QUEERCEAÑERA is a vibrant must-read young adult novel, brimming with unconditional love and support, about being *you* and true to yourself and how that's something always worth celebrating, and how the people who want to be in your life will always be there to celebrate with you. Joaquin, this novel’s star, is proudly out, with unwavering support from his family—save his religious mother. When his dad and sister band together to throw a celebration of him for his birthday, a queerceañera, Joaquin finds himself overwhelmed by the whirlwind month of planning, his childhood best friend and crush suddenly re-entering his life to be his fake-boyfriend and chambelán, the disheartening subtext of homophobic comments from his mother—unsure if he'll survive this final summer of his senior year without everything falling apart.
Joaquin's complicated dynamic with his mother is unfortunately relatable for many queer kids, and I couldn’t help but be proud of the way he navigated the situation in a way that didn't compromise who he is. I loved his relationship with Felix, his childhood best friend—the type of dynamic that makes me laugh out loud and want to affectionately shake the characters. The second chance romance, loud and proud family dynamics, and a summer to remember with supportive, pop-off-the-page best friends was everything I wanted!

A sweet, fun and family-oriented book about a boy struggling to find his place as a queer teen.

Joaquin came out recently and most of his friends and family have been totally supportive. But his mom, a conservative Catholic, is still not comfortable with the idea. Then his dad and sister have an idea: a Queerceañera. While he's past 15, his 17th birthday is coming up, so why not have a great big party celebrating his culture, his queerness and his birthday.

Along the way there is a fauxmance, plus lots of humor and joy.

Thank you so much, HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperTeen and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Joaquin is out and proud of it. What he didn't expect was his father and sister wanting to throw him a surprise party, to celebrate him being queer and out: a queerceañera, a coming out party. Now his life is filled with preparations, clothes, tastings, foods and such, while also dealing with his complex relationship with his mother, who seems to have replaced him with her godson, Felix, Joaquin's ex best friend and first kiss.
When Felix helps him getting out of a difficult conversation with his mother, Joaquin finds himself with a date for his party, a chambelán. A simple lie becomes a more complex deal when all his family starts to believe he's Joaquin new boyfriend, so the boys decide to make a deal: Felix will help Joaquin with the party and, in order to avoid his own family's pity and ill timed questions about his breakup, Joaquin will be his fake boyfriend. They will be fake boyfriend until the party, but, slowly, spending more and more time together will change everything about them.

I LOVED reading this book! It's incredible, funny and so so sweet! It's a cute romcom with fake dating, messy relationships, childhood best friends to ex friends to fake boyfriends to lovers and a lovely and intense family, in a whirlwind family drama and friends drama.
I loved this book, because I felt so hugged and loved by reading it. Joaquin has a wonderful relationship with his father, sister and best friend, eager to help one other, a relationship filled with music, messages, supporting one other. I also loved Joaquin's relationship with art, family and growing up, becoming more and more confident in himself and in what he loves.

The whole book revolves around relationships: Messy but caring with his family, complex with his mother, complicated with himself and the book is about embracing, loving and supporting oneself and, at the same time, realizing which relationship is worth fighting for.
Joaquin is a complex MC, I loved his growth and how much he decided he can take and what he deserves in order to be healthy and strong, loved and cared for.
Lovely is his relationship with Felix and how cute and supportive they are to each other, slowly building their relationship that changes from a fake to a real one, from friends to more, from fake dating to fighting to get the chance to get something real.

Sweet, swoony and totally recommended!

This type of book fills me with so much joy and sadness. I am so happy that Joaquin is able to find a way to feel comfortable embracing who he is and is able to find someone who loves him as much as Felix does. Yet it breaks my heart to see a mom who is so vocal against their son and so hurtful with comments. While I know that this is a lived truth of so many in the community, I can only hope that with time this becomes less and less of an issue. This book is beautifully written and gives a real life look into the life of a struggling gay young man who just wants to be loved for who they are by those they love the most. It is a hard path but one that many in this community are forced to go down daily. It is lovely to have books that show this representation for those in the community who are looking for something that might reflect their current or past experiences.
Thank you so much to HarperCollins Children’s Books, HarperTeen, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

This is a very character centric story, taking us through Joaquin’s emotional journey with his identity and his relationship with his mom. The idea of a coming out, identity acceptance party for teenagers is also so fun. If you love sweet second chance romance stories with a splash of fake dating, definitely pick this one up when it comes out in May!

Joaquin is out and proud, and has the support of his dad and sister. However, he’s not quite ready for them to throw him a whole party for it and call it a queerceañera. As everyone speculates about the upcoming party, the biggest question is: who will be his chambelán?

While everyone is focused on that, Joaquin is more focused on whether or not his mom will come to the party. Or if he’s finally been replaced by Felix. However, when a small lie snowballs into something bigger, Felix is now Joaquin’s chambelán and they might be fake dating. But what happens when Joaquin starts to develop real feelings for Felix?

Thanks to HarperTeen and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Queerceañera by Alex Crespo to review! I loved Alex Crespo’s debut last year, so I was excited to see another book, especially a romance. One of my favorite genres!

This is a very character centric story, taking us through Joaquin’s emotional journey with his identity and his relationship with his mom. Outside of his mom, he does have a support group, and a lot of the book is about him learning to accept their help when he needs it. His journey will definitely be relatable to a large number of queer teens reading this book.

The idea of a coming out, identity acceptance party for teenagers is also so fun. There’s another book that came out last year that also features a coming out party, Friday I’m in Love by Camryn Garrett. Just the idea of teens being able to throw a party for themselves and have support for their identity just gives you the warm fuzzies inside.

If you love sweet second chance romance stories with a splash of fake dating, definitely pick this one up when it comes out in May!

4 stars

Prepare to experience all the feels with Joaquin and his titular queerceanera!

Joaquin, the m.c. of this charming young adult contemporary novel, has a mixed bag in terms of family support. While his dad and sister are extremely supportive of who he is, Joaquin's mom is fully gross in terms of her behavior and lacking support of Joaquin. Her attempts to shame and silence Joaquin and to hide behind biased institutional beliefs are upsetting but also important. After all, unfortunately, Joaquin's experience is a fictional version of many people's real lives. Various other family members - due to cultural mores, their ages, and other factors - share a range of energizing to demoralizing responses. These details set the stage for the titular event, which Joaquin's dad has the wild idea to host.

On top of Joaquin's challenging family relationships and exploration of his identity, Joaquin is quite preoccupied by his relationship with an important person from his past. The romantic subplot is definitely age appropriate (drama, third parties, poor communication, etc.), but it's sweet to read.

This is my first novel from this author, and it won't be the last. I really enjoyed this addition to the queer prom/coming out/celebration of me subgenre in YA and will look forward to recommending it to students (especially those looking for nuanced family responses to this issue).

Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. A wonderfully charming story! Joaquin wakes up to find that his mother has posted an Instagram photo with some micro aggression towards the queer community. He can’t help but feel it’s directed at him. When his dad and sister find out they decide they want to through him a coming out party, even though he’s already out, a party to celebrate him and show him that he has love and support. They’re calling in a Queerceanera! He doesn’t love attention but decides to go through with it anyone. Of course when his mom finds out she wants to discuss it and suggests lunch. Only problem is she wants to bring Felix, his childhood friend who ghosted him. Felix is also his mother’s godson and gay, but it doesn’t seem to bother her like it does with Joaquin. Things are a little weird but go from bad to worse when Felix announces he’s going to be Joaquin’s chambelán. All the sudden his mother sees the idea in a new light. But when the rest of his family find out and the rumor has moved Felix to his boyfriend instead of just his chambelán, the two come to an understanding about fake dating. Can they keep it up until the Queerceanera? Will Joaquin be able to approach Felix about why he ghosted him? Will his mother support him? And what if his feelings about Felix start to resurface? A quick read that will have you consuming the book! Sweet, charming, and will give you all the warm and fuzzies! If you’re like me there will be a few tears in there too! Highly recommend to all who like feel good romance stories! Especially queer ones!