The Victoria in My Head

Victoria Cruz, 15, has always done everything she needs to do to maintain her high GPA. She runs cross-country and track, but only because Harvard wants well-rounded students, and Harvard is the only option, as far as her Cuban parents are concerned. But Victoria has an active dream life, one with carefully curated playlists for everything she’s never done (“There’s a playlist for skinny-dipping, for sleeping under the stars”). Music is her secret passion, one she refuses to indulge until she meets 17-year-old Strand as he’s posting a notice seeking a lead singer for his band. With a nudge from her best friend, Victoria auditions for the band, and her boringly predictable life takes a dramatic turn. Milanes’s brisk and confident debut is ideal romantic reading. Though the plot is fairly typical, a robust supporting cast brings color and charm to a world that Victoria sees as all too ordinary, from bad boy Strand with his piercing blue eyes to almost-too-perfect bandmate Levi to Victoria’s strict but loving immigrant parents. Ages 12–up. [em]Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (Sept.) [/em]