School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up--Seventeen-year-old Santi's life has been a mess since his childhood best friend (a person Santi had only known online as "Memo") ghosted him. With the loss of Memo, Santi also lost a part of himself. To help Santi move on and reconnect with life, Aya, Santi's guardian, moves them to her hometown of Los Angeles and pushes her charge to join the marching band that was so pivotal to her in her youth. There, Santi is welcomed with open arms by nearly everyone, except for one surly boy named Suwa, a musical genius who seems destined for a promising career. When Santi helps Suwa through a panic attack, the two forge a truce, which tenuously turns into friendship before blossoming into love. However, when Santi shares a painful realization, Suwa cuts Santi and their friends out of his life without a word. The love story between Santi, who identifies as Filipino, and Suwa, whose family is of Japanese and Korean descent, builds slowly and vividly, then shatters suddenly, leaving readers as bereft as Santi himself. There is a breadth of ethnic diversity and LGBTQIA+ representation in this book (including Santi, who is bisexual, and Suwa, who is a transgender man), and the supporting characters are so nuanced they could be the leads in stories of their own. This gorgeous debut deftly explores themes around gender dysphoria, abuse, loss, anxiety and depression. VERDICT A must-have for all collections serving older teens--especially those looking to add more high-quality realistic queer fiction to their shelves.--Leighanne Law
Publisher's Weekly Review
Min's debut is a luminous homage to music, art, and the power of found family. When 14-year-old Filipino Santiago Arboleda inadvertently causes his online best friend Memo's song to go viral, Memo seemingly disappears from the internet, subsequently breaking Santi's heart. Now 17, Santi has relocated to L.A. to join the Sunshowers, De Longpre High's award-winning marching band. Though he's swiftly absorbed into the rambunctious Sunshowers crowd, Santi is haunted by his past as he navigates a future filled with possibility upon meeting Japanese and Korean drum major Suwa Moon, a trans boy who finds Santi as annoying as Santi finds him enchanting. The narrative is split into two parts, mimicking sides of an album. Side A follows Santi's heart-on-his-sleeve earnestness as he tries to atone for his mistakes; Side B features reserved Suwa's stumbling efforts to carve his own path in the world. This achingly romantic novel features racially diverse and variously queer characters, each of whom is given ample space to develop. Min's personal-feeling prose epitomizes the current age, in which lifelong bonds are forged through computer screens and group chats, emphasizing connection in its myriad forms. Ages 14--up. Agent: Dana Murphy, Book Group. (July)
