Blog Tour: Color Me In - Natasha Diaz

Color Me In 
Natasha Diaz
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Delacorte
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Debut YA author Natasha Díaz pulls from her personal experience to inform this powerful coming-of-age novel about the meaning of friendship, the joyful beginnings of romance, and the racism and religious intolerance that can both strain a family to the breaking point and strengthen its bonds.

Who is Nevaeh Levitz?

Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought much about her biracial roots. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she relocates to her mom's family home in Harlem and is forced to confront her identity for the first time.

Nevaeh wants to get to know her extended family, but one of her cousins can't stand that Nevaeh, who inadvertently passes as white, is too privileged, pampered, and selfish to relate to the injustices they face on a daily basis as African Americans. In the midst of attempting to blend their families, Nevaeh's dad decides that she should have a belated bat mitzvah instead of a sweet sixteen, which guarantees social humiliation at her posh private school. Even with the push and pull of her two cultures, Nevaeh does what she's always done when life gets complicated: she stays silent.

It's only when Nevaeh stumbles upon a secret from her mom's past, finds herself falling in love, and sees firsthand the prejudice her family faces that she begins to realize she has a voice. And she has choices. Will she continue to let circumstances dictate her path? Or will she find power in herself and decide once and for all who and where she is meant to be?

REVIEW

I was interested in this book, because I have a biracial child. As I read this book, it prompted me to recall a few uncomfortable moments I had experienced myself. For instance, when my daughter was younger,  strangers asked me if I went to China to adopt her, and when she was older, she was mistaken for my romantic partner, but it was never assumed that she was my daughter. I can only imagine situations like these being a lot harder on a child, and I was really keen to learn about Diaz's experiences.

The demise of her parents' marriage was accompanied by an upheaval in Nevaeh's life. Following the split, she lived with her mother's estranged family, and her new circumstances forced Nevaeh to question who she was and where she belonged.

She had grown up in the suburbs and attended an upper crust prep school, where she was one of the few people of color, but because she was white-passing, she felt like an outsider when she moved to Harlem. Not only was Nevaeh biracial, but she was also pulled in two directions religiously. Her grandfather was the paster of a Baptist church, while her father was Jewish. She seemed to have one foot in several different worlds and didn't feel as though she belonged to any.

Nevaeh's struggle with all these identities were explored deftly by Diaz, and her yearning for someone to claim her as their own just broke my heart. I was pleased that her mother's family were there to support Nevaeh as she navigated this difficult path, and though she encountered a lot of disappointments and harsh realities, she grew and blossomed along the way.

This book tackled many issues such as colorism, racism, mental health, and bullying, but it was Nevaeh and her family who stole my heart.

Nevaeh's mother's family were all so well drawn and served as catalysts and guides for her personal journey. The family scenes ranged from tense to celebratory to humorous, and it was with them supporting her, that Nevaeh made such huge leaps and bounds towards figuring out her complex identity.

Overall: A beautiful and thought-provoking look at one young woman's search to understand who she was, what she believed, and where she belonged.

* ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Natasha Díaz is a born and raised New Yorker, currently residing in Brooklyn, NY with her tall husband. She spends most of her days writing with no pants on and alternating between E.R. and Grey’s Anatomy binges. Formerly a reality TV producer, Natasha is both an author and screenwriter. Her scripts have placed as a quarterfinalist in the Austin Film Festival and a finalist for both the NALIP Diverse Women in Media Fellowship and the Sundance Episodic Story Lab. Her essays can be found in The Establishment and Huffington Post. Raised by a first generation half-Liberian/half-Brazilian mother and a Jewish-American father, Natasha writes stories about people who don’t fit into the boxes society imposes, and instead, create their own as they search for their places in the world. Her first novel, Color Me In, will be published by Delacorte Press/Random House August, 20 2019.

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FOLLOW THE TOUR

Week One:

8/1/2019- Kait Plus Books- Excerpt

8/2/2019- Utopia State of Mind- Review

Week Two:

8/5/2019- Lifestyle of Me- Review

8/6/2019- Country Road Reviews- Review

8/7/2019- Mythical Books- Excerpt

8/8/2019- BookHounds YA- Review

8/9/2019- Books and Ladders- Review

Week 3:

8/12/2019- Wonder Struck- Review

8/13/2019- dwantstoread- Review

8/14/2019- My Creatively Random Life- Excerpt

8/15/2019- Confessions of a YA Reader- Excerpt

8/16/2019- Jena Brown Writes- Review

Week 4:

8/19/2019- We Live and Breathe Books- Review

8/20/2019- Eli to the nth- Excerpt

8/21/2019- A Gingerly Review- Review

8/22/2019- Novel Novice- Excerpt

8/23/2019- Owl Always Be Reading- Excerpt

Week 5:

8/26/2019- Lisa Loves Literature- Review

8/27/2019- Book-Keeping- Review

8/28/2019- PopTheButterfly Reads- Review

8/29/2019- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt

8/30/2019- Two points of interest- Review

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