GET REAL, CHLOE TORRES

Chloe Torres isn’t ready to leave old friendships behind.

At 18, Chloe is primed for her next adventure: studying art at Rhode Island School of Design. But one fateful day, she runs into her two closest friends from middle school, Sienna Aguilar and Ramona Cruz. They were “La Tripleta”—until their friendship fell apart. But Chloe can’t shake the feeling that their story isn’t over. When Papi gifts her three tickets to see their middle school obsession, the boy band Intonation, she takes it as a sign that they’re meant to be together again, and she proposes a weeklong road trip from their Massachusetts town to Las Vegas for the epic reunion concert. Minor conflicts arise along the way as the young women iron out the kinks and relearn who they are after all these years. This sweet story deftly inserts a queer romance that doesn’t detract from the beauty of the girls’ reemerging friendship. Their various stops provide opportunities for character growth that may seem convenient but ultimately work. The first quarter of the novel is heavy on exposition, which makes it hard to engage with, but the rest of the story is worth it. Diverse representation in sexuality, race, neurodivergence, and body size appears throughout, and Maldonado incorporates characters from The Fall of Whit Rivera (2023), which will please fans.

Fill up the tank because this one is taking you for a sweet ride.