Dear Haiti, Love Alaine

Really liked the style of the book - it's told mostly via diary/journal entries (in the guise of it being a school project) with other things like letters/transcripts/texts throughout as well. Alaine has such a clear, fun voice and I loved how it really came through in the writing. Three stars because there was just too much plot and everything was really overstuffed - between her mother's Alzheimer's and the embezzlement at the nonprofit and the romance with the other intern and the family curse and voudou, it was just a lot, even for a 400+ page book, and I think a couple of the subplots could have been dropped or reduced to focus more on Alaine and her experience in Haiti, which was the part I was most interested in (and I think the strongest part of the book).

I love an epistolary novel, so that is already a mark in its favor.
Another mark in favor of this book is the setting and author. I am finding that I love a Caribbean setting with an own voices author. There is so much history and culture packed into these books just by the experience of the author.
So with those positives right off the bat, I had a good feeling. As I got further into the book those good feelings increased. Alaine's voice is strong and intriguing. The characters are flawed and struggling with the curve balls life is throwing at them. But they aren't giving in. They are trying to keep going through the hard times. That is the part I loved the most.Alaine, her mom, and her aunt are strong and capable women who are not perfect. That makes them compelling and really propels the story forward.
This is just such a good book!