Welcome to my stop of the @TBRBeyondTours Everything Within and In Between Blog Tour. I’m here to spotlight Everything Within and In Between on my blog and share a few of my thoughts with my fellow bookworms.

“Everything Within and In Between genuinely takes a close look at racial microaggressions as well as cultural identity and how it shapes Ri’s relationships with her friends, family, and herself. Hopeful, heartfelt, and honest Barthelmess’ novel is an intriguing coming-of-age story.”

Sheaf & Ink

Everything Within and In Between Blog Tour & Mini Book Review

As a biracial teen, Ri struggles with her Mexican culture.

She wants to speak Spanish.

Ri wants to interact and be part of her community.

Her grandmother is what’s keeping her from obtaining it. Ri’s grandmother quickly assimilates to the American way, as though shedding her past like an unwanted coat. But for Ri, her Mexican culture is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, she wants to reclaim that part of herself.

Whenever authors write about social themes I’m always eager to read more. In this novel, we see how society perceives biracial characters in two separate worlds, one world saying you’re not being [Insert first culture] enough or you’re not being [insert second culture] enough. How the author shows characters being barraged with these microaggressions, like shrapnel after an explosion, can have devastating consequences. And over the course of the novel, we as readers experience the inner struggle of two cultures, two halves for one whole (Ri), like DNA, only to see certain characteristics of one half invalidating the other.

Where society views one side more valid than the other.

This is where Barthelmess’ novel excels in dismantling racial degradation piece by piece. Beginning the needed conversations Ri needs to have with her friends, family along with herself, will have a profound message for all teen readers.

Happy Reading ̴ Cece

RATING: – Satisfyingly Inked

Find my full review here >>

Content Warnings: Drug use (cocaine), underage drinking, alcoholism, and microaggression.

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Everything Within and In Between Blog Tour

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter meets Color Me In in Everything Within and In Between where Ri Fernández struggles to reclaim a heritage and a mother from her strict grandmother who has kept Ri away from both.

For Ri Fernández’s entire life, she’s been told, “We live in America and we speak English.” Raised by her strict Mexican grandma, Ri has never been allowed to learn Spanish. What’s more, her grandma has always pushed Ri away from the neighborhood they call home and toward her best friend’s world of mansions and country clubs in the hopes that it’ll bring Ri closer to achieving the “American Dream.”

In her most private thoughts, Ri has always believed that her mother, who disappeared when she was young, would accept her exactly how she is. So when Ri finds a secret unanswered letter from her mom begging for a visit, Ri decides to reclaim what her grandma kept from her: a language and a mother. But nothing goes as planned. Her mom isn’t who Ri imagined she would be. And Ri’s struggling to navigate the different interweaving threads of her mixed heritage that make her who she is. Nobody has any idea of who Ri really is—not even Ri, herself.

Everything Within and In Between is a new deeply honest story about the bonds between families and defining who you are for yourself from acclaimed author Nikki Barthelmess.

Publication Details

Title Everything Within and In Between
Author Nikki Barthelmess
Pages 336 Pages
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre & Keywords Contemporary
Part of a Series? No
Source & Format NetGalley, Digital Copy

Publication Date October 5, 2021 by Harper Teen

Find it on Goodreads ● Amazon ● Barnes & Noble ● Book Depository ● IndieBound● Indigo

Author Details

Nikki Barthelmess is an author of young adult books, including The Quiet You Carry, Quiet No More, and Everything Within and In Between. While growing up in foster care, Nikki found solace in books and writing. A former journalist, Nikki lives in sunny Santa Barbara with her husband, daughter, and a diva of a corgi. When not reading or working on her books, Nikki loves advocating for the rights of current and former foster youth, jogging near the beach, and trying to convince her abuelita that feminism means it’s okay that her husband does all the cooking.

Find Nikki on Website ● Goodreads ● Instagram ● Twitter 

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Need More Book Recommendations?

Sheaf & Ink has reviewed a number of Young Adult novels in contemporary fiction. Read Everything Within and In Between, Clap When You Land, and Furia book reviews to find your next favorite read.

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