Slow start but such an exciting ending

filled star filled star filled star filled star star unfilled
kdowli01 Avatar

By

I got an early copy of this from @bookishfirst and @syracuseupress for an early copy of this, I thought this was really interesting with a really exciting ending! 

Synopsis: A friendship between Galan, a Cuban emigrant in Puerto Rico, and Pat, a Coast Guard officer, comes to a head when Galan desperately needs to get his sister to join him in Puerto Rico.
 
I wasn't sure about this at first. It was fine, but nothing amazing, and I thought a lot of it was rather predictable. I also thought the way the flashbacks (which came up frequently in the first half or so) were handled in a kind of clunky way. 

But the last 100 pages are really exciting, and I got so much more into it! There were some side stories that seemed unnecessary at first, but ended up mattering so much by the end. The whole book ended up having some strong messages on family, loyalty, and honor. 

I plan to look for thoughts by Cuban reviewers. The author is a former Coastie, so obviously has good background for Pat's perspective, but I'm very curious about how #ownvoice reviewers interpreted Galan's perspective. But I definitely enjoyed this!