Both Sides of the Border is a contemporary, realistic fiction novel that gives readers an immersive picture of life in coastal Texas (hurricanes and all) while also showing readers the difficult life of illegal immigrants making the hard trek through Mexico toward the Texas border.

08/17/2022 Note: I apologize for the unconventional nature of my review. Looking back, I wish I'd phrased some things differently and not written this review so informally. However, my criticism still stands, and I will leave this review here just in case it proves useful.

Characters: The two main characters are Eva and Dolores (the two girls pictured on the front cover). Eva is actually a new college professor and I think she was married and then got divorced, too? (All before the book starts.) I mention that because I was really under the impression that she was pretty young, somewhere between seventeen years old to around twenty-five years old. And I don’t really know how old Dolores is.

Eva as a character was actually one of the biggest problems I have with the story (she’s not always bad but sometimes she’s…interesting…) She literally has a doctorate’s degree and she still thinks and talks like the teenage girl I thought she was at first. Maybe it’s totally just me but I felt like she also had a bit of an I-know-everything attitude, except in truth, she didn’t even know what a cartel was. Or that Mexico can be very dangerous. She doesn’t even know to be wary of strangers. Good thing she met Steven, huh? Or maybe not…

And that brings me to the second major problem I had with the characters. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WITH STEVEN?!?! He was so nice! And handsome! And smart! And helpful! And genuine! And then BOOM! Just out of absolutely nowhere, he’s actually a you-know-what (two words long, first word starts with a b, second word starts with a g, ignore this if you don’t want the book spoiled)?!?!?!?! Writers out there, please, please, please don’t ever trade a good plot and ending for that “surprise” element! Surprises don’t matter if the story isn’t satisfying and/or doesn’t make sense at all (e.g. the ending to GoT)! Anywayyy…I thought Dolores was pretty sweet and in general I liked her POV better than Eva’s.

Violence: 13 Moderately graphic. This probably doesn’t include all the graphic content but most of the graphic stuff is describing things that actually do happen in some of the shadier parts of Mexico. There’s some gang violence, some talk of rape/prostitution, and some of the characters witness multiple people falling off of trains or being crushed underneath them. As far my knowledge extends, what is described is true to fact and does actually happen in parts of Mexico. I do think that the author could’ve written those parts of the story better, though, because the violence would always come and go very suddenly. The characters would have a huge reaction to it and then like two seconds later, they’re totally fine and never think about what happened ever again. This isn’t realistic at all(!!!) and made the story feel choppy.

Romance: Hmm…not much romance in this one. Eva had a bit of a three-second crush on her tour guide in Mexico and then kinda-sorta dated Steven for most of the rest of the story.

Spirituality: Dolores prayed a lot throughout and she set a really good example doing that...A priest helped Dolores and her brothers while they were journeying to America…And during the hurricane that swept through Texas, Eva ended up getting swept to a church and found the verses written on the walls of the building comforting before she received help from the people there.

Writing: Terry Overton has a great grasp on English language and grammar but there is room for improvement for her as a storyteller and writer of fiction. Just based on Both Sides of the Border, one can tell that she has good potential and is driven to get her ideas out to the world. Her writing addresses important issues and is filled with in-depth research. At times, this book did read more like a textbook than a novel, though, and quite a bit of the story felt sluggish. The plot sometimes moved way too fast in places it shouldn’t have (e.g. what in the world happened with Ernesto and Emilio laughing and clapping when that young dude fell off the train and got his legs cut off?!?! And then they just forgot about something that graphic so soon and sat back to “enjoy the ride” or whatever?!) and moved wayyy too slowly in other places (I could swear 85% of Eva’s POV was her eating food and staring all lovey-dovey at Steven! And the other 15% consisted of her mom saying the same two things over and over and over (and over) again!)

And really, all of that would have been more worthwhile if the characters actually learned more and changed more than they actually did…Both of the main characters did embark on their own big journeys, didn’t they? And journeys are meant to get people somewhere, not just physically but mentally and spiritually as well! Without a clear arc with any of those characters, the story fell a bit flat and made the characters’ journeys less rewarding.

The idea for Both Sides of the Border was a great one and I was actually really, really looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, it ended up disappointing. I’m not saying no one will ever enjoy reading it because there were certainly some enjoyable aspects to the story, but it just didn’t live up to expectations. However, if I had the choice to undo me reading the book (what a cool power that would be! :D), I would actually choose not to because I did learn new things from it.

I was given a copy of this book by the author. Please note that all opinions expressed are completely my own and I was not required to provide a positive review. ( )

Both Sides of the Border examines the lives of three children fleeing Honduras for the United States, along with a woman from the United States who relocates to Texas along the Mexican border. With the jumps from the stories about Dolores and her brother Ernesto and Emilio from Honduras along with Eva from the United States, I found the transitions well done.

I appreciated the struggles the three young people faced with faith kept me reading. Upon her arrival in southern Texas to teach at a university, Eva immediately sets out on an excursion south of the border. With train rides, cartels, and other dangers, the three young people also encountered kind people who willingly helped them.

Adding In a hurricane towards the end of the book adds suspense to the novel. I respected the way the author presented this work of fiction. So if you enjoy reading stories about people trying to make it into the United States that include the point of view of United States citizens as well, check out this book for yourself. I definitely recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book, but this in no way influenced my review. All opinions are my own ( )

The author gives us a chance to walk beside people who are desperate to find freedom in The United States. We follow Dolores and her two brothers as they travel from Honduras to the border of Texas. I was captivated by the journey they took. This subject is on the news a lot but I don’t think I have thought much about it til now. It is controversial for some but I appreciate how the author focused on what it is like for those wanting a better life. We see the danger they face as the cartel are everywhere. I held my breath as men kidnapped people and lead them away to the unknown.

Eva moving to Brownsville was not my favorite part of the story. I knew somehow the author would put her in the path of Dolores and her brothers. I thought it was strange that Eva took to Steven so fast and went off to explore Mexico with him away from the tour group she was with. It bothered me that her mom continuously called her and warned her about the hurricane and the dangers of living so close to the border. I understand that the author was showing us two sides of the border but I wasn’t able to connect with Eva at all.

The author does do a good job of describing the sights that can be found in Mexico and the authentic food. Although the book does try to compare two different points of view about the border, the most captivating for me was Dolores and her brothers. Their journey was realistic and I liked how fearless they were. The ending fell flat because it is not true to what is going on right now. It does show hope for the future but there is much work to be done before that reality happens.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion. ( )