The Resolutions

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, 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. [em](Nov.) [/em]