Carmen Aguilar just wants to make her happily ever after come true. Except apparently "happily ever after" for Carmen involves being stuck in an unpaid summer internship. Now she has to perform as a party princess! In a ball gown. During the summer. In Miami.
Fine. Except that's only the first misfortune in what's turning out to a summer of Utter Disaster.
But if Carmen can manage dancing in the blistering heat, fending off an oh-so-unfortunately attractive ex, and stopping her spoiled cousin from ruining her own quinceanera-Carmen might just get that happily ever after-after all.
For high school reasons, Carmen is forced to get a summer job at a company who rent Disney princes and princesses to events. It's mostly children's parties, which she's fine with; dressing in Belle's yellow gown and smiling at children is easy enough. Until her messily-broken-up-with ex-boyfriend is hired as the Beast. And her company is hired to perform at the quinceanera of her estranged cousin - the couson who's mother is the reason Carmen herself never had a quince. The cousin who now seems to be going out with the boy Carmen herself has been cruching on for a while - the boy she had a date with just the date before.
It's a lot to handle, and Carmen will have to figure it out before she loses everyone who matters to her.
I don't have a lot to say about this, to be honest. I didn't feel much of anything in either direction when reading. It was fun, it was cute, but it was fairly predictable all the way through. Even the scene where Carmen and Alex go out; they each talk about the quince, Carmen from the point of view of being hired to dance at it, Alex as part of the corte in a quince that will have hired dancers. Yet neither of them make the connection, while I was yelling at my book. Of course, it's easier to see from out here.
I don't have anything bad to say either, though. The writing was good, the characters are maybe a little infuriating - in the way that you want to reach through the page and give them a good shake - but they're interesting, and the descriptions are great. I could feel the heat coming through the writing at me; I'll remember not to visit Miami in the summer for sure! (Assuming we can ever go anywhere ever again...)
I did think it was weird that no one seemed concerned about Carmen's original boss, and a little irritated that she started looking up colleges after the guy she sort of hated suggested it, not after her best friend and her mother suggested it. But again, sometimes people take things like that more easily from strangers than from friends. I know that I've often counted on that in work - a child will often listen to a stranger who tells him to stop messing but ignore a parent saying the same thing!
Overall, it was a good read. I don't have any serious problems with it, and I'll be looking forward to suggesting it to people. I did enjoy the look at a culture I'm not very familiar with and I'd love to learn more about quinces and the traditions around them. A good read.
Once Upon a Quinceanera publishes on the 2nd March, 2021 in the US and on the 1st April, 2021 in the UK, using the same cover image in both areas. I was provided with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
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