(S)Kin

Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors…

Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies’ constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. 

-StoryGraph

MY REVIEW

I am a sucker for verse novels. And always will be. So don’t expect me to be at all impartial here. I’ve had Zoboi on my TBR for a while, her other stuff but being able to read this one and get her on my read list was a huge personal win for me. This book is about two sisters from two different worlds. Genevieve has never known her mother, if she is alive or not, she only knows she must look more like her because there’s less resemblance between her and her white father. She’s been raised in his household with his wife, her stepmom since the beginning but she still yearns for stories and origins and yet…she’s young, and those answers may not have been what she thought.

Marisol and her Mother have left their home, and the entire Caribbean behind to come live in Brooklyn. Her mother says it’s for their own good but being a soucouyant in Brooklyn might be even harder. Marisol is conflicted that her mother uses her like a tool for her revenge, and she isn’t sure that this place was the right move. She even tries a very risky gamble against her mother that doesn’t pay off.

Eventually though Marisol’s mother finds a better situation for them, working in Genevieve’s household as a nanny/live-in babysitter to the two new twins. Her timing couldn’t be better either as Genevieve’s first night with her own powers, not realizing what she is, had possibly disastrous consequences.

I loved how in depth this was in the story and character building yet still strong with the beautiful verse format.

There’s so many emotions, so much gray and complications and I loved it all.

This is about two teens possibly becoming sisters, sisters who have never felt quite right and never quite getting what they needed from their parents either. Genevieve’s father has possibly collected her in a way, like a story or artifact that he collects from the land she’s never gotten to call home while Marisol’s mother has made her feel little more than a tool to her. The question is, will they be able to see each other or will their backgrounds keep them apart, and what are the consequences for women and people like them, that are different, powerful, maybe even monsters in a world that doesn’t believe in them.

We have some body horror, we have monsters of all shapes and sizes, family, it pretty much has everything.

5/5 cups of coffee, I adored this.