Looking for a read to take you away from report card writing, friends? Want to spend a little time with some Star Wars, Disney, Wedding Planner remix vibes? Need to at least feel the fictional sun on your skin and sand between your toes? This might be the book. It might also be the book if you're looking for YA Latine and #2SLGBTQIA+ content, strong female characters, some sweet romance, and some lovely family making hard things work. And great food. And linguistic nerdiness. Plus, some cameos from the fabulous #RubiRamos family. This is a goodie, friends. Thanks to Wednesday Books and Net Galley for the e-arc.

What a super cute book! Jessica Parra did such a good job with all the Disney references & the details about Orange County.

There’s something for everyone in this book & I cannot recommend it enough!

The Quince Project by Jessica Parra is a heartfelt YA tale full of Disney brand magic and strong familial bonds. Cas and Po are the epitome of supportive sisters who still push and bother one another. Cas is such a sweet character and her journey through the grief from losing her mom and her "Disney perfect life" was something I closely related to. I loved all of the Star Wars and Disney references in the story. The descriptions of the parties were beautiful and seeing all of the love and attention Cas poured into each event was remarkable. The best thing about The Quince Project is how much the Torres family grew closer as they worked through their grief. This book is both heavy and lighthearted and I would recommend it to anyone who loves romantic comedies and coming of age dramas.

The first section of this book was very hard for me to get through. I found the main character, Castillo Torres, to be super annoying and she made me want to DNF. I am glad I pushed through as once the story really got going and the other characters began to develop it helped temper Cas. She also grew, and by the end I was a big fan.

My only real critique is that all the pop culture references probably won't age well - even if they are out there to begin with. Other than that, it was an enjoyable story.

3.5 stars rounded to 4

This book wasn't for me. The storyline was fun but I found myself struggling to follow all the metaphors especially since a lot of them had pop culture references in them. It may be that I just wasn't disney literate enough to be the ideal reader. I also didn't love the deception. It seemed unnecessary. I think this will be good for readers who want a ya romance with disney vibes.

This coming-of-age story had all the feels. I liked that Cas was Latine. It was a nice change of pace. I loved Javi's character because he had also suffered the loss of a parent and could help Cas with the loss of her mother. I also liked that he had many things in common with Cas including their heritage and culture. I loved reading the humorous, embarrassing moments that made me giggle. I even enjoyed all the teenage drama common in a teenager's life. It made the storyline more true to life. I loved the Disneyland references and the overall theme of celebrating the everyday moments in life. The next time I visit Disneyland, I think I will pick up an “I’m celebrating” button and fill it out with my everyday moment.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC In exchange for my honest review!

Wishing the happiest of book birthdays to THE QUINCE PROJECT!! I loved this book, which is a YA remix of THE WEDDING PLANNER (but make it quinceañeras)!

Read if you love:
✨ All things Disney
✨ Golden retriever love interests
✨ Sister relationships
✨ A little bit of party planning magic
✨ YA romance

I enjoyed reading The Quince Project by Jessica Parra. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

I was drawn to this book by the synopsis. It sounded like a cute coming of age, family oriented book. However the writing was a let down. The references were giving “I want to seem cooler and more in the know than I am” by being too frequently and unnecessarily used. I struggled to like Cas because although I can admire her hard work she still came across a little “woe is me”. All in all I just didn’t vibe with this book

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for an electronic advanced readers copy of this novel.

The Quince Project is a fun yet deep story of Cas Torres, an ambitious high schooler whose dream is to be an event planner. She idolizes an Instagram party planner and is aiming to win a prestigious internship there. Still reeling from the death of their mom, Cas and her sister engineer a "chance" meeting with a famous teen Youtuber. When the influencer mistakenly thinks that Cas is already an intern, Cas lets the lie continue in order to gain exposure for her work. Enter a handsome teenage lifeguard and Cas' life will not be the same again.

The Quince Project by Jessica Parra, is an entertaining read that also weaves in some serious topics about grief and family and finding out who you are. I really enjoyed this!

3.5 Stars
Thank you @NetGalley for this e-arc! Congratulations Jessica on your second book out in the world!👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
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YA's have a way of humbling our adult self with the real, raw and messy realities of being independent teens at an early age.
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Amongst all the side eyeing and shouting I silently offered Cas at times throughout her journey, empathy was the final destination 🌷🫂
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Cas was ambitious, creative, focused
and determined to live her life in a particular direction. You can say she felt chosen to be an event planner.
We follow Cas and her sister Po as they navigate handling grief, being mindful sisters to each other and daughters to a dad who is there but not really there. Perhaps event planning was a way to manage and to continually show up for others when Cas obsessively pursued her HEA internship.
With one of her biggest opportunities to date to plan a famous Quince, Cas puts everything on the line hoping that it all works out.
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The reality is though that sometimes it takes everything falling apart for it to all come together as it should be!
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The Disney and Star Wars lovers will love the references.

This is my first book by this author and i really enjoyed it. I am looking forward for more of her books
Thank you NetGalley and Jessica Parra for this arc

As someone who has lost a parent, this book tapped into some deep emotions for me that were honestly a little overwhelming. I was young when I lost my dad and I haven't read a lot of Young Adult books that deal with parental loss. Overall a cute coming of age story, but man I was emotional during my read of this!

Wednesday Books eARC
I think this is a perfect book for those that are in their later high school years and might be struggling with perfectionism, loss, and/or grief. It was so easy to fall into Cas's story. I could relate to her need for control and perfectionism - even as an adult. I loved the sister relationship here. There is also a complex father daughter relationship that added lots of depth to the story. This book also focused on the love of Disney, party planning, and figuring out what comes next. It was touching and heartwarming. There is something here for a wide range of readers and I was so excited for a glimpse of Rubi from last year's books in this one, too.

The Quince Project by Jessica Parra was a fun and engaging story!
You know when you read a book and it pulls you in from the first page, the kind of book that even when you aren’t reading you still think about? That’s The Quince Project.
I absolutely loved this book, everything about it.
I enjoyed Rubi Ramos's Recipe for Success and her newest title was no different!

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This author gave us a teen event planner, Cas helps plan Quinceañera’s, she’s Latina, a Disney lover, has the most amazing funny sister. She’s going through it trying to live up to her moms legacy, trying to also make her family proud, she has a lot going on, but I love how supportive they all are, this author did it before in her last book and she did it AGAIN here. This book was everything!

thank you wednesday books and dreamscape media for advanced copies of the quince project by jessica parra 🌸 out tomorrow!

now this book was SO much fun, literally exploding with disney and star wars references from galaxies far far away. if you’re a star wars fan, this is the book for you. although lighthearted, this book also tackled heavier topics of grief and mental health. it’s truly a narrative of learning how to celebrate all aspects of your life after loss.

go into this expecting a very young adult book, not saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s very heavy on teenagers navigating teenager things… if that makes sense. if you're not going to be a fan of a predictable third act, young adult breakdown, maybe don’t pick this one up. the quince project is VERY good at capturing today's teens' pressures and how social media fuels their confusion and uncertainty of life and each other. hearing my kids that I coach talk to me about school/ their everyday life, I can’t imagine being in high school right now, it has to be so tough.

cheers to RSVPing YES to your life’s fiesta 🥂 4 stars!

I loved the synopsis of this book and really love Disney but this book feels flat for me.

The MC is going through the 5 stages of grief with her family after losing her mother. She's so stuck in her dinsey cliches and fairytales that she forgets reality for a long time. There's wayyyyy too many disney cliches in this book that make it seem like fanfiction.

I also absolutely hated the influencer/Disney vlogger storyline. It felt like a story in a story in a fake story. I love disney vlogs but this just threw me off the MC's story.

Javi the Male MC didn't even seem interested in anyone but Cass. He felt like he had a minor character who just talked about his grief to make her feel better.

I lost interest in this 75% through and just totally forgot the plot because there's so much going on.

I understand the teen grieving and the wanting to hold onto mom. But these lies and the whole plot and conflict are just so badly written that it feels like cliche fanfiction anyone could write

I enjoyed this so much. Please give me more quince themes stories with fun bubbly wild main characters.

Every now and then, I like to pick up a YA book. I decided on this one since it is coming out in a few days. The book started off a little slow for me, but it really picked up as I became engrossed in the characters' lives and situations.

Cas and her sister Po are still reeling from their mother's passing. Even their father is not handling his wife's death very well. They are all in denial, and their reactions to situations vary from character to character. Cas wants to be a party planner and give everyone their own HEA. She even has her eyes set on an internship with a well known party planner once she completes another few events. Po has given up on going to college and has recently become obsessed with an influencer, Paulina, who shares all things Disney on her channel. Dad sits in his recliner when not at work and plays video games all night. 

Despite the slow start, I really came to like these characters. It takes time to get to the root of the problem and for the family to come together and form a stronger bond. There are also lies and deception regarding Cas' party planning side gig. This causes heartache and issues for multiple characters. But despite it all, the family does come together and their bond is stronger for all they endure. It just took conversations over delicious food to work itself out. I did drool over the food!

There is some comedic relief throughout the book, and I have to say that the idea of a Star Wars themed quinceañera is genius! It fits Paulina's character perfectly. There are also several love connections for Cas and Po. 

This is a heartwarming story and one I didn't fully expect. We give it four paws up.