TANGLED ROOTS & WILD DREAMS

A 17-year-old in Pittsburgh becomes entangled in thorny vines of secrecy and uncertainty.

Esperanza “Ezzie” Ramos attends the prestigious “all girls and enbies” Western Catholic. During her summer honors class, she needs to pick the focus for her senior thesis project, but she’s riddled with uncertainty over what topic she should choose, especially because she’s the daughter of “a glass-ceiling-smashing geology professor (Mami) and an innovative plant biologist (Papi).” Everyone assumes Ezzie will do great things too. Papi died tragically eight years ago, and this summer Mami is doing research in Colombia, so Ezzie’s old-fashioned Peruvian Abuelita is in charge. Ezzie unearths a secret of her father’s that takes her to Sprout Pittsburgh, an urban garden, where she runs into Gabe McCallister, a Mexican American boy she’s predisposed to loathe because he broke her Korean American best friend Dora’s heart. Ezzie has the summer to dig up the truth about who her father was and who she wants to be. But what can she say to Dora about her changing feelings for Gabe when she can’t even understand them herself? Ezzie’s evenly paced journey is a highly relatable story of grief and first romance. Her interior monologue feels authentic, and her character growth will resonate with teens dealing with transitions and the decisions expected of them in their later high school years.

A well-balanced story about personal growth that leaves room for a sweet romance to blossom.