Review: What Can't Wait - Ashley Hope Perez

Today's book would have to be one of my first multi-cultural type reviews in a long time. As Iv'e reviewed many Urban Fiction / Street Lit which has the center characters as African-Americans , but it is rare for myself to come across a book where the races are not European, American or African-American. Today's book is a Mexican family set in America. The review copy was provided from Netgalley www.netgalley.com

Review: What Can't Wait - Ashley Hope Perez - March 2011

Have you ever felt like you came from a dysfunctional family, that your family didn't understand you as a person, they didn't respect you and you were the black sheep of kinds ?

For lead character Marisa , she felt just that - she has always been the one who her family relied on for financial support and well plain old pick up the slack and be the responsible one. School , Work and Home life ,however for 17yr old Marisa , things are about to get ten times harder and she will have to make a decision that could ultimately change her life and who she is.

Marisa comes from a family of Mexicans , her parents only learnt enough English to scrape them by , her sister is married with a loser husband and has a daughter and Marisa is still at school and for her , her last year in high-school is crucial as it can determine her future and where she wants to be in life.  Marisa has always had good grades and dreams of attending University and becoming an Engineer , but when things start to get tough at home -her grades start slipping and her dream floats further away. With the help of a teacher and mentor Miss Ford, can Marisa achieve her dream and what will happen when she discovers that her parents are encouraging her to fail and start piling more responsibility ontop of her ?

Is Marisa's last few months as a 17yr old high-school student the time when she finally learns to stand up for what she believes in or will the pressure of her family and their issues squash her one chance at becoming a somebody and achieving something in her life?

This is a novel that all Teens should read and it shows us that no matter what happens , whether others say that we are a failure- we can achieve whatever we put our mind to and all things are possible. A very inspiring piece of fiction from author Ashley Hope Perez and similiar to author Melina Marchetta.