Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz (ARC)

 Hey Everyone!

Book #2 of June done! 

This is one I have had sitting on my shelf for years!  I got this one as an ARC well before its release at YA'll West in 2016.  But 2016 ended up being a really tough year for me, so it unfortunately just ended up collecting dust on my shelf.  

That book is Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz. 

This one has stuck out to me for quite some time.  I was really excited to read it, because it deals with a subject very near and dear to my heart.  Immigration.  A topic not talked about very much in books in general, but especially Young Adult novels.  

I'm actually an immigrant.  I moved to America in 1998, at the age of seven.  I've lived here since then, and never been back to my home country of Germany.  I am actually turning thirty next month, and the day before my 30th birthday will mark 23 years in this country for me.  

I am a DACA child.  If you don't know what DACA is, then I ask you look it up, because I don't really want to get into the logistics of it, but just know DACA saved my life.  It allowed me to start truly living my life in America, and follow my dream, and for that I will always be extremely grateful.

I now have my green card, and currently in the process of becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States.  

I'm an American through and through, in every way, but on paper.  I have grown up here, I don't remember much from my birth country.  I speak German, but don't know grammatical things very well, so I'm at about an elementary level in my birth country.  I would not be able to function if I were to go back permanently.  My parents moved me here to America, I did not have a choice in the matter.  And while things were difficult at times, I wouldn't change it for the world.  I have accomplished a lot while living in America.  While I do think some things I would have been able to do in Germany, there is one thing for sure that never would have happened if I had moved here...and that is meet my husband.  

Today marks 8 years that my husband and I have been together.  He is my world.  He means everything to me.  And now we have our son.  The joy of our world together.  I love them with all of my heart, and I don't know who I would be without them. <3

Anyway, on to my review!

From Goodreads:

It feels like there's no ground beneath me, like everything I've ever done has been a lie.  Like I'm breaking apart, shattering.  Who am I? Where do I belong?

Jasmine De los Santos has always done what's expected of her. Pretty and popular, she's studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship. 

And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the truth: their visas expired years ago. Her entire family is illegal. That means no scholarships, maybe no college at all and the very real threat of deportation.

For the first time, Jasmine rebels, trying all those teen things she never had time for in the past. Even as she's trying to make sense of her new world, it's turned upside down by Royce Blakely, the charming son of a high-ranking congressman. Jasmine no longer has any idea where -- or if-- she fits into the American Dream.  All she knows is that she's not giving up. Because when the rules you lived by no longer apply, the only thing to do is make up your own.

My Thoughts:

Heads Up: My review is going to contain spoilers this time!

So I'm just going to straight up and say it...

This book disappointed me.

I was so excited to finally have a book that I could very personally relate to, but it ended up falling short...big time.

First, I don't know why the descriptions says Jasmine rebels, like that's the main focus of the book.  Yes, she gets a boyfriend.  Yes, she goes to a few parties.  But it isn't the main focus of this book.

I would say the main focus of this book is Jasmine freaking out, understandably, after her world has been turned upside down, after finding out that she is here in the country illegally. 

Second, I really disliked how much Jasmine puts down her birth country and its people.  I may consider myself an American, but I still have a lot of respect for my birth country.  And Jasmine is constantly putting down the people of her birth country, and even her own parents.  She pretty much says that Filipinos are nothing but janitors and cleaning ladies, and bus drivers.  Something both of her parents do in America.  It made Jasmine sound super high and mighty of herself, and while, in the end she realized that she was being judgy, it was more that she realized she was judgy in the opposite way.  Like she thought the whole time that her boyfriend's family was judging her background, but really she was judging her own background.  Sorry rambling, but it just really irritated me, and made me not like Jasmine.  

Jasmine was an academic scholar, which is definitely something she should be proud of, but it has made her arrogant and full of herself in a lot of ways.  

Third, how everything worked its way in the end of this book, I absolutely hated it.  I don't use the word "hate" very often, but I can't help it with this one.  It absolutely pisses me off.  And after reading the author's note at the end, and finding out that this actually happened to her, it really makes me upset.  

Jasmine ends up getting her family and herself to stay in this country because of her boyfriend's Congressman dad.  Mr. Blakely has connections (even though he is a conservative who tries to stop illegal immigration from happening in his campaigning) and uses those connections to write a "private bill" that would allow Jasmine and her family to stay.  The "private bill" doesn't end up working out, but the Congressman makes a phone call in the end, and poof...problem solved.  Jasmine and her family can stay.  Not only stay, but they can get their green cards, and after three years apply for citizenship. 

Do you know how upsetting it is to know that this happens in our country?  That just because you know someone powerful, it can allow you to get "moved to the top of the VIP immigration line".  A line that people wait years and years to go through.  A line that a lot of people, after waiting those years and years of uncertainty still fail to pass in the end?  

It REALLY irked me!  

This isn't just about my situation, but hundreds upon hundreds of thousands other people's situation as well, in this country.  People who don't have a personal connection to a congressman to get through the line quicker.  And I call bullshit.

Overall Rating:

I apologize if my review was a bit rambly.  I was just so excited to read this book, only for it to fall really short in the end.  It just really pissed me off in the end.  

Politics aside, I also just found this book extremely...convenient.  I know YA books are formulaic, but this one just once again, was one of those where everything fell into place in the last chapter, and boom...problem solved.  Over 400 pages of problems, and then boom...done. 

Anyway, hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend.  I'm going to go enjoy a nice meal out with my husband and son today for our anniversary, and then probably rent a movie tonight for a nice family night <3.

The Romance Bookie :)