Something in Between

This book was everything.

As a Filipino American I have never read a book about my culture until this. This book proves that representation matters. I related to all the Filipino parts. I loved the use of Tagalog words and Filipino food throughout the novel. One of my favorite quotes was when Jasmine described her brother as being “louder and more dramatic than anybody else, which really means something when you come from a Filipino family” (40). That is so damn true.

Thank you so much Melissa de la Cruz for writing this book. I’ve been waiting for her to write another book about the Filipino experience and this book couldn’t have been any more timely. It perfectly encapsulates the experiences undocumented immigrants go through. show more I really felt Jasmine’s frustration.

Overall, this is a must read for young adults in today’s world and hopefully this book can inspire future leaders to make positive changes in regards to immigration. show less

I read this book in a day. My emotions were up and down with each page as I was strongly affected by a novel written about a Filipino American family. The title of the book "Something in Between" encompasses an emotional feeling for many 2nd generation Filipino Americans. We were raised in America, yet love our homeland unconditionally. We are held in high regard for our strength in English, yet a disappointment for our weakness in Tagalog and other dialects. We have American swag, yet a Filipino hue. With this novel being a rare novel that has a Filipina American as the main protaganist, this was an emotional read.

Jasmine de los Santos wasn't just a character, but also represented a young me. Yes I'm male, but the struggles and pain show more she felt in the novel resonated with the uncertainty I felt as a Filipino American teenager. I know there are more like me who can relate to this gray area feeling and although I can only speak from my limited Filipino American self, I have a feeling this is shared by many American children of first generation immigrants.

I felt every aspect of Jasmine's Filipino family and her struggles as a Filipino American teenager. In my mind, Melissa de la Cruz's writing style in this novel gives readers a snapshot of what it's like being Filipino American. Things happen quickly and it's not served on a silver platter. Filipino American lives are jumbled, constantly switching between our "Filipino" and "American" identities. It's an internal switch, undetected by most, unless you are attuned to this push and pull.

The author gives a realistic view of the general theme of immigration in America. There was an air of uncertainty throughout the book, yet their resolve to keep going and use humor as a coping mechanism kept me turning the page.

And the foundation is a love story between Jasmine and Royce, a love story on the cusp of sappiness until it's pulled back just enough for me to read on. I can see some readers growing annoyed at Jasmine's up and down feelings, but I didn't look at it this way. Jasmine was going through teenage love, and as we all can probably agree on, teenage love is an emotional ride of extreme highs and lows.

Thank you Melissa de la Cruz for writing this, to Harlequin for publishing this book. I was strongly affected by "Something In Between" and highly recommend. show less

This story about an undocumented Filipino family mirrors in some ways the experiences of the author herself, as she explains in a note at the end of the book.

The book is about the ordeals of illegal immigrants, emphasizing that while all the press coverage in the U.S. tends to be mostly about Latinos, there are also Filipinos, Burmese, Turks, and people from many other groups facing the same problems. The focus is 17-year-old Jasmine de los Santos, a successful overachiever, who just found out she won a National Scholarship Award which will cover four years of tuition to the college of her choice. But her parents break the news to her that she cannot accept the scholarship; her whole family lacks legal papers to be in the country. Her show more parents, also hard workers, have been using fake papers ever since the person they hoped to sponsor them for green cards lost his business. They had already started a new life in America and didn’t want to leave.

Adding to Jasmine’s devastation, she meets a boy she really likes for the first time, Royce Blakely. But it turns out he is the son of the congressman who is sponsoring legislation for deporting all undocumented immigrants and then denying them any path to citizenship. As Jasmine realizes, “…he’s one of those politicians who think illegal aliens are as good as criminals, and deserve punishment rather than mercy.”

Jasmine and Royce have other obstacles to their relationship, at least from Jasmine’s point of view. Royce is from a rich, privileged, and connected family - the kind that has a Filipino maid. Jasmine is definitely from the other side of the tracks, and she projects her insecurities about it onto Royce, his friends, and his family.

The novel follows her quest to adjust her concept of who she is, avoid deportation, and come to terms with her differences with Royce.

Discussion: It is great to have this issue treated so thoroughly in a story for teens, but I had several criticisms of the book.

Jasmine is 17 and later 18, and is supposedly one of the top 300 students in the country, but she acts more like 14 or 15, and not very bright at that. The level of prose in the book is, in my view, more suited to tweens than to young adults.

It also seemed overly long to me; I thought much of it was repetitive and could be pared down.

In addition, I didn’t feel that de la Cruz ever presented an adequate case for why any illegal immigrant besides the high achiever Jasmine should be granted clemency and allowed to stay in the country. Jasmine keeps arguing about how unfair her own particular case is, and how hard she and her family work, but what about all the rest of the illegal immigrants? It almost seemed as if the author was arguing exceptionalism just for this family, although I got the impression she advocated lenience on a wider basis.

Finally, Royce, a year older than Jasmine and a boy who came from a much more sophisticated background, with private schools and congressional dinners and contacts and so on, seemed barely more mature than Jasmine. I just didn’t buy it. show less

I was sent a copy of Something in Between by MB Communications in exchange for an honest review.

Something in Between is the incredibly delightful story of Jasmine and her family on their journey to become American citizens. For most of her life, Jasmine de los Santos believed she was an American citizen. But when she receives a prestigious scholarship straight from the federal government, her parents are forced to admit that no one in their family has green cards, and so she cannot accept the scholarship. Worse yet, she may not even be able to go to college at all, since they cannot apply for financial aid. Not to mention that if they are discovered, the entire family could be deported at any time.

First of all, I absolutely adored show more this story. After reading so many books with dark themes and tones, this was a breath of fresh air. Jasmine de los Santos is such a great character. She is so positive and driven, sometimes to the point of being competitive, and filled with so much love for her family. If I ever met her in real life, I know I'd probably roll my eyes at the way she gets so worked up about things or is so over-focused on school and the need to succeed. But those parts of her personality added to her character and made her perfect for the story. It was refreshing to see such a go-getter character like Jasmine in young adult. I can't remember the last time I found a character with such an unbreakable drive. Of course, Jasmine wasn't the only character that delighted me. From Royce, to Jasmine's parents, to her friends Kayla and Lo, all were wonderfully balanced. I especially found myself impressed with Jasmine's parents. In contemporary, it's very common for writers to skim over the parents' personality and thus make them background robots. As this novel is very family-focused, it was essential to have the rest of her family as vivid as Jasmine herself, which the author pulled off perfectly.

Overall, this novel is very much a romance. From the first few chapters we get a glimpse of Royce Blakely, the handsome congressman's son who keeps popping up in Jasmine's life. Jasmine, however, has always been very focused on school, and has never kissed a boy much less had a boyfriend. Still, when she begins shyly texting Royce and they strike up an awkward friendship, she can't deny how attracted she is to him. I really loved Royce, and felt he was nicely developed. A lot of time romance can gloss over the love interest, so it was nice to see him be as human as Jasmine was. As well, the relationship is not all kissing and holding hands. I loved all the ups and downs that these two have together-- from breaking up and getting back together, to fighting about family issues, and so on. It felt so real because the romance wasn't just the fairy tale lead up to how these two got together. The book showed how their relationship evolved and grew, which was really awesome to see. The only issue I took with the book--- and it's another thing I find common in romance-- is that the guy will do back flips, pull down the moon, run a mile and then go further, all to impress the girl. And the girl, often, does little to nothing in return. No huge romantic gestures or efforts made. Royce states in the book that Jasmine gives him the courage to be himself and follow his dreams, but it would have been nice to see Jasmine put a bit more effort into the relationship to make it seem more balanced.

The writing in this book is smooth and even, and with no swearing or any mature content (Jasmine and Royce don't make it past heavy kissing), I could see this very much appealing to younger audiences of young adult. Aside from the looming threat of deportation, there isn't a whole lot of tension. A lot of action takes place between every page but unless you're engaged in the characters and their day to day life, it can start to drag. That said, there is a lot of meat to the story, so those that fall in love with the characters will be delighted at all the adventures they get to enjoy.

The heart of this story comes down to Jasmine's story of immigration. It is an incredibly empathetic story and really allows readers who may be so far removed from situations like this to understand what's it's like to be an immigrant in America. I really believe this book will do a lot of good in helping young people build empathy for those in this kind of situation. Not only was the glimpse into Filipino culture delightful and enlightening, but the points the book raises on what it means to be American are especially pertinent in this day and age. I'd strongly encourage librarians to sneak this book into the hands of those looking for romance, as they will get all that and so much more.

The only issue that I had with the book comes down to how it all ends up resolved. No spoilers, but I found that the solution felt a little too simple, and like it was an option right from the beginning. There was a lot of work the characters put into achieving that end, but the way it was actually achieved-- with a single phone call-- made all that effort feel pointless. It made it feel like the book could have been half its size, if that was all it took to resolve the conflict.

All in all, 3/5 stars. A culturally delightful story that builds empathy for immigrant struggles. show less

It was hard to watch Jasmine's hard work fall by the wayside when full ride scholarship opportunity from the government brings to light some things her parents had yet to share with her. I could feel her frustration, but also felt it got a bit long and repetitious. That may have been purposeful, to mimic the long road to a green card that was echoing the school year calendar. I'm not entirely sure my middle school nieces, if they were reading this book that is recommended for grades 6 to 10 (even with all that underage drinking), would stick with this until the end. And the fact that she catches the eye of the one boy whose father is a big anti-immigration congressman, just added to the drama. The author's note really gave me pause, and show more I felt my heart go out to the author and anyone who has to go through this long and convoluted path. show less

I had high hopes for this book because it deals with a very timely political issue in America. But the novel fell flat. The only positive side to the book was the incorporation of Filipino culture. I enjoyed hearing about Jasmine's family. But the protagonist herself was incredibly annoying and immature. She acted like a 13/14 year old instead of the 17-18 year old honor student that she was supposed to be.
The wost part was the narration style. Instead of allowing the reader to feel sympathy for the sensitive issue of immigration as the story unfolds naturally, the narrator literally tells the reader how they should be feeling about the topic on multiple occasions. It was preachy and overdone. I am an adult and not a teenager, but I show more feel like even teenagers can understand the complexities and emotions behind a political piece without being told how they should feel. show less

Jasmine de los Santos has it all: Captain of cheer squad, honor student in school, leadership qualities, good friends, a loving family, a hot boyfriend. A top college and a bright future are in her sights. Until she learns she and her entire family have been undocumented immigrants for years. Everything she dreams of achieving is suddenly in doubt as they face deportation to the Philippines. This is timely reading and an enlightening view to the current political climate which seems to regard all illegal immigrants as depraved criminals. For myself, I found the story too often pat and the characters not fully dimensional or interesting, other than Lola Cherry, the randy elder with a quick mouth. Still, this is a suitable add to the show more genre of immigrant stories for young people. show less