Oye by Melissa Mogollon is a captivating coming-of-age comedy that seamlessly weaves in elements of a telenovela-worthy drama and a heartwarming family saga. I was hooked until the very end.

The debut novel, “Oye” by Melissa Mogollon is a captivating coming-of-age novel that blends comedy, drama, and family saga into a single phone call you won't want to hang up on.

Meet Luciana, the voice of reason in her rowdy Colombian American family. As she navigates an unexpected crisis during her senior year of high school, Luciana becomes the reluctant caretaker for her eccentric grandmother. Luciana's older sister is away at college, leaving Luciana to deal with their grandmother's refusal to evacuate during a hurricane in South Florida. But the storm isn't the only danger.

The news of her grandmother’s crushing medical diagnosis sets her on a personal journey. Her grandmother moves into Luciana's bedroom, and their complicated bond intensifies. Luciana, torn between her own desires and her newfound responsibilities, faces adulthood head-on. Grandmother steals the show with her wild demands and antics. Her character adds depth and unpredictability to the story.

“Oye” unfolds entirely through phone conversations. Luciana chronicles her experiences over the phone to Mari, creating an intimate and engaging narrative. It feels like eavesdropping on the most fascinating conversation. Mogollon captures the chaos, love, and secrets within a family. The interactions between Luciana, her grandmother, and other family members are both heartwarming and humorous.

Luciana's journey involves rewriting her own story. The novel celebrates resilience and the beauty that emerges from life's unexpected twists. Luciana's exploration of her identity and relationships adds depth to the narrative. Mogollon handles LGBTQ+ themes with sensitivity and authenticity.

“Oye” is a rollercoaster of emotions, but even better, it’s a telenovela-worthy drama infused with humour and heart. Mogollon's originality shines through, making this novel a must-read for anyone seeking a fresh and unforgettable literary experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think that the premise of this book is really touching however I could not get past the style of writing. It was difficult to understand what was happening.

You know that saying, don’t judge a book by its cover… well, I totally did, and I’m not one bit disappointed! I went into this book not knowing what to expect but definitely didn’t expect to relate to it so much!

While it took me a while to get into the writing style, as I obviously didn’t pay attention to the book description that it’s told in an one way phone conversation from the FMC, Luciana, POV. But once I got into it, it just flowed and worked.

I was reading Oye with the exact Latina, 18 yr old voice in my head… I could just picture Luciana the whole time. I crackled up, I laughed out loud and I felt my heart breaking… I don’t know if it’s because I’m Latina and also have a crazy family that resembles Luciana’s, or if it was because Luciana’s nickname is Nana which happens to be my daughter nickname, or if it was Abue and Luciana’s heartfelt relationship but it hit me in a way that left me longing to be closer to the my grandma who’s across the sea and to just embrace my crazy and chaotic family even more.

Oye is funny, tragic, dramatic, modern and not your typical story. It’s more than just a funny read… it covered so much- family drama, sickness, trauma, culture, relationships, self discovery, acceptance in a way I haven’t seen! I’m so glad I judge this book and will be thinking about it for a while 🫶🏽.

Oh, and a heads up!! Be prepared to fall in love with Abue- she’s not your typical grandma but she’s a grandma you would love to have by your side!

This was a solid 4.5/5 read for me! 💫

Unfortunately, I had to put this book down around the 18% mark. At first, the premise sounded really interesting, with the entire book centering around the protagonist on the phone with her older sister. However, the writing just didn't work for me, and I couldn't really get through more of the book. This is just my personal opinion, this may work for you instead, etc!

Dear Book,
It's not you, it's me.
I loved the story! The feisty abuela fighting cancer, the girl trying to be her own self when she isn't quite sure what that is, the older sister away at college and trying to ignore what was happening at home, and the rest of the family. All of that was great! What ruined this book for me was the format. I know, I am old fashioned and need to get over it. But reading this book felt like spending 300 pages forced to eavesdrop on a teenager's phone conversation. I had to do that enough while riding public transportation. I didn't like it then and I didn't like it this time. This is my loss but I found myself tensing up and grinding my teeth after only a few minutes of reading. Hopefully others won't have this adverse reaction and can enjoy the story, which in itself was wonderful!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Esme Addison for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for An Intrigue of Witches coming out May 14, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own..

I received this directly from the publisher. I really love Spanish stories, so I was excited to check it out. I speak Spanish, so I could understand the story. I thought the telephone format was interesting and different. It felt a little nostalgic since it seems like people don’t talk on the phone for hours anymore. However, contemporary family drama stories really aren’t my favorite. There was a lot of arguing and I just wasn’t entertained by it. I would check out other books by this author.

A hilarious, tragic, beautiful, and compelling story of a family’s love
Absolute 5-star read

Told from the point of view of one-sided phone calls, Luciana, the protagonist of our story explains the dynamics of her drama-filled, highly-connected family as she comes to an understanding of herself through her last year of high school.

This was the first 5 star read in a long time that hasn’t been something recommended on TikTok or a romantasy novel. Different than any other read I’ve had, this book kept me captivated from beginning to end, and it was hard to put the book down. It took me a minute to understand what was happening in the book (as I always go into a read blind), but once I realized that the novel was through such a unique tone, I could not put it down.

Descending from ancestors in Columbia, Latin culture weaves itself through every page of this book. With Spanish spoken by both mom, grandma, and granddaughters, this novel made me feel connected to a culture other than my own. Luciana is an absolutely hilarious young girl, and I can’t even count the number of times I laughed OUT LOUD while reading this. My boyfriend constantly looked at me like I was crazy, and my laughing even woke him up a few times.

I am a teacher and absolutely cannot wait to purchase this for my students (especially because we have a 75% hispanic population) and I just absolutely know that they will adore the novel in it’s Spanish version.

I would without a doubt recommend this book to any single person that enjoyed, or honestly even who did enjoy, reading because it is truly a remarkably beautiful, tragic, love story of family and identity.

Mogollon plays with a really interesting structure and POV for this novel, instead of choosing a straightforward 1st person, the story is instead told through one side of phone conversations between two sisters. We only get the younger sister's dialog in these calls, an 18 year old senior at home while multiple family crises bloom around her. The calls we see are all to her older sister in college. The structure is committed through the entire book, and to be honest didn’t work for me. Not only do we miss the context of the worlds that these girls live in, but we only see the other members of these families through the very jaded lens of the younger sister. To add to the confusion, the author does add in some third party conversations that I guess the little sister is remembering as she speaks to her older sister. These side conversations are there to obviously give some context, character development and flavor to the others in the book, but it just ends up at times confusing. This focus on only phone conversations leads the narrator to say bizarre things to her sister for the reader's benefit, like explaining some of the layout of the room they shared… the older sister knows what the room is like.

At first this choice intrigued me, and in a short story would and has been a fun device to tell a story, especially with an unreliable narrator. However, as a full novel it was just too much. What could have been a touching tale of multiple generations of women in Miami became a tedious bitch-fest by an over-stressed underappreciated woman-child.

the format of this novel is so unconventional and unique; a couple pages in and i realized i should probably start over. but once you get the hang of the format, you can’t help but want to be best friends with the main character.

with how well mogollon pulled this off, i am officially signing up to read anything else she ever writes!

thank you to netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this unique debut novel. The structure of this book is interesting in that it is told only through phone calls from a younger sister to her older sister who is off at college. In some ways, this was kind of cool, but I also think it took away from a story that is strong enough without that kind of gimmick. The main character was so funny and lovable and it would have been lovely to get to know the older sister and some of the other characters just as well, but the one-sided structure prevented that from happening for me. Overall, I did enjoy the book and think Mogollon is super talented and will definitely check out what she writes next.

I have mixed feelings about Oye. From the POV of a granddaughter who had the same strong bond with her grandmother, shared some of the same life circumstances, and enjoyed her grandmother’s zest for life, Oye is stellar. It truly highlights the good, bad, and ugly of family life. The story celebrates belonging, making the best and tough choices, and living unapologetically. From the POV of an educator, Oye drained my energy.  I wanted quotation marks so I could readily know who was talking, and I wanted to “hear” a voice other than Luciana’s.  I applaud Luciana’s ability to be her grandmother’s translator, navigating the world between teens and adults, but her rants were like nails on a chalkboard. Luciana’s soliloquies were similar to some of my kids’ text messages . . . a marathon of words with no punctuation, causing the conversation to go on forever or until I get tired, stop reading, and put my phone away.  In retrospect, maybe that was exactly what the author wanted . . . for us to feel the nuances of Luciana's life and not just read about it . . . if so, well done, Ms. Mogollon!

The unusual style of this book took me a few pages to get use to but once I did I couldn’t stop reading! Fabulously told, the story of a girl who should be on her way to college but has so many doubts, including her lovable, one of a kind grandmother, who gets cancer.. She has to establish priorities, which is hard with competing voices adding their her sister and mother and their opinions. Just great, especially for younger people, will really relate to her story, though I must admit I am old enough to relate to grandma Abue’s story as well.

The storyline of this novel is told mostly through telephone conversations between Luciana, a high school senior, and her sister Mari, who is away at college. Even though the reader can only read Luciana’s side of their talks, it is fairly easy to discern aspects of both women’s personalities. Their conversations illustrate lots of family drama, including a health crisis and a hurricane, and Luciana’s close relationship with her eccentric grandmother, Abue. Because of this novel’s unique narrative structure, it is a bit daunting and takes some time to get used to. Nonetheless, it provides the reader with a lively and engaging tale.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. It is told in a unique format, through phone calls between two sisters. I was surprised when it didn't take me as long to get used to it as I thought. The author skillfully weaves a tale with amazing character arcs and backstories all through these one-sided calls, because we only get Luciana's POV and not her sister Mari's on the other end of the phone.

Luciana is the youngest child in a Colombian-American family. There is a lot of family drama. It's very entertaining and telenovela/soap opera. I enjoyed the grandmother Abue the most. She was often laugh-out-loud funny. The story, while full of entertaining drama, was so heartfelt. I was thoroughly invested. If you are looking for a book with a unique way of storytelling, pick this one up!

Unfortunately, I did not care for this style of writing at all. I love the concept of it, but in practice, I was annoyed by the main character and slightly confused at times. I felt like the bulk of the book was just complaining and to be frank, I lost interest early on. I definitely appreciate the unique storytelling, but I think the story was just not for me.

"Oye" by Melissa Mogollon

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth for allowing me to read this work prior to its publication date.

Luciana is queer, overweight, her mother is over-bearing, her sister and father are absent and her grandmother is a gorgeous but unrealistic woman who won't budge during a hurricane. When the hurricane blows over their hometown, Luciana and her mother go to her grandmother's home to find her deeply ill. This sets off a chain of events that leads to Nana (Luciana) being her grandmother's confidante, advocate and unlikely best friend. This book is told in an unconventional format, as it seems to take place through phone calls to nana's sister Mari, who is away at college and distancing herself from the family. This book affirmed how women live in a totally different family than the men they're related to, with wildly different expectations. The father is maintaining the family farm and largely absent, so are the uncles and brothers. The ending was deeply moving and this is a solid read if you can get used to the innovative structure.

Oye is the debut novel by Melissa Mogollon. It was written in an unusual way - the entire novel was one side of Luciana’s, an 18 year old girl, phone conversations with her sister Mari.

The story opens with Luciana and her mother evacuating from Florida due to Hurricane Irma. Eventually they return home to learn that her grandmother is ill. The remainder of the novel explores Luciana and Abue’s relationship and we learn a lot about both. The story is good but I found the style to be somewhat confusing and limiting.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

I was excited to read this book but was disappointed when I did. The one sided conversation for me became annoying and difficult to read.

I love coming-of-age stories, so I was drawn to this one - and look at that beautiful cover!

But I must be honest: This one didn't work for me. The story is narrated as phone calls between Luciana and her older sister, but these conversations are one-sided. I'm usually up for unique and creative formatting, but here, it felt unbalanced, with everything blended together, which caused some confusion.

The story has moments of humor and family drama that I could see some readers enjoying. I think her Abue (grandmother) is the best character here and with a tragic backstory. Unfortunately, the rest felt like a vent session on many topics. Luciana just felt like an angry teen who was mad at everyone—and I'm not sure how many times she said OMG, but it was too many.




Thank you @randomhouse and @netgalley for the gifted ebook.
Thank you PRHaudio for the gifted audiobook.



Thank you @randomhouse @netgalley and @PRHaudio for the gifted copy of Oye.