Santa Ana Boooo-oookksss

The title is a reference to this Crazy Ex-Girlfriend classic.  RIP Adam Schlesinger.  But I read two* YA books on my trip to Anaheim last week and flew into the Santa Ana airport, so here we are. 

*I actually also re-read Looking for Alaska kind of by accident in the middle there

Throwback (by Maureen Goo)

I definitely judge books by their cover. I had checked this one out so many times and then returned it before I finally got around to reading it, and it was after the cover changed from a photo to an illustration.  I had the same issue with Martyr! - procrastinated reading it because of the cover.  This is about a girl who goes back in time, Back to the Future style, to help her mother win homecoming queen.  Absolutely delightful although despite being about a first-generation immigrant and her daughter (I am first-generation and those themes usually make me cry) did not make me cry.

Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling (by Elise Bryant) 

I read this one right after Looking for Alaska which was kind of a hard bar to clear, so I was expecting to start a few novels and abandon them before I found one that measured up. But this was delightful right away! Reggie is a Black D&D nerd, Delilah is a biracial girl who has just started fronting a rock band. The romance is a lovely slow burn and the other issues the characters work through - does Reggie's love for "nerd stuff" make him less Black? Is Delilah being tokenized by the guys in her band? - are handled with subtlety. The third act breakup was clunky and honestly felt kind of obligatory but I loved these characters.  Recommended!