Review Detail

There are a lot of changes coming towards Chloe; she’s preparing to leave home for her freshman year at RISD, she is turning eighteen, and her family is expanding with the addition of a new baby. For her birthday, her dad gives her tickets to the reunion tour of her favorite band, which her former best friends were also into. Chloe takes it upon herself to attempt to repair her friendship with Sienna and Ramona by going on a road trip to see this band. There’s only a small detail that Chloe forgot, all of the feelings that will be brought up by them spending so much time in a car together for two weeks. Will they be able to overcome these challenges and repair their friendship?

What I Liked: This book opens by introducing you to Chloe as she humiliates herself in front of her past crush. Throughout the beginning of this story Chloe tells you the story of her previous friendship with Sienna and Ramona, and her perspective of their falling out. You get to learn a little more about how the other girls feel throughout their time on the road, and as feelings resurface. Since Ramona and Chloe are no longer children, they can address feelings and actions that happened in the past in mature ways and repair hurt feelings as they express why they responded in the manner that they did.

What stands out about all of Crystal Maldonado’s books is how tension and conflict are handled. While there are moments when things don’t go right, hope is always in the background for each of our characters, and they manage to seemingly handle each of their problems. While each of the girls has ulterior motives for going on the road trip that they weren’t upfront about, they do address this and see the way each of these goals impacts them individually and as a group. These ulterior motives add a layer of complexity to the road trip and provide each of the characters with an opportunity for growth.

The side characters added some humor to the story with Diego being a secret drag queen, and Chloe’s papi and step mom being overprotective of her. While Chloe’s guardians are overprotective of her, they are also understanding and learning to let go of her and trust that she knows how to handle herself. This overprotectiveness, and Diego feeling like he had to hide pieces of himself reminded me of growing up queer and the eldest daughter in a Latinx household, and how so many things are left unspoken. It was refreshing to see Chloe’s step mom step in and try to placate the dad when he was struggling with Chloe growing up, and also seeing Diego’s family support him in his pursuit of drag.

Final Verdict: Get Real, Chloe Torres is a delightful and heartfelt book that takes you on a road trip with Chloe, Ramona, and Sienna as they re-learn things about one another, as well as about themselves. Young adults ages 14 and up will enjoy this, especially those who are in their final year of high school and are struggling to figure out what is next for them. This book has a little bit for everyone with the Latinx representation, ADHD representation, sapphic romance, body positivity, and more.