After Julia’s older sister Olga dies, Julia is left to replace her as the “perfect daughter” who never talks back, never goes out too late, and stays close to home for college. Julia is not prepared to fill this role, and she doesn’t even want to. This results in an even more strained relationship with her mother as her mom comes to terms with the fact that “the perfect daughter” was Olga’s role. When Julia gets curious about Olga’s secrets before she died, Julia goes down a rabbit hole of snooping to prove that maybe Olga wasn’t as perfect as she seemed. Along the way, Julia will meet a boy, fight with her mom, and struggle to hold her head up.
I love this book-there were many different layers to it and topics discussed because of how the timeline went for almost over a year. There was a brief romance where Julia was able to discover more about herself with the help of her boyfriend, Connor. I love how Julia’s Mexican heritage was a big focus for the book. The inclusion of culture made Julia’s story richer. I also love the way the author approached mental health; she showed that getting help when you need it does in fact work. Julia’s relationship with her mother was heartbreaking, but the author was successful at making me empathize with both characters and see the complexities of both of them. Overall, this was a deeply impactful read that had me emotionally attached to the characters in only 350 pages.
By Serena
