Ismée Williams

Told in two voices, ballet dancer and private school student Isabelle Warren and poet and baseball star Alex Rosario grow closer after meeting on a subway, bonding over their parents' expectations and their own dreams.

This Train Is Being Held

“A nuanced and tenderly pitched story.” –Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author “Ismée Williams has created an engaging urban romance that tackles difficult subjects such as mental health and racism, while celebrating poetry, dance, baseball, and the complexities of Latino families.” –Margarita Engle, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Surrender Tree Alex is a baseball player. A great one. His papi is pushing him to go pro, but Alex maybe wants to be a poet. Not that Papi would understand or allow that. Isa is a dancer. She'd love to go pro, if only her Havana-born mom weren't dead set against it...just like she's dead set against her daughter falling for a Latino. And Isa's privileged private-school life—with her dad losing his job and her older brother struggling with mental illness—is falling apart. Not that she'd ever tell that to Alex. Fate—and the New York City subway—bring Alex and Isa together. Is it enough to keep them together when they need each other most?

Vicky (A City Girl's Thoughts)

I'm on a DNF roll! *sarcastic voice* I was listening to this on Spotify but they took it down; I don't know why 🤷🏽‍♀️ Oh well, the story is good but I really do have a hard time listening to audiobooks 🤦🏽‍♀️

Preye

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Full review: Literary, Darling!

The author sidestepped many of the issues that she could have easily hammered into, but, on second thought, I will always prefer vague references to a contentious issue to an author shooting out half-baked uninformed “facts.”

Sofie

Goodreads, pleaseeeee let us give partial stars!! 

This is a solid 3.5 read. 

I did not like this book at first. The characters felt really young (and they were - grade 10), but since the novel takes place over a few years, I found the inner dialogue start to change the more I read, which is great. 

Story wise, I loved this book. Isa and Alex had palpable chemistry from their first encounter, but I appreciated that Williams didn't write an insta-love situation. It's months later by the time the main relationship gets going, and it's a refreshing change of pace for a YA novel.

I also loved Alex and Isa as characters. I understood them, I never felt like anything that happened in the book, particularly in regards to them as a couple, was far-fetched. Sure, the obvious lack of communication ends up being the main conflict, but considering the characters are about 16/17, it felt believable. At that age, things like family and relationship drama can feel like the end of the world.

I also love Williams' focus on (view spoiler)[ Alex's writing. His sensitivity. His brotherly love.  (hide spoiler)] YA also tends to have a lot of alpha male MCs, so Alex was a refreshing change. I loved reading his POV. Honestly, I LOVE when authors do a split POV!

And I enjoyed the main setting of the novel - the story takes place over the course of 2ish years, with majority of the integral chapters taking place on a subway car. It's where Isa and Alex meet. And meet again. And have their first kiss. Their first make up. The big conflict. 

Most importantly, I loved how the novel tackled issues of race, of colorism, of mental health. I could feel the authenticity of it all as I read. My blood boiled with Alex. My mind raced with Merrit. My heart pounded with Isa. The way our MCs move throughout the world is so different from my own experience. 

My main issues came from the general writing style. Nearly every sentence started with a pronoun, and it came across pretty stilted at times. For example:

 
I stay where I am, next to the fountain that’s been drained for the season. I want to follow her. But I know I can’t. She’s like a bird, swooping with joy and life. I want to write about it. I take out my phone and snap a pic.


and


I’m on set three of four. The door opens. Robi comes down and sits on the steps. He was at the dining table, cutting hearts out of red construction paper when I came. In elementary school, I had to bring valentines for the class too. Only, I got mine from a box. I was going to tell Robi how cool it was he was making them. How his friends and teachers were going to be impressed. Papi closed a hand on my shoulder, steered me toward the basement before I could. He yelled out to Yaritza, asked why his son was playing with paper hearts when he could be watching his papi’s old games.


Those are just 2 of the many paragraphs I noticed when reading. It feels like an intentional writing choice, given how pervasive it is throughout the while novel, but it just wasn't my thing.

I was an interesting choice, however, since Alex's love of poetry was such an important point in the book. You'd think a book with such a poetic character would be a little more... poetic to read.

Like I said, I wish I could give fractional stars because 3 feels too low but I can't justify a 4 star rating.

Gabriel Noel 

ARC given by NetGalley for Honest Review

[2.5 Stars]
"This Train Is Being Held" has a lot going on in it's story. Between ballet vs. baseball, mental illness, gang violence, racism, and teen romance I wasn't sure what the heck was going on half the time. Isa and Alex are likeable enough characters and have some cute moments but they lack any real spark of your typical YA first love romance that we all love so much. The look into harder issues like racism and mental illness were commendable and it's good to read about it candidly and not sugar coated.

As someone who is bilingual (French though so maybe I'm not the exact audience) I found the spanish mix-ins endearing but not believable. From personal experience (which is personal so feel free to disregard) this isn't accurate for speakers of more than two languages.

I think if this story had focused on one or two issues the story could have been more well rounded. I was excited about Isa's story in the first half of the book but my focus got muddied by many different plot points popping up throughout. I'd still recommend this to teens looking for an "own voices" romance or someone looking for a sports story that's a little off the beaten path.

Tânia Borges

I am in awe of this book. Such a beautiful, raw and devastating love story with an amazing set of complex characters and difficult themes. I am amazed, beyond words. Wow. Straight to my favorites, no questions asked.

Ilse

Purely contemporary romance YA is really not my thing, but I unexpectedly fell in love with this book! Alex and Isabelle were a couple I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. Although each dealing with their own struggles, they find reassurance in each other in the sweetest way. Reading about how they slowly grow close to each other was a real pleasure. The book started a little slow, but a good slow burn is always nice, and the last 50 or so pages were jam packed with action. It made the whole buildup more than worth it! Definitely a recommendation for anyone that found themselves intrigued at the premise

Jessica Franklin

This story follows Isabelle Warren, who attends a private school and wants to become a professional dancer against her mother's wishes. Alex Rosario, a Dominican-American public school student, is known for his baseball skills even though he wants to follow his writing poetry dream. They first meet on a subway, and through chance meetings, their relationship grows. Alex battles feeling unworthy in Isabelle's eyes due to his background, while Isabelle is hiding her family secrets of mental illness. In the span of three years, you see Isabelle and Alex grow and mature while also figuring out their feelings toward each other. 
I enjoyed this book, and it was a quick read. I felt like Williams did a great job at character building, and I was rooting for Isabelle and Alex throughout the book. Fans of Sarah Dessen will find themselves falling in love with this book and its characters.

Ria Potter

I tried by I just wasn't connected to the characters at all. I may try again. Dnf for now. 2.5 ⭐

Kate

A truly delightful and surprising read.

The romance was EVERYTHING. It was tender and warm and raw and everything you could possibly want in a YA romance. It was somehow both an 'instalove' story and a slow burn romance and I loved it so, so much. I was 100% all in and onboard with it from the get go and coming from someone who pretty much never gets on with 'instalove' style romances, that's saying a lot.

The plot itself was gently paced and I was hooked from the first page until the last. It was intense and heartbreaking but wonderfully explored parental pressures, mental illness, Latinx culture, prejudice and balancing your professional aspirations with relationships. 

Ismée Amiel Williams' writing style was comfortable to read whilst packing a major punch. The vulnerability she managed to portray in both Alex and Isabelle was superb. I absolutely loved the narrative surrounding the trains and the inclusion of Isa's passion for ballet and Alex's love for poetry were such brilliant additions to the plot and their characters. I adored the cast of characters and enjoyed both Alex and Isabelle's POV's equally, which I've found to be a rarity in books with dual perspective. 

Overall, this was a tender yet heart wrenching read and one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

The audiobook narrators were also a 10/10! 

TW: racism, police brutality

This Train Is Being Held

Reviews