Review: The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera

The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera 
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: February 21st, 2017
Purchase: Amazon

Pretty in Pink comes to the South Bronx in this bold and romantic coming-of-age novel about dysfunctional families, good and bad choices, and finding the courage to question everything you ever thought you wanted—from debut author Lilliam Rivera.


THINGS/PEOPLE MARGOT HATES:

Mami, for destroying my social life
Papi, for allowing Junior to become a Neanderthal
Junior, for becoming a Neanderthal
This supermarket
Everyone else

After “borrowing” her father's credit card to finance a more stylish wardrobe, Margot
Sanchez suddenly finds herself grounded. And by grounded, she means working as an indentured servant in her family’s struggling grocery store to pay off her debts.

With each order of deli meat she slices, Margot can feel her carefully cultivated prep school reputation slipping through her fingers, and she’s willing to do anything to get out of this punishment. Lie, cheat, and maybe even steal…

Margot’s invitation to the ultimate beach party is within reach and she has no intention of letting her family’s drama or Moises—the admittedly good looking but outspoken boy from the neighborhood—keep her from her goal.

My Thoughts:
If you know me or read my reviews you know I am not a contemp fan for the most part, but when The Education of Margot Sanchez came my way I thought it sounded good and I thought why not.  Well there were things I liked, but unfortunately this story just fell flat with me.

Side note:I'm going to write this review a tad different.  For awhile I am going to go with lists!  I'm changing things up since I feel the blogger blues approaching again and I am hoping this helps...

Things I liked:
-I enjoyed reading about diverse characters.  I haven't read many books that have diversity so I knew when this one came up I should definitely pick it up.  I will fully admit that I am not knowledgeable about other cultures or races except for the bare basics so I can't really say if these characters were portrayed right or not.  All I can say is that I enjoyed reading a story from a different point of view than the norm.

-I liked that this story wasn't just about Margot finding herself.  Yes, that's a big part, but the bigger part is her family and I liked the darker tones of the story.

-I didn't figure out the twist until way later in the story and I loved that. Call me stupid, but things didn't click and it was a nice change of pace.  I wasn't even looking in that direction so I have to give the author props for concealing that little story line.

Things I didn't like:
-This is pitched as Pretty in Pink, but I didn't get that comparison at all.  Yes, there's a divide between rich and poor, but that's as far as the likeness to the movie goes. 

-Margot!  I kept waiting for her to redeem herself at the end and she kind of does, but I wanted more from that ending than what was given. 

-The story was incredibly slow until the ending where everything blew up.  I would have liked to have seen more from the fall out and future of the characters.

-The sex scene wasn't done right at all in my opinion.  I didn't want more from the actual scene, but it would have been nice to see Margot feel some type of emotion towards what happened.  It was all over rather quickly and after the chapter ended nothing is brought up about the aftermath.  It just felt incomplete.

So those are my likes and dislikes.  I keep sitting her trying to think of more, but nothing is coming to mind and I think it's because this book didn't leave a lasting impression on me.  I wish it had because I think it had potential, but that's the way it is.  I am still giving this book 3 stars because the author did manage to surprise me, the writing was pretty good, and well I did kind of like it.

3 snowflakes