LULU AND MILAGRO’S SEARCH FOR CLARITY By Angela Velez

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Lulu and Milagro's Search for Clarity by Angela Velez
Published by Balzer + Bray on 2/8/22
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Pages: 388
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Overachiever Luz “Lulu” Zavala has straight As, perfect attendance, and a solid ten-year plan. First up: nail her interview for a dream internship at Stanford, the last stop on her school’s cross-country college road trip. The only flaw in her plan is Clara, her oldest sister, who went off to college and sparked a massive fight with their overprotective Peruvian mom, who is now convinced that out-of-state-college will destroy their family. If Lulu can’t fix whatever went wrong between them, the whole trip—and her future—will be a waste.

Middle sister Milagro wants nothing to do with college or a nerdy class field trip. Then a spot opens up on the trip just as her own spring break plans (Operation Don’t Die a Virgin) are thwarted, and she hops on the bus with her glittery lipsticks, more concerned about getting back at her ex than she is about schools or any family drama. But the trip opens her eyes about possibilities she’d never imagined for herself. Maybe she is more than the boy-crazy girl everyone seems to think she is.

On a journey from Baltimore all the way to San Francisco, Lulu and Milagro will become begrudging partners as they unpack weighty family expectations, uncover Clara’s secrets, and maybe even discover the true meaning of sisterhood.

Short and Sweet Review

Lulu and her sister Milagro are complete opposites, Lulu is an over-achiever and Milagro seems to care more about boys than her studies. Their older sister Clara is in college and Clara is the sister that seems like she can do no wrong, until she came home from winter break and got in an argument with their mom and hasn’t spoken to her since. Now there’s some tension in the house whenever Clara is mentioned. Lulu needs Clara and her mom to make up so that Lulu can go to a summer program at Stanford but it seems impossible to make this happen, but Lulu has a plan, during the college tour with her high school she’ll find Clara and figure out what went wrong. On the other hand Milagro is more worried about not dying a virgin so she has plans to have sex with her boyfriend while her mom is on a prayer trip and Lulu is on a college tour. Unfortunately for Milagro things go wrong and she ends up having to go on the college tour with Lulu much to her displeasure.

Lulu and Milagro are very different which was great in that you could read each POV and know who you were reading about. Lulu takes school very seriously and even though Milagro seems like she doesn’t she’s actually an honor student. We see Lulu struggling with the fact that she doesn’t think her mom will go out of state for college because of the rift with Clara, she just wants Clara to talk to her mom and sort it all out so she can pursue her dreams. Milagro has a boyfriend Pablo who’s basically a scum bag anyway things don’t go according to plan when they’re about to hook up and she breaks up with him. After that Milagro is informed about the school trip and is invited to go and she’s told to watch over Lulu. Lulu makes an effort to make Milagro feel better but Milagro has other things on her mind… College boys.

Lulu and Milagro try to hangout but again they’re so vastly different and in each other’s heads they just find reasons about why they can’t really hangout, Lulu is too studious and Milagro is too boy crazy. I will say I didn’t like how Milagro was just searching for boys most of the time and broke her promise to Lulu to make it more of a sister trip. I didn’t like that Lulu made rash decisions she would see or hear something not knowing the full story and lash out she did this multiple times. I will say finding out about Clara was the best part. I feel like most of my issues with these characters were resolved 80% through the book.

We do see the sisterly bonds in these characters and I like how in the end we see them figure out what it truly means to love your sisters. This cross country road trip was heartfelt and I liked the characters and their diversity.