He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand.

Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret.

The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year-that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Eva and many secondary characters are brown-skinned while Isa is light brown and some others are lighter skinned.Ī Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart. Joy’s writing is exemplary a strong plot, even pacing, and character growth (not only Eva’s) all lead up to an ending that should satisfy even the pickiest readers. Themes of parental disappointment and abuse, sibling bonds, and speciesism are strongly developed and well explored. Chapters alternate between Eva’s first-person perspective and those of Isa and a few other secondary characters (told in the third person). Though she grapples with multiple problems-and further surprises about herself-Eva chooses to focus on the grave injustices her human ancestors have visited on her khimaer people, and she creates a plan of action. New revelations, realizations, and relationships have tempered Eva’s privileged upbringing, shaking her foundations, and her growth is apparent. As Eva continues to struggle with the knowledge that to become queen she must kill Isa-or be killed herself-she also contemplates what it means that both of her parents have lied to her (in very different ways). Picking up where the last book left off, Eva’s on the run from her ruthless queen mother, with her friends, guards, and kidnapped sister and rival heir, Isa, in tow. Princess Eva returns in this follow-up to the duology that started with A River of Royal Blood (2019).

A river of royal blood by amanda joy