Book Review: Sketchy Tacos by Meg D. Gonzalez

Hello lovely readers and followers! Today I am writing a book review for a wonderful blogger and author, Meg D. Gonzalez.  Meg was kind enough to send me a free copy of her latest book, Sketchy Tacos, for an honest review.

Summary

Sketchy Tacos is a young adult novel that centers on Mila Gulick, a teen sketch artist who takes a summer trip to Mexico in order to learn about the culture and language–and to get away from her overbearing mother. While staying with her host family, Mila makes both friends and enemies. She also gets entangled in a love triangle, and must learn to be independent as she finds her purpose.

Character Development

What I love about Mila is that she is a character I can easily relate to. Her mother demands perfection from her, which causes great stress and anxiety for Mila. Although I am the source of my own useless perfectionism, I still cringed as I dove deep into Mila’s emotions of inadequacy. Even though I am not an artist, being a writer is an art of its own, and it can bring great self-doubt. Mila definitely grows and develops in her confidence in God throughout the course of the novel.

The development of Mila’s relationships is also well done in this fast read. She has a tumultuous relationship with her host family’s daughter, as well as one of the love interests, and in these relationships we see a lot of growth for Mila. I found myself rooting for Mila and the other characters, and I was happy how the relationship developed between Mila and her mother.

Romance

The love triangle was pretty predictable, and you will easily guess which guy Mila ends up with. That being said, this predictability does not take away from the enjoyment of the story. The two guys Mila gets involved with actually have a mysterious past with each other that unfolds in a surprising way. The romance is sweet and clean enough for teens. And of course, Mila’s reactions are very relatable.

Faith

Although Mila is from a Christian home, she is just in the beginning of her faith walk with Jesus. As she explores Mexican culture and the church her host family is a part of, we get to see her faith grow as she discovers how to use her talents to glorify God. Gonzalez did a great job incorporating faith in a relatable, “non-preachy” way that anyone can appreciate.

This book also focuses on some tough issues. Mila often faces choices that could compromise her integrity and honesty. There are definitely moments that made me cringe as I wished I could talk Mila through the situations she found herself in, but these were also the moments that really drew me into the story.  

Conclusion

I really did enjoy reading Sketchy Tacos. It was a fast read, with relatable characters and good development. The pacing was a little slow in the beginning, but it really picked up toward the second half of the book. Although there were some predictable moments in Mila’s romantic relationships, they were well-developed and joyful to read. I also learned a lot about Mexican culture, which is something I am not very familiar with.

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, and I hope you all give it a read as well!

You can find a copy of Sketchy Tacos here.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below 🙂

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