SPEAK TO ME OF HOME ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Release date 3/13/2025. What a beautiful story of family, identity, culture, struggle and survival. Spanning over the course of 3 generations, this story centers around a family of women all figuring it out. From the author of American Dirt, this story shares similar themes of reflection, protection, found family. The book was beautifully written, I was able to feel like I know these generation of women, coming together when one is in a serious accident. Spanning over decades, from multiple POV we see how a family transcend through time and evolve and change. People may feel the pace is slow, in comparison to American Dirt, if you are expecting similar action in this story, don’t. Appreciate the way it unfolds.

At its core, this book is about family, heritage and identity. But on the surface, it’s a multigenerational family saga told in three distinct generational voices.

When a family moves from Puerto Rico to the Midwest, they encounter racism and a deep unhappiness that has the potential to create rifts between family members.

We learn about the choices all three of these strong women chose to make and how those decisions compelled their lives. It is richly crafted, mesmerizing, and beautifully written.

Gifted writing.
Transportive storytelling.
A beautiful family saga filled with rich, complex, engaging characters.
And stunning cover.

With great thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for this e-ARC!

this book was pretty good! It was a tale of family roots, that go deep into multiple generations. I think the writing style was good, and the characters were good. The themes were strong and enjoyable

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

I really enjoyed this beautifully written multigenerational story of three women and their connection to their family’s homeland.

Told in a nonlinear format and spanning over decades, the story focuses on Rafaela, born into great wealth in Puerto Rico, her daughter Ruth, and her granddaughter Daisy, and their relationships with each other and to Puerto Rico.

All three women are well-rounded and constructed characters with a great deal of depth. Throughout their lives, loves, moves, and educations they all three struggle with the concept of what a homeland means and how they self-identify, both ethnically and culturally.

The book felt easy to read and accessible, yet at the same time left me thinking about it for days after and what it means to identify with a familial home land. Despite a lot of drama, the sorry never felt maudlin. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

I could not put this book down, but I also didn’t want it to end. This book was perfect. I feel in love with these characters. This story will stick with me forever.

This is a generational saga of mother (Rafaela), daughter (Renee) and granddaughter (Daisy) that begins in Puerto Rico. Rafaela marries a privileged white male while he is in Puerto Rico. Rafaela was the daughter of a wealthy man, well known in the country and perhaps this paved the way for the lack of racism that became very evident once they moved to the mid-western United States. They try to fit into life in the MidWest with the children, try to make friends with other parents it becomes obvious to Rafaela that the culture is nothing like her life in Puerto Rico. It is at this time that they join the country club and Renee realizes that her skin is not as white as other mid-westerners. This book alternates between the past and the present times of these three women as they assimilate and become culturally adept. I was able to keep on track as the book alternated between narrators and times. I enjoyed reading about the cultural differences. The book was enlightening. Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the complimentary digital ARC. I was honored to be given the chance to read this book by Jeannine Cummins. The author is definitely on my to be read list and I can't wait for the next novel. This review is my own opinion and has not been coerced in any way.

I really enjoyed the double time-lines in this book, the concept was everything that I was hoping for and enjoyed from the genre. Jeanine Cummins has a strong writing style and was able to create characters that I cared about and felt like real people. I enjoyed what I read and am excited for more.