Something Inbetween
Written by Melissa de la Cruz
Narrated by Cassie Simone
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
‘This is an important, powerful contemporary YA that you won’t regret reading’
- Buzzfeed
Jasmine de los Santos has been pushed by her immigrant parents to over-achieve and be the best she can be. She’s thrilled to be named a finalist for a big college scholarship. But when she brings home the paperwork, she learns that she and all her family are in the country illegally.
As Jasmine’s world shatters around her, she rebels, trying to make sense of herself—who is she? Is she American? Illegal? Something in between? Jasmine decides to accept the award anyway and goes to D.C., where she meets Royce Blakely, the handsome son of a Republican congressman. As she fights for her very identity, will Jasmine find help in unexpected places, and will she ever figure out where she belongs?
Melissa de la Cruz
Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Publishers Weekly internationally bestselling author of many critically acclaimed novels, including The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel and the Summer on East End series. Her Blue Bloods series has sold over three million copies. She is also the author of The Never After series, which includes The Thirteenth Fairy, and The Stolen Slippers. Melissa grew up in Manila and now lives in Hollywood, USA.
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Surviving High School: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Something Inbetween
47 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This 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. 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.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Truly a disappointment and not a good immigration story at all. Considering that this book was written by someone who got published countless of times, this book reads like a disappointing debut. Draggy and unnecessary.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Also have a print excerpt (ARC) of this title.This is an excellent and thought provoking book about a political thing that should not be political. Many things that our politicians use for their campaigns are far too complex for easy solutions and deserve real thought and solutions.Jasmine is caught in this nightmare as well as her family and all who care for her including the Congressman's son.Ms.de la Cruz knows first hand about the difficulties of people who truly want the American dream and become victims of the current system.If you have ever heard anything about immigration, you owe it to yourself to read this. It's not just criminals, drug dealers, etc., that are caught in this web. Chances are you know people in your own life whom are caught in it, live in fear and are victims to those willing to take advantage of them.Highly recommended.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Great if you want to be beat over the head with the author's immigration policy agenda.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I 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 feel like even teenagers can understand the complexities and emotions behind a political piece without being told how they should feel.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jasmine de los Santos has it all: Captain of cheer squad, top 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 d for years. Everything she dreams of achieving is suddenly in doubt as they face deportation back 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 genre of immigrant stories for young people.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Something In Between is such an important read. Melissa de la Cruz brings to light the struggles of undocumented families and informs her readers on the subject; likewise, she still tells a great love story. I can't recommend this enough!
Our main character, Jasmine, has worked hard her whole life. She hopes to get into a top college. However, her parents tell her that their family is undocumented, and all her hopes seem to shatter. How can she get a scholarship to go Stanford if she isn't documented? There's also the threat of her family being forced out of the US. Jasmine still fights for her dreams though, and the book follows her journey.
Meanwhile, there is also a cute romance unfolding between Jasmine and a senator's son. The senator, however, takes a big stance against undocumented families. That, and other things, make the relationship a tough one. Along with the main ship, I also enjoyed seeing Jasmine interact with her friends and family.
I strongly recommend reading the author's bit at the end of Something In Between. She describes what inspired her to write the novel, and tells how her history corresponds with Jasmine's in some ways.
Overall, I am very glad I read Something In Between. Melissa de la Cruz has opened my eyes to the fears and struggles of undocumented families... who just want to feel safe in their home, the USA.
4/5 Stars
*I received a free arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review* - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5You know how sometimes I have problems with parents in teen books? Well, this was no exception. They are written playing the immigrant role to the hilt, pressuring and encouraging their kids to excel to get ahead, all the while knowing the family 'secret'. 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 'up' to a teen novel, 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 I felt my heart go out to the author and anyone who has to go through this long and convoluted path.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This 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. 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.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This 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 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.