Disney Hyperion | May 15, 2012
Told from the perspective of five different characters, this YA book is a fantastic summer read - satisfying story, interesting characters, and relatively well written. It is the kind of book that isn't going to change the world or even change the reader much, but each and every page turn kept me wanting to turn the next.
Kylie is the class nerd and outcast at Freiburg Academy in La Jolla, CA. She keeps her nose down and has one friend, Will, a flamboyant cross-dressing-just-to-annoy-people gay-boy. She's meant to give her valedictory speech in only a few days when her English teacher gives them one last assignment, due the last day of school. While everyone else plans to blow off the paper, Kylie insists she and her partner, class hottie Max Langston meet up to do it. When her backpack with her laptop in it is stolen from the cafe where they meet, Kylie runs after the thieves and she and Max end up trapped in a box truck full of stolen electronics. The truck crosses the border into Mexico and when they finally escape, they figure out they can't bus back home because they don't have their passports with them.
After a call to Will to get their passports and come get them, a fair bit of beer, some soul-bearing conversations, a small-world meet up with Kylie's father's childhood friend in Ensenada, a number of parties, a pink dress, two wedding bands, some serious emotions, and a mad dash to get to graduation on time, Kylie and Max's entire lives have been irrevocably changed.
The title of the book is terrible. The cover is a hot mess. Where are the days of fantastic covers with a map of Baja Mexico with a pink Mexican wedding dress overlay? Why these photographs of teenagers? And this cover doesn't even show a scene from the book. The movie quotes at the start of each chapter are trying too hard and aren't necessary to prop up this story - already standing well on its own. All these criticisms are picky, I know, but the packaging is important I think. In this case, don't let it dissuade you - from what this reviewer remembers, this book is a fun read!
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