Sisters, Strangers, and Starting Over: A Quinceañera Club Novel

The second in a captivating series (following Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz) focusing not just on girls going through the traditional coming-of-age Quinceañera celebration, but on the mothers (and others) who love them, this volume follows 14-year-old Celeste Sanchez as she deals with the murder of her mother, a Mexican labor organizer, and a new home in America. Arriving at her Aunt Beatriz's San Antonio, Tex., home in time for Beatriz's 25th wedding anniversary party, Celeste meets her teenage cousins Carlos and Raul, but finds her Uncle Larry, a strict father with Irish roots, less welcoming; as his wife makes tentative plans to adopt Celeste, Larry fears she'll be an unpredictable handful like her mother. As Celeste and Beatriz reconnect, an investigative journalist from El Paso comes to San Antonio looking for Celeste, hoping to pass on a final gift from her mother. Emotionally profound, Acosta's joyous celebration of sisterhood, motherhood, friendship, and family is an insightful read. (July)