I almost didn't request Caroline Mackenzie's One Year of Ugly from BookExpo because I wasn't sure it sounded like my kind of book. But then I heard that Netflix had optioned it, and I figured I should read the book before watching it.
The book makes a reference to Mills and Boon, which I understand thanks to the Gothic and Romantic Literature class I took while studying abroad in England. And that's kind of what this book reminded me of - a romance novel. But a little bit crazier.
Yola's family are illegal Venezuelan immigrants in Trinidad, and all is going well until Yola's aunt Celia dies, and it turns out Celia owed a lot of money to Ugly, an evil criminal who scored Celia's daughter's fake paperwork so they could go to school. To pay back the debt, Yola's family has to house other illegals at their own expense.
Ugly is a mean bastard, but his sidekick Roman is very easy on the eyes, and a forbidden mutual attraction develops between Yola and Roman. Yola, who has been living at home and is too scared to pursue her dream of writing a novel, must learn to go for what she wants and suck all the sugar up, just like her Aunt Celia would have wanted her to.
I think this novel gives a unique immigrant perspective. Yola says multiple times in the book that her family fled the oppression of their home only to not really be free somewhere else.
One Year of Ugly is published by 37 Ink and will be on bookstore shelves tomorrow (July 7, 2020). I received a free e-ARC to review.
The book makes a reference to Mills and Boon, which I understand thanks to the Gothic and Romantic Literature class I took while studying abroad in England. And that's kind of what this book reminded me of - a romance novel. But a little bit crazier.
Yola's family are illegal Venezuelan immigrants in Trinidad, and all is going well until Yola's aunt Celia dies, and it turns out Celia owed a lot of money to Ugly, an evil criminal who scored Celia's daughter's fake paperwork so they could go to school. To pay back the debt, Yola's family has to house other illegals at their own expense.
Ugly is a mean bastard, but his sidekick Roman is very easy on the eyes, and a forbidden mutual attraction develops between Yola and Roman. Yola, who has been living at home and is too scared to pursue her dream of writing a novel, must learn to go for what she wants and suck all the sugar up, just like her Aunt Celia would have wanted her to.
I think this novel gives a unique immigrant perspective. Yola says multiple times in the book that her family fled the oppression of their home only to not really be free somewhere else.
One Year of Ugly is published by 37 Ink and will be on bookstore shelves tomorrow (July 7, 2020). I received a free e-ARC to review.
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