~~Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!~~

This book started off good, but, by the end, I was just - let down and confused.

I've read a lot of good YA in-verse books, and I'd consider Zoboi's verse writing to be near up there in goodness. I haven't yet read her prose books (Though I literally do have American Street in my library pile as I'm writing this. I hope to start it soon), so I don't compare this to her other work. But there are plenty of lines throughout this book where they hit hard, and they get quite lyrical, too. It perfectly balances beautiful writing with the teen protagonists having teen voices. The fact Zoboi struck this so well deserves so much applause. Another element I loved was the tenseness and liveliness the verse got when the girls were transforming. The descriptions, the metaphors becoming literal, the imagery - I just loved it so much.

The main characters are interesting while having a distinguished voice from each other. It helps that Gen's lines were on the left while Marisol's were on the right. It visually showed how opposing they were, especially when POVs got switched back-and-forth during their conversations. Plus, both girls make great foils to each other, of how they want to have the skin the other has. Marisol thinks lighter skin would make her beautiful, and Gen wants to be darker in order to feel more Black / connected to her maternal side's culture. If this concept had lived out to its full potential, I would have liked this so much more. But the ending was such a let down.

MASSIVE ENDING SPOILERS:

Okay, so Gen finally has her big first soucouyant shed, which in turn makes Marisol shed as the same time. They have to prep each other because mom disappeared somewhere (Never explained), but she did manage to show up and send their fiery, consuming selves onto Genevieve's dad and step-mom. When they return, Marisol steals Genevieve's skin, and Genevieve has no choice but to take Marisol's. It's all very messed up, but Marisol promises they can change back the next new moon in a month. Okay, cool, let's see how the girls handle getting what they want, right?

NOPE! It just ends there.

And Mom pulls this on them, too:



SHE JUST DIES! There was no buildup to this, or, at least, not any I picked up on. The girls just accept this while in their wrong bodies, still. This baffled me.

So, Marisol is still undocumented. Genevieve's parents are going to come home to find their hired nanny (or former lover, in Genevieve's dad's case) gone, and they will have no reason to keep housing Marisol other than out of the kindness of their hearts. And they won't have any.

There's so many complications here, because step-mom (supposedly) doesn't know about Marisol, Genevieve, or mom being soucouyants, and dad won't know, or likely won't believe, that his daughter swapped bodies with her half-sister. There's a high chance Genevieve in Marisol's body is going to be sent back to the Caribbean, because, from what was said/explored about the dad, I doubt he would be willing to take in his ex's other kid. The girls would still be able to switch back come the next new moon, but they'd still be physically separated by hundreds of miles! All because mom would rather die on them than live with the consequences of her shitty parenting.

Sorry for the long rant. I just really hate this ending and wished the book went on a little longer. The girls needed to explore each other's lives in order to learn to love their own! You can't just ended it at the body-swap and the mom dying without any proper closure for either girl! This just frustrated me so much, and I needed to let it all out.

All in all, despite the gorgeous writing and the (building) of our main characters, the ending ruins so much of that, leaving me in a limbo state of doubt whether or not if I should properly recommend it. I'll hesitantly say yes, for now. But with caution, just in case.

4.5 Stars