I feel a little ambivalent about this book. The things I like, I really, really like: the mix of Hawaiian and Indian (Gujarati) cultures; the insight into hip-hop and how all the external expressions of strength can become inner strength (fake it 'til you become it); Rani's voice and raps; the characters around her, both positive and negative.

But the things I don't like are hard to get past. Rani's abuse and healing feels shallow, and as the author says in her note, "the fact that Rani was able to gain insight as quickly as she did is unusual. If anything in this story is unrealistic, it is that." I'm not someone who loves to read angst for angst's sake, but I wanted Rani's pain and recovery to come from a deeper place: sometimes when she rapped, I felt those things very strongly, but in her other actions, the abuse and healing seemed mere storytelling.

Rani's character in general can come across as uneven: while she's supposed to be a nerdy, ambitious student body president no boys want to date, she's also a super cool rapper with tons of guy friends. I don't disbelieve these prototypical girls can coexist in one woman, but with only a bit of characterization anchoring each facet in the text, Rani came across as Mary Sue-ish at times.

And then there's all the Gujarati and Hawaiian and hip-hop terminology. The glossary in the back is only helpful if it includes all the unknown words. If I flip to the back to define a word and can't find it listed, that seems unprofessional...or lazy. I'd rather no glossary and having to guess the definitions by context than a glossary only capable of answering my questions part of the time.

I did love Rani's world and words, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of Sonia Patel's work in future. And since this is an advanced copy, perhaps some of the more nitpicky glossary issues will be resolved by the date of publication. ( )

diverse teen fiction (Gujarati Indian/Kenyan teen living in Hawaii discovers that her friends are ALSO secretly rappers, that they have an underground Rap group that gives her an opportunity to voice her opinions about female oppression in the Gujarati culture, while she deals with her depressed mom finally kicking out her sleazy dad who sexually abused her as a girl and who now has a 20-something mistress; she and her dad are also involved in an activist group that aims to protect the water rights of native Hawaiians instead of awarding everything else to the tourist-trading outsiders)
I read until about halfway through. I was digging Rani's unique character OK (even if I personally can't fully appreciate the rap parts, anyone can see that she's badass) but her staying with 31-y.o. Mark (cool as a friend, but clearly bad for her in too many ways as a boyfriend) when she is also attracted to so many other boys her own age--a young man can't talk to her without her checking out his body--was not inconceivable, but not something I cared to read about. I didn't care to see her situation got worse until she finally figures out that Pono (who not-that-secretly likes her back) is a much healthier match for her. And there was just a lot going on with her recovering from trauma and the water rights and the rapping (for one teenager to be expected to responsibly deal with in such a short span of time). ( )

I received this book for free through Goodreads giveaways.

So one thing that I want to say before I review this is that I'm definitely not a part of all three cultures featured in this book, so it was insightful, but it made the book very hard to read. I didn't realize there was a glossary in the back, and there were some words that were not included in the glossary. So a lot of the time I had no idea what the characters were saying, which made it a bit confusing and hard to read.

The story itself packed a hard punch, though. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but Patel ties the main pats of the story together - Rani's family issues, her love of rap, and her sexual abuse. It was interesting and heartwrenching to read about and I admit I did get frustrated with her going back to Mark again and again, even when he had clearly hurt her and was going to hurt her again, but the author's note at the back cleared it up. I feel like this book made me understand a lot about sexual assault victims.

One thing I have to say about Rani's character was that her characterization seemed to jump back and forth between several different personas. She didn't feel like one person. She felt like a variety of people, reacting in almost opposite ways to the same sort of thing, which was kind of jarring.

However, all in all it was a pretty good book. I'm glad that Rani is starting to heal at the end and things are looking up for her. ( )