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Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:I'm Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter meets Emergency Contact in this stunning story of first love, familial expectations, the power of food, and finding where you belong. Penelope Prado has always dreamed of opening her own pasteler�a next to her father's restaurant, Nacho's Tacos. But her mom and dad have different plans�leaving Pen to choose between disappointing her traditional Mexican American parents or following her own path. When she confesses a secret she's been keeping, her world is sent into a tailspin. But then she meets a cute new hire at Nacho's who sees through her hard exterior and asks the questions she's been too afraid to ask herself. Xander Amaro has been searching for home since he was a little boy. For him, a job at Nacho's is an opportunity for just that�a chance at a normal life, to settle in at his abuelo's, and to find the father who left him behind. But when both the restaurant and Xander's immigrant status are threatened, he will do whatever it takes to protect his newfound family and himself. Together, Pen and Xander must navigate first love and discovering where they belong in order to save the place they all call home. This stunning and poignant novel from debut author Laekan Zea Kemp explores identity, found families and the power of food, all nestled within a courageous and intensely loyal Chicanx community.… (more)
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This is a Young Adult story but does deal with our main characters being a little older
I would not say this is a romance though. The romance does not even come into play into almost 40% into the story.
I liked some aspects of this story, but just did not love the direction this one took. I found myself drifting and skimming through parts. It just lost my interest.
While I would have liked to see the mental health aspect of this story explored a little further, the scenes that do show Pen struggling were really well done, you could very much feel her overwhelmed emotions.
Pranks aren’t really my thing but otherwise I enjoyed the restaurant, how the employees were like a mildly dysfunctional family and the author fantastically conveys Pen’s passion for cooking, baking, and taking charge.
The sense of community in this book ended up being one of my favorite things about it, whether in the restaurant, the neighborhood, or Pen’s apartment building, I loved the warm feeling of people coming together for one another. But as much as things do have a way of working out in this story at the same time I appreciated how grounded in reality it also managed to be, whether vividly depicting Xavier’s fears/anxiety surrounding his immigration status or Pen having to take a job she hates in order to just barely scrape by on her own or showing something as simple and true as her youngest siblings reactions to her moving out, it made for a life-like reading experience.
Also, the author accomplished her goal and I was craving Mexican food the whole time I was reading it.