EIGHTEEN ROSES

A Filipina American teen in Albuquerque uses humor to navigate life’s challenges.

Lucia Cruz loves old movies and baggy clothes and doesn’t care about her appearance. Although she’s turning 18 soon, she wants nothing to do with the Filipino tradition of glitzy, glamorous debutante balls. She’d need 18 friends for a special choreographed dance, but she has only one, Esmé Mares. That is, until Esmé decides they’ve been stagnating and should branch out socially. Then Lucia discovers that her divorced mother has invited everyone in the family—including her lola in the Philippines—to a debut that she’s secretly planning. Although she’s initially outraged, Lucia desperately wants to see Lola. Realizing how much it means to Mom, who’s working two jobs, she ends up trying to plan a perfect debut on a tight budget. Desperate to somehow find 17 friends (in addition to her younger sister) for the ceremony, she joins the stand-up comedy club at school. She’s always loved making Esmé laugh, but now Lucia’s sense of humor might lead to more connections and help her with self-reflection. Rogers’ sophomore novel features rich, deep representation of Filipino experience in the U.S. as well as strong character development, as it follows a loner who finds connections one small, imperfect step at a time. Through her journey of opening up and embracing vulnerability, Lucia, whose father is white, navigates the pressures of complicated family dynamics and community expectations.

Beautiful, relatable, and full of emotion.