A review by abbie_
Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC of Bad Habit by Alana  S. Portero, translated from the Spanish by Mara Faye Lethem. I bloody loved this book, it was messy and devastating and beautiful and hopeful. It embodies the powerful bonds forged between women, and trans women in particular. Álex, the main character, recounts her life and the women who have helped shaped it. Hers is not an easy life, growing up a trans girl in a working class neighbourhood which both scorns and reveres its women. The theme of neighbourliness is not one I come across often in fiction, which I definitely think is reflective of how isolated we are now as a society. But the women who live in close proximity to Álex, both trans and cis, look out for one another, doing the best they can amid violence inflicted by men. A flawless translation, a love letter to solidarity, just gorgeous.
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