A Train to Moscow
Really liked the story. It’s sad, it’s realistic. Not all stories have happy endings, and that is okay. We need to accept that reality is hard and this historical fiction is a wonderful story. The book truly portrays the character’s inner conflicts that is derived from growing in a war era. Our generational trauma that is both inherited and lived through as it’s passed on, marks us and shaped us and who we are. I think the book was very well written, the story was powerful and I would definitely read again. Highly recommend!!! 4.5 starts for this one!

Beach Read
As any romcom book, this story has a lot of cheese moments and a happy ending. However, comparing this book to all the other romance novels I’ve read lately, I definitely like this one more and I recommend it. There is something about the way it’s written that actually makes sense! The narrative itself and writing are well done. I do think there are some loose ends towards the end and it feels rushed, but definitely waaaaaaay better than other romcom novels. It’s all about the writing... the writing helps make the story believable and realistic, even when there are cheese unrealistic moments. It hopeful, instead of unreal. I give this book 4.5 stars.

The Friend Zone
A couple of months ago I read “Life is too short” and then realized that it was the third book in a series called “The Friend Zone”, so I decided o read books 1 and 2. I hate to say it, but “Life’s too short” is a masterpiece compared to this, and if you read my previous post, I didn’t love the book. Is the story good? yes! I like that is not your typical romcom hate to love, etc... it actually underlines the complexities of a relationship and decisions that one has to make for their future, despite the love you might feel for someone. When you are looking to settle with someone, love is not the only factor. However, the way it was written was too cheese (once again) and unrealistic from the perspective of the guy. The style with parallel perspective (boy and girl) is the same throughout the series and, although, it could be a good strategy to make it more interesting, the writing didn’t help. I only gave 3 start to this one.

The Happy Ever After Playlist
I’m giving 4 start to this one... same issues as above, since this is book #2 of “The Friend Zone” series, but I like this story way better.. it was more fun and different (again, I really appreciate originality) It’s a different type of romcom, unique with the approach to the story and the background. However, same issue with the other two in the series.. a bit unrealistic from the guy’s perspective... Idk what it is with books that are note exceptionally well written, but I cant get past that to enjoy the story. Its definitely catchy and an easy read... so, I do recommend the whole series if you just want a quick escapist read.

I hope you enjoy this month' reviews and recommendations. Happy Reading!

I LOVE Cortázar and Borges and this writing style has the same vibe. The story is very well written; it connects the reader to the story, the historical context, romance, and all the challenges... that kind of connection is hard to achieve. It is realistic, therefore relatable... nothing like the last romcom trendy books I’ve read before.
If you love literature... I definitely recommend!

It Ends with Us
This is another trendy book that is not it! I give it 3.5 stars (to be nice). Once again, another book that portrays a toxic relationships. Why is this a thing?? Why are toxic relationships such a hit?? Yes, the overall message is good, but portraying these types of relationships where the women “suffers” and puts up with the guy for such a long period of time before the guy “changes” or before the women decides to leave, is toxic. No one should make this suffering so long, they should be able to notice the red flags, and authors should write about those, instead of writing about the women that constantly looks for excuses and forgives. Yes, in this case she chooses better at the end, but after sooooo long.
The is one thing I liked and found important, and that is that in the book no one is all good or all bad; we are human being and we live in gray areas; the author did portray that through the book. The character are well developed, but the way the book is written is painful to read. I can easily differentiate where the narrator is talking and when the author is jumping in with their own thoughts, and that created a disconnection of style and tone for the book. This was the biggest issue for me. I should not be able to hear the author’s voice when the main character is talking or thinking. I should “listen” to the main character and her voice matching her personality.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
I loved this book!!! This is one of the few that are actually worth the hype from Bookstagram or BookTok. I thought the book was very well written. It did take me a minute to get into the story at first, but once I got hooked it was very easy to keep going and read it quickly. The story is different, not your typical romance/suspense novel, which I like... I truly appreciate originality. I also likes that the author did a wonderful job with the character development. The more we get to know Evelyn we see all the nuisances to her personality; the whole story is not black and white; there is substance. The book definitely show empowerment in a different way, showing the struggles of being a women and also bisexual or gay in an industry that is so demanding and shaped by heteronormativity. Definitely recommend!!!
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Happy reading!!!

I did think the narrative style, including different points of view, was better; it gave a more holistic approach to the story and we got to read the character’s thoughts and get a better understanding of their personalities, fears, desires, etc. But I couldn’t get past the writing and the idealization (unrealistically) of a the man’s thoughts. I have met men that love deeply, but none of them have the chain of thought the main character had. It seems a very female voice coming from a guy. It just didn’t sit well with the story for me... and I think it got worst as the story progressed. I didn’t think his point of view was unrealistic until I was half way through the book, so I thought it was promising, but then I got very disappointed.
I am very picky when it comes to writing styles. It’s make it or break it for me... If you are not as picky as me, you’d probably enjoy it. It was a light read, which is what I was looking at the moment, so if you just need to scape reality... this is a good book.

The Guest List
Not worth the hype tbh... I don’t know if I have great detective skills, but this book was very predictable to me. I also thought it was a mystery novel (maybe it was my fault for setting that expectation) and it was definitely not a mystery at all! At least not to me... I never got hooked trying to figure out who was the bad guy; it was all too obvious. Maybe I need to stop being so good at uncovering mysteries... LOL.
I also think that the author was trying to get into each of the characters and show a more psychological side for each, which I truly appreciated. This made the story more interesting, just not enough. The writing style was good, I really liked the representation of the characters, I just didn’t think the plot had a lot of substance to it.
I do recommend the book, but I also recommend to not get your expectations up, because you don’t want to be disappointed like I was.

The Upside of Falling
I got this book for free... and it seemed like something my students would read (setting in high school), so I thought I would give it a try... but, this was a big disappointment.
The book was very poorly written! So many typos and the style of writing was too cheese and choppy. I would definitely not recommend. It’s not worth it and I honestly don’t have anything else to say about it... LOL

The Lost Apothecary
Loved this book and definitely recommend!!! It was a bit difficult to get into it at first, but once I got into it , I really got into it!!! It was good, slow, intriguing ... the narrative style was similar to what I’ve been complaining about lately; the same estructure of parallel stories (one past, one present) that are tied together at the end. However, this time it didn’t bother me, probably because the book was very well written. I also thought it was a very interesting psychological perspective, there was depth to the main character and she did not need anyone to “save her” or to be happy. The way this re-defined happiness as not something meant to be, but something that comes from or own choices was very powerful and I really appreciated the message. We have to get to know ourselves to be able to make the decisions that are best for us and our future, regardless of who we choose to share that with at the end. Happiness or striving for it is our choice.

​I hope you enjoyed this month'e recommendations... Happy reading!!! 

insurance wanted to total the car and give me very little money for it. I am a very anxious person and sometimes I accept thing too quickly because I just want to get it over with… this time around I wasn’t gonna let that happen. My car looked brand new; I’d had it for 7 years, but it only had 40K miles and I knew that used car prices had gone up since COVID, so this was my opportunity to get some money back. The strategies were very helpful and preparing by listening to this book helped me feel a lot more confident. Needless to say, that I got what I wanted; way more than the original offer they made and about twice as much as I would have gotten if I had sold the car on my own. I swear this book is sooooo helpful!
Reviewing the actual writing, I didn’t get bored, I think it had a good flow and the strategies that were shared were intertwined with actual real-life stories that made it easier to follow with examples. I highly recommend this book.

The House in the Cerulean Sea
This book came to me because I was feeling stuck. I had been reading Harry Potter because my partner wanted me to and I hated it (Sorry to all the HP fans out there... it’s not my thing) To be honest, I have watched all the movies already, so I didn’t find anything intriguing or entertaining, and it definitely didn’t help me want to keep reading other books.
As I was sharing all my HP feeling with a colleague, she suggested I read this book and gave it to me on the spot! I was excited that I knew nothing about it and she said it would make me feel good… and I totally agree! It was very sweet and it made me feel all the good in the world. If you just need a break and want to feel all the good, warm feelings this is the book! The story is also very sweet and relatable to our current world, even though we don’t have people with powers. I definitely recommend this book for all teens, adults, and anyone who need a dose of love and positivity.

The Love Hypothesis
I do not understand why this book is such the hype! Except that is super spicy and I guess people like that?? I was honestly in sock that my students would recommend this book to me. It makes sense that teenagers explore their sexuality, but this was extremely explicit on the sex scenes. I think it went for too long to be honest. I also don’t see how a graduate student would act so childish, instead of having good communication skills and showing more emotional maturity. At the very being of the book the main character acts very childish, which I don’t understand. It also creates a false representation of what a real relationship is and how men act. We cannot expect another human to do everything for us, “save us”, or ask us every step of the way what we need. Would it be nice for people to act mature and have great communication skills?, yes!, but the reality is that we, as a society, are not there yet. We lack communication skills, vulnerability, and the understanding of our own being to be able to communicate properly at all times. We are human and we do not always know how to react, that is just part of humanity. We can strive to be better, but we will never be perfect. The narrative of books like this one, is toxic. It gives teenagers, who read these books, a false idea of reality and creates toxic expectations for their future.  Communication is an acquired skill and one that we must work on with our partner consistently; they won’t just “get us” all the time.

I hope you enjoyed this and if you have any recommendations for me, leave them in the comments! I'm always looking for something else to read. 

I hope this is useful! Thanks for reading this looooong post!! 

En Latinoamérica todo es jerarquía, apellido, estado socio-económico. Poco a poco las cosas están cambiando, pero no ha habido ningún cambio drástico. Sigue existiendo discriminación hacia los que no tienen ni los medios ni el apellido y las familias de "renombre" siguen aparentando ser "de bien" aunque se mueran de hambre. 

Pero, ¿qué significa ser de renombre? ¿o ser una familia de bien? ... a estas alturas ninguna de las dos cosas tienen sentido para mí, pero igual en una sociedad donde se rigen por las apariencias, todo pesa. Delirio representa la mentalidad de los ricos pero también de los excluidos de ese círculo social que están desesperados por abrirse campo e ingresar a esta exclusividad. Me gusta que se presente ese contraste. Me gusta que la realidad sea, que el que no pertenece a esa clase social es el que termina pagando pato, porque lamentablemente es así.... lo que tienen el poder, el apellido, el dinero, siempre se salen con la suya de cierta forma; y los demás, pues son usados para tapar lo que estas familias 'importantes' no quieren que se sepa. 

Latinoamérica está llena de corrupción, y lamentablemente no creo que exista un antídoto mágico para el veneno que infecta a nuestra sociedad; las personas están acostumbradas a que todo se maneje bajándole dinero a alguien (al policía, al doctor, al comisario, al mecánico, etc); todo tiene solución si tienes el dinero para pagar... Y esa es la triste realidad... Entonces, ¿cómo transformamos una sociedad? ... no lo sé... no tengo la respuesta, pero vale la pena cuestionarnos y explorar ideas.

Parece que este post se convirtió en una reflexión sobre la sociedad de los países latinoamericanos en lugar de una reseña de "Delirio", pero la verdad es que hay tanto que conecta a este texto con la realidad que se vive en LATAM que creo que es innecesario cambiar todo lo que he escrito. Pienso que es una reflexión basada en ambos, el texto y la realidad social. 

Además de esto, como mencioné antes, hay mucha conexión a otros temas como la corrupción en Colombia, los trastornos mentales, la discriminación hacia la comunidad LGTBQ+, infidelidades, maltrato doméstico, etc. Este libro abarca casi todo lo que está mal con una sociedad. Es un libro super interesante y definitivamente recomiendo que todos lo lean, pero no es un libro para el salón de clases. 

Aunque me encantaría hablar con mis estudiantes sobre todos estos temas y cómo se representan en las sociedades de Latinoamérica, creo que este no es el libro correcto para hacerlo. Hay demasiadas complicaciones, desde el estilo de la narrativa que pienso sería muy complicada  de entender para mis alumnas, hasta la manera cruda en que estos temas son presentados. Es una realidad muchas veces horrenda y si uno recién está iniciando este tipo de conversaciones con adolescentes, pienso que las escenas serían muy fuertes. 

¡Gracias por acompañarme en esta reflexión! Sé que este post es distinto, pero soy yo, son estas las ideas que me fluyen por la mente. Espero que me compartas las tuyas también. 
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"Born a crime" presents historical information about South Africa that the average reader wouldn't know about, but most importantly it makes the connection of the purpose behind the Apartheid government and the founding principles of the United States. Everything he explains happened in South Africa I can see happening here, in a lesser degree maybe, or better disguised.  

So... that is one aspect of the book that I find worth exploring and for the sole purposes of talking about identity, communication and importance of cultures and languages I believe most chapters of this book are worth exploring in a classroom setting. 

There are other topics being discussed in this book, one of them being domestic abuse. Towards the end of the book these descriptions become more vivid and they might be triggering for some children. I do find important to address a conversation about toxic relationships and emotional health, but I would definitely check in with my students before reading some of this chapters. 

I so believe Trevor Noah has great advise and provides a lot of insight about the struggles of a minor dealing with the toxic relationship of parents at home. In his book, he says "Growing up in a home of abuse, you struggle with the notion that you can love a person you hate, or hate a person you love. It's a strange feeling. You want to live in a world where someone is good or bad, where you either hate them or love them, but that's not how people are". This quote really portrays the emotional struggle that many children experience and do not know how to express. 

We are taught to see things black and white, and we are not taught to express our emotions using detailed words. Often we are limited to use "I'm good" or "I'm ok" when someone asks how we are doing, and it's very rarely that students say "I'm energized" or "I am restless" or "I am grateful". Just as much as we teach students to read and write academically, we have to also teach them to express themselves about their own feelings. 

I do think this is a great book, and I recommend all teachers to read it before trying to incorporate it into the classroom. I also think that social studies teachers could use different chapters of this book to incite discussion about the similarities of authoritarian governments across the world. 

I hope this review is helpful and I really hope you read this wonderful book. Happy Reading! 

• The book also does a good job at showing the involvement of the U.S. in Latin America, although it doesn't criticize it directly. It's the subtle comments about their actions that linger and shape the story in some way
• It was very easy to read and as I mentioned before, it was a light hearted, fast read. 

Obviously, there were some things I didn't like... I think that we all have things we love and hate of every book, so here are some of mine for this particular book:

• The format, as I said before.. I feel that the last few historical fiction books have the same premise: a granddaughter or great-granddaughter needs to find herself and the story about her ancestors who lived during (insert historical period here). It just feels cliché after reading so many books with two parallel stories where both granddaughter and grandma have a love story that connects them 
• The story is narrated in first person, and I actually like this style very much because it's easier to follow and it helps me connect with the characters; however... in this novel I could hear the voice of the author trying to teach me the meaning of certain things like the word "ojalá", instead of hearing the voice of the main character. There was a disconnect there... I think it would've had more impact if the actual character showed the reader the meaning, rather than feeling in a lecture of some sort... 

Would I teach this book to my students?? 

• Yes! I think it's an easy read, so if I am doing a unit about different dictatorships in Latin America I would let students choose among different books that take place in different countries and this would be one of them
• There is historical accuracy and there are many points of view to create dialogue in the classroom
• The book also include a reading guide at the end, so those questions could be a really good starting point 

I hope you enjoyed this review. I tried to change the format a little bit, so you can jump right into what you want to know! Let me know what you think!