Untraceable

Fifteen-and-a-half-year-old Amani lives with her mother and feels out of place as the only plus-sized Black girl at her prominently white private school. Her father is a researcher and often is out on assignments. Then Amani sees a strange man stalking their home. After their home in L.A. is destroyed by fire, her doctor mother, has them move in with a friend and signs Amani up to attend the local high school. Things then get worse when Amani's mother confesses the truth: they work as undercover agents and their cell has been compromised. This means that Amani and her mother flee underground to Mexico and then Cuba. Seems a mole has lied about her missing father, saying he's part of ISIS. Amani finds herself in the middle of something right out of a spy novel. Only in this case, her whole family is being targeted.

What worked: Satisfying companion novel to UNDERCOVER LATINA. In this story, we're introduced to fifteen-year-old Amani. She knows something's off with her mother, who only gives vague answers to Amani's many questions.

Amani is strong, loyal, and determined to help her father. She struggles after her mother finally tells the truth that she's an operative in a rogue undercover group.

Love diversity novels and this one is no exception! I really liked having a Black teen. After she finds out her parents are spies, Amani is willing to help out in any way she can.

There's also a sweet hint of a possible romance with a cute boy named Dexter, who she later finds is in fact a handler.

This adventure has Amani traveling to Cancun, Mexico to Cuba, and then back to San Francisco in the hopes of redeeming her father. Along the way, she learns that the code games her father taught her as a child come in handy.

Fast-paced engaging tale with a Black teen who finds out her parents are in fact, spies. Totally recommend.

In this prequel to Undercover Latina, we meet Amani, who lives with her mother, who is a doctor, and her father who is a research scientist who frequently is gone on longer projects. Amani goes to a private school where she often feels belittled by her white classmates, who often give her a hard time because she is full figured, but her mother wants her to have the best education she can get. When a creepy man appears near her house several times in a menacing fashion, Amani reluctantly calls the police. Both she and her mother are wary of the police for several good reasons, including the fact that the mother believes the stalker might be a former boyfriend who is in law enforcement. When their house is set on fire, Amani's mother pulls her from school and they go to a different part of town to stay with Niema, a family friend who was her Harambee class teacher. Niema helps Amani get settled at Roosevelt High School (going by the name Imani), which is a culture shock for her. For the first time, she is with people who share her ethnic background but have a different socioeconomic one. Her curves get a different type of unwanted attention, this time from boys, who make rude and unwelcome comments. She does meet Ella and her brother Dexter, who are very instrumental in getting her to adjust to her new environment, but there are lots of things going on in Amani's life. Her father has gone dark, and her mother reveals some family secrets that tie into the spy organization The Factory from Undercover Latina. Her father has run afoul of a drug cartel, and when there is an incident at a school dance, Amani and her mother find themselves on the run to Cancun. Will they be able to remain safe? And will Amani be recruited to work for The Factory?