Eighteen Roses is one of those books I loved because the MC just feels a bit too close to home. This book unexpectedly scooped me out. It made me feel things I was not expecting! Keep reading this book review of Eighteen Roses for my full thoughts.
Summary
Lucia Cruz may be turning eighteen this year, but she is not the debutante type. Everything about a traditional Filipino debut feels all wrong for her. Besides, custom dictates that eighteen friends attend her for a special ceremony on her birthday, and Lucia only has one friend– Esmé Mares. They’ve stuck to each other’s side all throughout high school, content to be friends with only each other. At least, Lucia thought they were content.
As it turns out, Esmé wants something different out of her senior year. And, on top of that, Lucia’s mom has planned a debutante ball for her birthday behind her back. She’ll be forced to cobble together a court of eighteen “friends” before her beloved lola arrives from the Philippines for this blessed occasion.
How far will Lucia stray from her comfort zone in order to play the role of dutiful daughter and granddaughter? Will she do the unthinkable– participating in a school sponsored activity? Will she discover that her sense of humor can be a way to connect with people, not just push them away?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Lucia felt a bit too close to home. If you’ve ever had a phase of hating things to hate them. Of feeling a bit ‘above’ those who get invested, of wearing our Outside badge proudly, you have to read Eighteen Roses. It’s about Lucia who is firmly invested in the ‘don’t ever change’ and ‘why would we’ who experiences a situation with her best friend who wants to change. Who wants to try becoming involved in theater, in leaving the orbit of just the two of them on the fringes, and expanding her world. And of course that scares Lucia shitless.
So part of Eighteen Roses is about Lucia not only finding out how it is without her best friend by her side, but also her own journey getting involved in things. Expanding her social circle to find things she cares about. And quickly you realize that she hasn’t cared because she hates things, but because she’s afraid of getting hurt. Big ow! Because how relatable is the feeling of pretending we don’t want to, that we’re above it, that we’re fine all because we’re scare of being hurt. Of being left, of being let down.
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And so Lucia in Eighteen Roses felt like a gut punch. Don’t even get me started on how much I loved the plot line of needing members of her court or trying to figure out why her mom cares so much about her debut. All of the characters, side characters and all, scream off the page. There’s so much tenderness and heart in this sophomore release from Rogers. It’s a book about being vulnerable, about realizing that we have to risk being hurt, and of examining our insecurities. Of realizing the importance of those who stand by us, the weight of an apology, and navigating cultural differences.
Find Eighteen Roses on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.