10/01/2018
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 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, García (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.)
In a novel full of heart, Mia García has captured the tenuous lives of young people with a beautiful examination of friendships. Emotional and honest, The Resolutions confirms García’s spot as contemporary YA’s exciting new talent.” — Lilliam Rivera, author of The Education of Margot Sanchez
★ “Riveting and heartrending. This celebration of Latinx culture and the power of a community to create healing and growth is recommended as a first purchase.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“[This story] explores heartbreak, family commitments, dreams, friendship, and other familiar adolescent challenges with authentic sensitivity.” — Publishers Weekly
“A warm, comforting story of identity and self-discovery.” — ALA Booklist
Praise for EVEN IF THE SKY FALLS: “Wonderfully atmospheric writing, a setting to die for, and a whirlwind romance that takes my breath away. García has written a book to fall in love with!” — Renee Ahdieh, author of The Wrath and the Dawn
“A riveting page-turner about finding your true self in the midst of heartbreak and disaster, Mia García’s stunning debut is a reminder of how one night can change everything.” — Elizabeth Eulberg, author of Better Off Friends
“A compelling 24-hour romance that’s as charged as its New Orleans setting.” — Kirkus Reviews
A warm, comforting story of identity and self-discovery.
A riveting page-turner about finding your true self in the midst of heartbreak and disaster, Mia García’s stunning debut is a reminder of how one night can change everything.
In a novel full of heart, Mia García has captured the tenuous lives of young people with a beautiful examination of friendships. Emotional and honest, The Resolutions confirms García’s spot as contemporary YA’s exciting new talent.
Praise for EVEN IF THE SKY FALLS: “Wonderfully atmospheric writing, a setting to die for, and a whirlwind romance that takes my breath away. García has written a book to fall in love with!
★ 10/01/2018
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
2018-08-20
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, García (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)
