ONCE UPON A QUINCEAÑERA

Being a professional princess isn’t as glamorous as it’s cracked up to be.

Carmen Aguilar’s summer job is the only thing standing between her and the last credit she needs to graduate from high school. Working as a princess for hire at children’s birthday parties in Miami is grueling—and goes from bad to worse when Carmen’s ex-flame, Mauro Reyes, is hired to play the Beast to her Belle. Overwhelming awkwardness and the temptation to rehash the downfall of their relationship has Carmen on the brink of quitting when the whole company is hired to work the quinceañera of someone with whom Carmen is all too familiar: Ariana, her dramatic and entitled cousin. After a major falling out almost four years ago, the cousins and their families have barely spoken. The tías are hoping that this quince will mend their family ties and bring them back together permanently, but Carmen can barely stand to be in the same room as Ariana, let alone tolerate the months of rehearsals required for the big day. Tempers fly, old wounds are reopened, and romance is in the air as this princess endures complex family dynamics and the infuriating attention of her very own Prince Charming. Characters are well developed and dialogue crackles in this energetic tale. Carmen is Cuban and Puerto Rican, and many other characters are Latinx.

Compelling relationships and characters dazzle like a quinceañera tiara.