📕 Title: The Quince Project
✏️ Author: Jessica Parra
📖 Genre: YA Fiction
⭐ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

BOOK BLURB

Castillo Torres dreams of landing an internship with party planner Mandy Whitmore, but her experience planning high school events isn’t enough. When she books a quinceañera for a teen Disneyland vlogger under false pretenses, things get complicated – especially when she falls for the chambelán.

REVIEW

I really enjoyed this book! Castillo’s dream of landing a party planning internship felt unique, and I loved following along as she planned quinceañeras and school events.

Cas is also coping with the loss of her mother and her family’s avoidance of their grief. Her journey towards reconnecting with her father and learning to understand her sister was heartwarming. I also loved the incorporation of Cas’s Cuban heritage.

Her romance with the chambelán is super sweet and their first meeting was so much fun to read. I liked that they bonded over a shared experience and he felt like not just a romantic interest but also a good friend.

The plot hinges on party planning for a YouTuber and there are tons of pop culture references (and I mean TONS) throughout the book, mostly pertaining to Disney, Disneyland, Star Wars, and Southern California. If you’re a Magic Key holder or a Disney fanatic, this book is for you!

I actually picked up this book *because* I’m a big fan of these topics and thought I would love it, but sometimes the constant references felt like too much even for me. Occasionally these insertions felt forced and resulted in clunky phrasing that took me out of the story.

I also wasn’t fond of Po’s little quirks, like the way she picks a lipstick color based on her mood and the way she always mixes up proverbs. She’s a great character but I felt that those specific “personality traits” were cartoonish in nature and unnecessary.

Otherwise, I can overlook these issues because the rest of the story is great! After the first few chapters I got really invested and finished this book in a couple sittings.