My Mother Cursed My Name

My Mother Cursed My Name
Author: Anamely Salgado Reyes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2024-07-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1668038005

Three generations of fiercely strong and stubborn Mexican American women face grief head-on as they attempt to shed generational trauma and discover the true meaning of home in this lyrical novel that features magical realism in the tradition of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and The House of the Spirits. For generations, the Olivares women have sought to control their daughters’ destinies, starting with their names. In life, Olvido constantly clashed with her carefree daughter. Then teenage Angustias discovered she was pregnant and left her mother’s home in search of her own. Ten years later, Felicitas finally meets her estranged grandmother and is terribly disappointed when Olvido is nothing like a grandmother should be. She is strict, cold, and…dead. Now, Olvido is convinced the only way her spirit will cross over is if she resolves her unfinished business—to make sure Angustias is in a better place regarding family, job, husband, and God, but maybe not in that order—and Felicitas is the only person who can see or hear her. Heartbroken about her mother’s passing and desperate to put Olvido’s tiny Texas home in her rearview mirror as quickly as possible, Angustias doesn’t understand why suddenly everyone in town seems to be conspiring to set her up with every eligible bachelor in town, offer her jobs, and invite her and Felicitas to church every Sunday. As Olvido attempts to puppeteer her granddaughter to “fix” Angustias’s life from beyond the grave, Angustias tries desperately to find a better place for Felicitas, and Felicitas struggles to keep her ability to see the dead a secret from Angustias, all three Olivares girls are forced to learn how to actually listen to one another, to work to overcome generations’ worth of well-intentioned mistakes and learn the true definition of home.

Cursed

Cursed
Author: Karol Ruth Silverstein
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2019-06-25
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1632897997

Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award! A debut novel for fans of The Fault in Our Stars that thoughtfully and humorously depicts teen Ricky Bloom's struggles with a recent chronic illness diagnosis. "Silverstein sheds a powerful light on disease and how managing it can bring out one’s inner warrior. A blistering coming-of-age tale that will propel readers into Ricky’s corner." -Booklist As if her parents' divorce and sister's departure for college weren't bad enough, fourteen-year-old Ricky Bloom has just been diagnosed with a life-changing chronic illness. Her days consist of cursing everyone out, skipping school--which has become a nightmare--daydreaming about her crush, Julio, and trying to keep her parents from realizing just how bad things are. But she can't keep her ruse up forever. Ricky's afraid, angry, alone, and one suspension away from repeating ninth grade when she realizes: she can't be held back. She'll do whatever it takes to move forward--even if it means changing the person she's become. Lured out of her funk by a quirky classmate, Oliver, who's been there too, Ricky's porcupine exterior begins to shed some spines. Maybe asking for help isn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe accepting circumstances doesn't mean giving up.