with her unfortunate disappointment of not going to medical school to now being underemployed as a sales associate at a lingerie store.

Dolores, the mom, teaches a parenting class at church navigating the rage of her loss, her faith, and how to parent her daughters.

This was an impactful story despite being 240 pages! Crimes that happen towards Black, Brown & indigenous women are underrepresented in media and this story explores how that affects those who are normally forgotten.

This book is unapologetic and honest. The women do not care about being judged and it is refreshing to see characters shown authentically. These women have experienced something unimaginable and I loved how Claire did not mute their emotions. I hope everyone who reads keeps an open mind and doesn’t let how these women show up in the world affect their ability to look at their lives and experiences in totality.

The prologue alone is so good!👏🏾

Endless gratitude for the copy GCP❤️ I loved it!!

This story had a lot of potential for me. Uncovering the mystery of what happened to Ruthy, the little girl that went missing one day after track practice. The incompetency of a police department who over look black and brown girls that go missing. A family that was forever changed by this tragic event.

Let's start of with the good. I really enjoyed the story being told from each of the family members perspectives. They all felt like distinct characters and I was able to get a real sense of who they were. The banter between them felt so familiar and made me smile at times. I also like the inclusion of the Catfight Tv show series and the detailing of the episodes, reminded me of Bad Girls Club and I LOVED that show growing up. I also appreciated the highlight on Puerto Rican culture and the issue in our society of the epidemic of black and brown people going missing.

Now for the not so good. The story progression fell flat for me because nothing was connected to anything. There were whole scenes and long inner monologues about stuff that had no relevance to each other. I could over look this if it was done once or twice, however every chapter is filled with events that have no real meaning or connection to a larger plot. That goes to say there was no plot. This story had the potential to be so much more impactful than what was delivered. My biggest issue is that the mystery took so long to get to a climax that was wrapped up in legit a 1 chapter that was a few pages. There are so many questions left unanswered and not in the good way of "oh this book left me wondering the what if's".

Overall, I will say I was entertained by the characters and wanted to keep on reading.

This book started off very promising, the writing and plot line was intriguing from the get-go. As the novel progresses, the mystery grows more and more strange, and the characters, the women in Ruthy's family, more interesting. This novel was very female centered, which I loved, and the women were realistic and complicated. I liked that this was a short novel that read at a pretty quick pace, I just felt that once we reached the end, the ending fell short. It felt a bit anticlimactic and I was rather disappointed. There were some answers, but some questions still left unanswered.

Thank you Netgalley and Grand Central for a copy of this booo in exchange of an honest review.

If you are a lover of true crime then this novel is for you.

The year was 1996, Ruthie Ramírez was 13 years old and the middle child of the Ramirez family. . She never made it back home from her track practice after school.

Fast forward 12 years after Ruthie’s disappearance, her older sister is watching a reality TV show “Catfight” when she sees a women who looks just like Ruthie.. or does she?

—— imagine all those years of mourning and missing a loved one, a daughter, a sister… this novel is the love letter to all the black and brown women who go missing each day and no one seems to care. This is a story about family bonds , generational trauma, loss and grief but most importantly LOVE.

WHAT HAPPENED TO RUTHY RAMIREZ by Claire Jiménez follows a Puerto Rican family on Staten Island as they live in the aftermath of a sister gone missing, only to spot her – or her lookalike – on a reality TV show years later and embark on a mission to track her down.

The chapters alternate perspectives among Dolores, the matriarch; Nina, the biology major who’s stuck working retail when she can’t get into med school; and Jessica, the eldest sister who works as a hospital aide. Their voices are distinct and loveable, and the book gave me THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN vibes (for immigrant family chaotic energy and humor) crossed with I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU (for the serious undertones about violence against women – in this case, women of color).

This is one of my favorite genres of books – immigrant family stories that include both the children’s and the parents’ perspectives as they go through a crucible moment together. RUTHY RAMIREZ does an excellent job of it (other great ones: Neel Patel’s TELL ME HOW TO BE and Tracey Lien’s ALL THAT’S LEFT UNSAID). There’s such power when characters acknowledge that they each did the best they could do, that harm was done, that forgiveness is needed. For this immigrant child, it’s profound. I will never tire of reading about these dynamics – when done with honesty and vulnerability – over and over.

I absolutely loved this book, devoured Jiménez’s witty dialogue, and cheered for each of the characters. It’s a well-paced, suspenseful, fun read that’s given heft by its thoughtful consideration of respectability politics, generational trauma, and family loyalty. Moments of hilarity are balanced by somber, tender ones. I wasn’t sure how she would pull of the ending – but she did. Hats off to Jiménez for this well-done debut!

Astute observations on power dynamics inside and outside of the family. I enjoyed the covert meditations on grief and the challenging of "closure" regarding the loss of a loved one

This was a good read. It’s the story of Ruthy Ramirez a 13-year-old Puerto Rican girl who never makes it home after track practice and the impact her disappearance has on her family. Many years later one of her sisters is watching tv and thinks she sees Ruthy on a trashy reality tv show called ‘Catfight’. This leads Ruthy’s mom and sisters to embark on a journey to bring Ruthy home.
A very much character driven story told from multiple POV’s. The POV’s of Ruthy’s mother, her two sisters and Ruthy herself. This story is heartbreaking yet has perfectly timed humor. A powerful exploration of family, death, grief, childhood, and generational trauma. It also highlights the way that missing Brown and Black girls and women are often ignored. I have seen some comments about their being too much profanity, but I didn’t notice. I guess I took it as how actual people would talk. The characters, the plot all came across as real and authentic to me.
The story also touches on childhood sexual abuse, racism, discrimination, and death.
#RuthyRamirez #NetGalley #ClaireJimenez

Ruthy Ramirez disappeared in 1996 at age 13, leaving behind her mom and two sisters. Over a decade later, her sisters think they have spotted her on a reality show and try to track her down. Each of the characters is interesting, but it feels like we did not get enough time with them. Finding the sister is not actually the point of the story, and I wish that had been hinted at earlier on. Claire Jimenez has a vivid writing style, I felt like I could see everything happening and experience the characters’ struggles with them - discrimination, health issues, grief and more. Jimenez does a great job of balancing the sad and funny aspects of the book. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC for my honest review.