From a heartbreaking to an uplifting perspective, this was a really good first book. Mona Alvarado Frazier's story is honest and emotionally realistic, making you feel sorry for the main character and hoping for a good ending. The book's introduction will captivate you right away, but as it goes on, the pacing changes.

Juana Ivanov, a young adolescent presently serving a prison sentence for the murder of her spouse, is the protagonist of the book. When she says she is innocent, nobody believes her, not even the jail personnel or the gang leader who torments her nonstop in her block. Juana, however, is adamant about proving her innocence in order to reunite with her daughter Katrina, whom she left in the custody of her sister in Mexico. The menace outside, however, becomes even more horrific as Juana fights to endure the perils that lie within the prison.

The book was interesting overall, a touch repetitious in some parts, but compelling enough to keep you interested. In order to give us an accurate portrayal of jail circumstances and the complexity of social issues that teenagers also face, the author skillfully drew on her personal experiences working with young people who were detained. Nice work!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Fantastic book! Read it in about 5 days (at night before bed), it was a struggle to put it down. I connected with Juana right away. So many emotions! Such a well-written story. Would highly recommend.

This was a moving, #ownvoices YA coming of age story featuring a down on her luck teen mother who is imprisoned and has to fight for her baby. Perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Elizabeth Acevado. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

At first, this book was okay. However, I ended up enjoying it. Juana is a very realistic, well-written character you’ll love rooting for, and watching her determination and growth was a highlight.

Dear Fellow Reader,

It is finally feeling like summer. It is hot today, but the temperatures keep bouncing around a bit. We are having a family party on Saturday, and I am quite sure my flowers, which look great right now, will go on hiatus as soon as the first guest arrives. Oh well, I will just enjoy it now.

Let’s talk about The Garden of Second Chances. I have to tell you two things up front. One is that I kind of know the author. We were in an internet writers’ group together several years ago. There are a few members of the group that I have kept up with on social media and she is one of them. I am so happy for her. Several of the group have been published and she is the latest. We cheer on her success. The second thing about this book is that I did receive a copy of the book to review.

But I also bought a copy. Yes, I know that means that I have two copies. But I think that we should be cheerleaders for our artist friends. I believe that we should, when possible, buy the book, the piece of art, the whatever to support them. Believe in their dream and hope for the absolute best for them.


The Garden of Second Chances is a novel about Juana. At age 17, Juana has always jumped before thinking things completely through. As the book opens, she is in prison for the murder of her husband. The only thing that gives her hope is being released and being with her baby. Juana is tormented by the gang leader on her block. She just wants to be quiet and get through her time. She tries to find her way through the time in jail by behaving and being quiet. She knows that she did not murder her husband, but she never told anyone her side of the story. It often seems like the system and the people who are a part of it are stacked against her. Then she gets a letter saying that her ex-mother-in-law wants Juana’s baby. This is a blow to her. While she knows that her ex-mother-in-law must be lonely she doesn’t want her to have the baby as she is afraid that the ex-mother-in-law will take the baby to her homeland, Russia.

One highlight of her time is that she is allowed to cultivate a small parcel of land into a vegetable patch. This showed her that she did have skills and could be a responsible person.

Over time we see the life points where Juana made decisions that were not well thought out – she jumped at what she felt were opportunities that did not work out that way. She has disappointed her family when she was trying to do good things for them. The best part is that Juana also looks over her decisions and sees where she went wrong and could have made better decisions. She learns that she has to stand up for herself and let her voice be heard.

I enjoyed the book. I felt that Juana was portrayed realistically in that she stumbled several times but grew as a person over the course of the book. I look forward to Mona’s next book!

Thanks for reading!

A phenomenal novel that really sits with you after you finish reading it. A rollercoaster of emotions in the best way possible, this book touches on a number of poignant topics with such care but without shying away. Truly special. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a review.

mona alvarado frazier created a marvelous story with the garden of second chances. i really enjoy realistic fiction novels centered around latinx culture, particularly regarding the topics of immigration or youth incarceration, and this book does such a phenomenal job addressing both topics.

juana is such a complex character. watching her evolution as an individual while in san bueno as she reflected on her past and learned how to overcome her [very unfair] obstacles was one of the most beautiful elements of this book. i also felt like each supporting character (ie: xochitl, mariana, babydoll) played a really important role and left readers with a lot to think about.

this book takes very heavy, sensitive topics and blends them into the story in the most stunning manner. there are a lot of important takeaways from the garden of second chances that i believe people need to look at closely, as this is the type of story that can offer life-changing perspective.

This was a pretty decent debut novel that can be viewed as both heartbreaking and empowering. Mona Alvarado Frazier gives the reader a raw and emotionally realistic narrative that will have you sympathizing with the MC and praying for a happy ending. The opening of the book will immediately pull you in but as the book progresses the pacing is up and down.

The novel follows Juana Ivanov a young teen currently incarcerated for the murder of her husband. No one believes her when she claims she's innocent, not even the prison staff or the gang leader in her block who torments her relentlessly. But Juana is determined to prove her innocence so she can get back to her baby Katrina whom she left in the care of her sister in Mexico. But as Juana struggles to survive the dangers lurking in prison, the threat outside grows even more terrifying.

I enjoyed the author’s perspective surrounding youth incarceration, maintaining one’s innocence, and life in prison. It was very intense but also thought-provoking to read the things some of the characters dealt with while in prison and their reasons for ending up there. Although this is a YA novel it’s very mature and there are quite a few content warnings that involve domestic violence, suicide, teen pregnancy, immigration, and gang activity. I thought Juana was a very strong character. We watch her undergo a major transformation mentally by the end of the book.

In the beginning she struggles with fear and anxiety as she deals with being in prison. This tested the strength of her faith but she found a way to push through every obstacle thrown her way. For a moment it did seem as though all hope was lost and she’d be forced to serve her maximum sentence. But there was a loop hole in the case that granted her the freedom she desired.

Overall, I found the book to be rather enjoyable a little repetitive in some areas but gripping enough to keep you invested. The author did an amazing job creating a novel that pulls from her own experiences dealing with incarcerated youth to offer us an authentic depiction of prison conditions and the complexities of social issues teens also deal with. Special thanks to the author, sparkpress publishing, & @netgalley for my advanced copy!!!!

This book was hard to get through because there's a lot of sadness to begin with. The reader is thrown in prison along with the main character essentially. We're disoriented, scared, hopeless... but there is hope to be found even at your lowest and your darkest moments.

This moving novel has really stuck with me over the several weeks since reading it and I can’t wait to have a physical copy for my students to borrow.

The novel opens with seventeen year old Juana’s arrival at a young offender’s prison in California. She has been incarcerated after the death of her husband. She proclaims her innocence but her limited English and the prejudices of the American justice system mean that her story is not properly investigated.

Trying to navigate the gang culture of the facility proves difficult for Juana, and she soon finds herself on the wrong side of some of her fellow inmates. Targeted and sometimes physically assaulted, Juana does not give up hope that she will find her freedom sooner than her 6-year sentence.

There is hope for Juana and she finds solace in the few friendships she does form, a handful of staff, and the small garden patch she is allowed to cultivate in the prison yard.

It is clear from the intimate knowledge of Juana’s experiences that Mona Alvarado Frazier has worked with incarcerated youth for many years. The way that she portrays the nuances of Juana’s emotions, and how close she gets to giving in and letting the system corrupt her, is a dedication to all the girls like Juana who have found themselves tarred with the same brush. There were moments during reading when I simply had to stop to dry my eyes.

Librarian Lowdown:
The setting of this novel makes it pretty obvious that it is for more mature teen readers
Regular discussion of drugs, alcohol, sex and violence
Teen pregnancy
Sexual assault and grooming
Details of injury
KS4 +

Thanks to NetGalley and SparkPress for this read. I did not quite know what I was going to get when reading this book as I did like the synopsis but I was wondering how it was going to be executed. This was done well and it was a nice read as well. It involved a heavy story line and it was interesting to read.

Thank you SparkPress and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Juana, a seventeen year old undocumented mother finds herself incarcerated after being wrongfully convicted of her husband’s murder. This book follows Juana’s journey of how challenging the prison industrial complex. Fighting for her innocence, Juana finds support and strength within fellow inmates, staff and her garden. This is a heartbreaking yet beautiful story of perseverance and resistance.

I truly enjoyed the storyline of this book and fell in love with Juana. She started out timid and shy but by the end of the book she became a fierce advocate for herself and her daughter. The author works with incarcerated youth, so the love and passion for rehabilitating at-risk youth shines through in this book. I ultimately gave this book a four star review because the title and synopsis of this book were slightly misleading. I thought the garden would play a much larger role than it did. I also struggled to keep track of side characters with the multiple nicknames they were given. I realize nicknames are common with in a correctional institution, but for the purposes of a book it became hard to follow when most of the inmates had two or three names they went by. I can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next. These stories of intersecting identities and societal issues are so important. Very well done!

This book is giving a Young Orange is the New Black vibes.

Overall, the story was good and I just wanted Juana to be reunited with her daughter so bad. The author does a great job at writing the emotions of the main and supporting characters. I personally found it a bit hard to truly connect with the characters and did think that the story was a bit difficult to follow in the beginning. I got about 40-50% in before I truly felt like I was invested in knowing what was going to happen to Juana.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book was incredibly moving and poignant. The writing style was accessible yet didn't make the story feel easy in the sense. The content is incredibly important and highlights the importance of how victims of domestic violence may feel and act. I could really empathize for the characters, even the ones we weren't meant to root for.

The Garden of Second Chances was a hard hitting book that I think everyone should read. This book took on a heavy topic that made it a little easier to read

This was such a great story with a heartfelt ending. The entire story was well written and painted a good picture of what someone could be go through in this situation.
A few things for feedback -
the formatting on the ebook was a little off and would space out the sentences weirdly. It would also put multiplewordstogether like this which I can tell was not meant.
There was so many characters in this book it was confusing at times. When I first started reading I was confused if Jester was a guard or an inmate. Additionally, I was confused wheee Shaffer and Montes sat when it came to ranking. We’re they equals or was one higher ranking?
Having the translated words at the front was helpful, but I never once went back to the front to check while reading an ebook. The chapters were separated so if I went to the front I would have struggled to find my placement again.
I was confused about Juana's broken English when she would speak because she has perfect English someone’s but then broken English other times. It’s mentioned she progressed in learning English but I wouldn’t have know unless it was said.
Certain parts weren't clearly explained like when Babygril kissed Juana or when the fights happened.
I also was confused when the names of the inmates kept going back and forth between last name and first name.

I loved this book !!

It’s the first time I have read anything by this other and I definitely want more…

Meet Juana who’s a seventeen old mother who’s currently in America without the correct paperwork, she’s also in prison for killing her ‘husband’.. her daughter is living with her sister and her mother-in-law is trying to get her daughter back to more than likely take her back to Russia.

You can say Juana life is different from most seventeen year olds.

Faced with a battle to clear her name and get her daughter back Juana needs to battle through prison life, not get involved in anything that happens on the wing, she needs to prove she didn’t kill her ‘husband’ and prove she’s the best person for her daughter to live with once she free.. oh and make sure he’s sister (who’s pregnant) doesn’t try and enter America illegally..

Yes, she’s got to do all of this whilst she behind bars…

Will she be able to prove her innocence?

Will she be able to be reunited with her daughter?

Will she stop her sister??

Only time will tell…

I really wanted to like this one more than I did. For some reason, I couldn’t get attached to the main character. And sometimes the supporting characters seemed a little too obvious as foils to the main. But most YA readers will love the interactions and drama between these imprisoned young women, Juana works hard to make a better life for her and Katrina. There are a number of hidden surprises and some unexpected events that kept me reading, A good first book overall.

This was suspenseful and intriguing and captured my interest instantly. I found a new author to adore!