Capture Like Home Articulated By Louisa Onomé Disseminated As Paper Copy

When a debut novel says it's perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Elizabeth Acevedo, I listen VERY closely.
And after this sitelinkcover reveal, my excitement for this one's release is HIGH, Note: Thestar rating is reflective of the strong tween and teen appeal, While I liked it, I personally felt more meh about it as an adult probably astar, but I think this is absolutely wonderful book for that target audience and I don't want a lower rating to discourage teachers, librarians, and parents from recommending this to kids!

Nelo is resistant to change she's reluctant to accept her maturing body, is frustrated by changing friendship dynamics, and hates the gentrification going on in her neighborhood that is pricing long time residents out of their apartments.
When a brick is thrown through the window of the local corner store, Nelo's anxiety about the future of her neighborhood amplifies.


Like Home is sure to strike a chord with its target audience realistic teen dialogue and emotions will make the cast of characters relatable.
Despite being, Nelo and friends do read younger than their age which may annoy older readers, making this a better recommendation to tweens and younger teens.
The writing is compulsively readable and the story is well paced, Discussions around gentrification, economic status and mobility, and activism make this a timely read, An unnecessary romance detracts from an otherwise important story about the inevitable changes body, friendship, neighborhood that come with growing up,

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel, All opinions are, as always, my own, Alas another book where I was lured in by the beautiful cover, I have got to start learning from my mistakes, . .

I cant say there were many books that I was anticipating in, but this one was high up on ones that I was eager to read.
The cover alone evokes this dreamy, cozy atmosphere about friendships and nostalgia and growing up in this special place you call home, of hanging out at the local diner or going to the movies every weekend with your friends.
THESE were the kinds of vibes that I desperately wanted from this book, while also getting to the root of some more hardhitting topics like gentrification and protecting your community.


Unfortunately, this book really didnt live up to those expectations at all, First off, I went into this thinking it would be YA, and honestly Im still stumped as to what the age range is here, because on the one hand Im fairly certain the characters are at leastand in high school, and they do use vulgar language and talk in a way that youd expect teenagers to talk.
But in all other aspects, this read like a middle grade,

Exhibit A: the sheer number of times that the main character mentions her new bra, At the beginning of the book, its revealed that Nelo is finally ready to start wearing a bra, which causes this big moment where her best friend Kate is like, “AWWW, Nelo is GROWING UP” and teases her, which.
strikes me as incredibly childish Like, this sounds like something friends would tease each other about in sixth grade, not when theyre in high school.
And it didnt even end there, ALL throughout this book, Nelo would mention her bra at random points, which just made this book feel a lot more juvenile and like this should be written for younger audiences despite the fact that the characters also use vulgar language.
And considering that theyre high school age, you just wouldnt make that big a deal over wearing a bra, Like, you should already be wearing a bra by liketh orth grade, . .

So with that being said, I had a hard time rating this book, because Im obviously not the target audience, even by typical YA standards.
Could this be a great comingofage story for black or brown girls like Nelo and Kate Absolutely! But I also think this book suffers from not really deciding whether it wants to be a middle grade or a YA.
I think evenyear old girls would find this to be too young for them,

Aside from the age range issue, I found myself underwhelmed by the actual plot, I went in expecting a feelgood novel about friendship while also touching on important social justice issues like gentrification, And this is definitely what kickstarted the novel and at first seemed like it was going to be a central component, but then it basically got completely overshadowed by teen angst friendship drama a la group texting, social media, and viral videos, Like, I would argue that what takes up most of the space in this novel were Nelo and Kate fighting,

Which, CAN WE TALK ABOUT KATE,
Can we talk about how she literally threw a brick at her own familys business, which then ignited this movement overnight, leaving many shaken and outraged over who would do this to their community, garnering attention from media outlets, and ultimately leading to what shouldve been a peaceful protest but resulted in violence at the hands of police that left many injured or teargassed.
And this whole time, Kate just sits back, knowing full well that shes what started all of this, All because, shrug Like, I dunno, I just wanted my family move and this was the only way I knew how.
” And she doesnt even seem that remorseful over any of it,

Like, seriously Fuuuuck you, Take some damn accountability over all of the damage youve caused, the fear that youve instilled in people, Oh, but her excuse for that is basically, “Well, everyone knows that things happen like this all the time here, so I figured no one would think anything of it.
” So like, shes fully aware that her neighborhood has a reputation for high crime rate and is deeply stigmatized against, and she completely took advantage of that.
. . only further contributing to this stigma,

Again, fuuuuck you, Kate! And I cant help but bring race into this, That, as an Asian American, Kate singlehandedly framed this situation with her familys store as an instance of vandalism within a predominantly black, lowincome neighborhood, which then brought police in and elicited a riot where black and brown people got teargassed and physically put in harms way.
Everyone assumed that this was just another case of black people being “thugs” and destroying physical property, but it was Kate, who orchestrated the whole thing, who sat back and watched it all unfold, and who ultimately doesnt have to worry about having this pinned on her or having this be used by others to demonize her race.
And to have Nelo figure all of this out, . . how did she NOT take that personally! How was she just okay with this I feel like there was such a missed opportunity to educate Kate on all of this from Nelos perspective and the longterm ramifications of what she did.


I think thats ultimately where this book fell flat, There were some really important issues included in this novel:
gentrification
stigmatization of black, lowincome communities
how the media skews information to fit their own bias
what it means and does NOT mean to be a good ally

But these issues almost took a backseat to all of the friendship drama that transpired over the course of the novelAnd even then, aside from Kate and Nelo, the other people in their friend group just felt so flat.
One character, Bo is mostly just brought up in conversation, but as far as him as a person We pretty much dont get anything about him, and I think we maaaaybe get a few scenes with him, where he says maybe a few words He may as well be a cardboard cutout or a mannequin.
Thats the level of presence were dealing with here, Unfortunately, Nelos love interest suffers in the same way, Basically no personality, and I felt absolutely nothing when him and Nelo had scenes together,

All in all, I like the sentiment of this book, how it centers around home and over time as you grow up it starts looking less and less like how you remembered, whether thats through friendship groups or through other outside forces.
I just thought that the political aspects of this book had a hard time shining through against viral videos and YouTube fame and friendship drama and all of the other things that took precedence in the plot.

This book is really good!

The way Onomé writes her characters had me nostalgic for's/'s television about Disney.
Chinelo is probably going to be one of my favorite characters from this year! In Like Home, a sudden act of local vandalism suddenly changes the whole neighborhood of Ginger East, while also bringing closer four friends Chinelo, Kate, Raffa and Bo.



Chinelo, our MC, is a bold and strong lady at the cusp of adulthood, Her love for her home and neighborhood and best friend Kate was portrayed so well through the words, Having lost two of her best friends after an unexpected incident, her only best friend is Kate, And when Kate starts to pull back after the local vandalism act, Nelo finds herself lost and grappling onto old life, wishing for things to go back to the way it was.
And one way she thinks she can achieve this is to find who was behind the vandalism that ripped apart her friends life.



My favorite character has to be Raffa, Adorable and sweet, I loved Raffas innocence as well as his strength and presence of mind, Bo, on the other hand annoyed me and I really didnt feel his character, He couldve been excluded and I wouldnt have bothered, Same was with Maree too, I wish she got more time to develop her character, perhaps, but she just seemed like a prop to stir the pot.
Kate was, I guess, alright, While I was conflicted about her actions, I wish she didnt pull back and do what she did, Lastly, when it came to Chinelo, I was totally conflicted about my feelings toward her, While I liked her in the beginning of the story, she got too much of a typical teen character for me later on wants to take on every single burden upon herself, takes too much to heart, is very sensitive and emotional, will try to involve herself everywhere, pretend to be oblivious to the obvious.
I just there were certain points when I just didnt vibe with her anymore and wish she wasnt so nosy,


However, I think the relationship between these friends was very well established, We see how that single incident manages to bring the four of them closer and the transition is so smooth, so swift it just fits into the daily normal.
I liked that. To see the lively chats between them also warmed my heart and brought some colors to the gravity of the story otherwise.
Those little moments were some of the best,


Coming to the writing, I loved the way the author portrayed the lives of the characters and painted distinctions of each other.
The writing felt so

fresh and fun to read, I was flipping from one page to the other in a swift way, and I think the author made everything very much relatable.
It was seamless and beautiful, The focus was also on very important topics of gentrification, racism, the want and need for change and resistance, social justice,


The characters growth by the end of the book was, I suppose, commendable, They grow into somewhat mature beings with more trust and courage with each other and oneself, Friendship stories are one of my favorites and this really warmed my heart,


But there were also a few little things that didnt allow me to give this book a higher rating.
As I had mentioned before, Chinelos character didnt outrightly fascinate me, As a main character, I found her voice to be whiny and repetitive towards the end, her fears and dilemma surrounding the same single thought.
I wish there were multiple POVs to this, maybe from each of the four main characters, I would have loved to see the events through Kates eyes, for one, to see what drove her, what made her do what she did.
At the same time, while I did enjoy the writing, I also felt like the emotional aspect of the story was missing a lot.
I couldnt emotionally connect to Nelos desperation to save Ginger East, Kates shop and resist change, I wanted something more, I suppose, to feel,


The climax also didnt really sit well with me, Ill be honest, I did guess itinto the book, and yet I wasnt fond, I also didnt like how quickly things were resolved at the end,


The book definitely played with clichés, I wont lie, but Im ready to overlook them, But I think for a debut, this book was really good, It tried to shed light on gentrification, social activism, economic status and mobility, the power of media and the idea of change as a whole.
The book is a lot fast paced but has a fitting end, I believe, The cast of diverse characters and their distinct ideologies, perspectives and personalities made it a fun and important read, .