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Summary
Summary
A heart-expanding novel about four Latinx teens who make New Year's resolutions for one another--and the whirlwind of a year that follows. Fans of Erika L. Sánchez and Emery Lord will fall for this story of friendship, identity, and the struggle of finding yourself when all you want is to start over.
From hiking trips to four-person birthday parties to never-ending group texts, Jess, Lee, Ryan, and Nora have always been inseparable. But now with senior year on the horizon, they've been growing apart. And so, as always, Jess makes a plan.
Reinstating their usual tradition of making resolutions together on New Year's Eve, Jess adds a new twist: instead of making their own resolutions, the four friends assign them to one another--dares like kiss someone you know is wrong for you, find your calling outside your mom's Puerto Rican restaurant, finally learn Spanish, and say yes to everything.
But as the year unfolds, Jess, Lee, Ryan, and Nora each test the bonds that hold them together. And amid first loves, heartbreaks, and life-changing decisions, beginning again is never as simple as it seems.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-On New Year's Eve of their junior year, four friends create resolutions for one another. Ryan, still heartbroken over his first boyfriend, is urged to kiss someone wrong for him and share his art with the world. Nora, who feels shackled to her mother's Puerto Rican restaurant, is told to choose her own adventure. Lee, still mourning the loss of her mother to Huntington's Disease, is encouraged to relearn her mother's native Spanish and decide whether she will be tested for the devastating disease. And Jess, a perfectionist, is pushed to loosen up by saying yes to everything. As the year progresses, the resolutions force the four to tackle new challenges, but their friendship sustains each of them. The multiple viewpoint narration allows each of the main characters to fully develop, and each narrative voice is distinct. The cast includes characters who identify across a diverse array of sexualities, ethnicities, and cultures. While moments of humor and romance lighten the mood, perhaps the most striking aspect of the story belongs to Jess: the unbearable pressure to succeed in every area of her life leads her to spiral into a debilitating panic. Garcia's portrayal of her desperation is riveting and heartrending. VERDICT This celebration of Latinx culture and the power of a community to create healing and growth is recommended as a first purchase.-Elizabeth Lovsin, Deerfield Public Library, IL © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Four best friends in Denver-Nora, Lee, Jess, and Ryan-write New Year's resolutions for each other, designed to make them "do the things [they] always talk about but never do": open up to new experiences and take risks on their passions and talents. Achieving success, though, strains the bonds of their friendship, even as their resolutions push them in all the ways they were meant to, especially in relationships beyond those with each other. In third-person prose with chapters that alternate between following the high school juniors, GarcA-a (Even if the Sky Falls) confidently unspools the unique circumstances of her protagonist's lives. Particularly well developed is Ryan, whose heartbreak over the loss of his first love, Jason, is palpable. But Nora becomes this story's most engaging anchor as the story follows her unending labors at her family's Puerto Rican restaurant and her rich internal life-her yearnings to open a pastry shop and desire for an out-of-the-closet relationship with her girlfriend, Beth. This slow-moving story explores heartbreak, family commitments, dreams, friendship, and other familiar adolescent challenges with authentic sensitivity. Ages 13-up. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
During their senior year in high school, a diverse group of four friends decides to create New Year's resolutions for one another. What follows is a year of life lessons on friendship and identity, told from each of the character's perspectives. Teens will relate to the well-developed characters and their (mostly predictable) struggles. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Looking ahead to their final year before graduation, four Latinx high school juniors deepen their friendship by altering their usual New Year's Eve tradition.The chapters are alternately named for Jess, Nora, Lee, and Ryan, teenagers whose families are part of the Latin American diaspora in Denver. The four engage in a witty ongoing group text chat. They worry about college admissions and whether they should attend at all. Collectively they lose a boyfriend, start new romances, mourn a relative, and argue with their parents. Trying to fulfill their resolutions, they run into a misunderstanding that tests their bonds. Diversity is the novel's strength: Ryan and Nora, who runs a Puerto Rican restaurant with her mother, are gay. Some characters speak Spanish fluently, while others are trying to learn. Yet while culture is important to the story, the problems the friends encounter are universal. By splitting the story into four intersecting plotlines, Garca (Even If the Sky Falls, 2016) develops her characters with short strokes that preclude a great deal of depth, and their individual storylines become repetitive. The result is a slow-moving read that employs dramatic irony but doesn't quite hit the mark with its more serious content.A well-imagined world with point-of-view jumps that make it hard to invest in the characters as complex individuals. (Fiction. 13-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
On New Year's Eve, four friends make a pact. It's Jess' idea, but they all agree: instead of making New Year's resolutions for themselves, they will make them for one another. And as junior year ends and senior year begins, the close-knit group tries to do just that. Nora, who loves baking but is resigned to taking over her mother's restaurant, instead of going somewhere far away, agrees to "choose her own adventure." Lee, who lost her mother to Huntington's disease but is too afraid to find out if she herself is a carrier, tries to decide if she's ready to take the test. Ryan, still hung up on the boy who broke his heart, reluctantly agrees to kiss someone wrong for him. And perfectionist Jess, who always has a plan, is encouraged to be spontaneous. The four teens, who all have varying, nuanced relationships with their Latinx backgrounds and with one another, form a cohesive, supportive group, while their voices remain distinct. A warm, comforting story of identity and self-discovery.--Maggie Reagan Copyright 2018 Booklist
