In this second book in the Ready for The World series, Brandon Delacruz finds himself smack dab in the middle of two girls—a best friend and a new love, but just as he starts to weave a path through the delicate balance of this situation, a bit of news drastically alters the world around him. And now he is left just trying to figure it all out.
As a teenager of the eighties, I absolutely LOVED this story, not just for its perfect balance of references from the time, but also for the strength of these characters developed by Charmeljun Gallardo. His storytelling style is reminiscent of some of the great coming-of-age films from the period, told by Gallardo with a modern-day sensibility…and it worked perfectly for me.
One of my favorite lines from the book, “You look like you French kissed a Caesar salad,” had me dying with laughter.
The voice of the story is right on with the age of the characters—it is witty and easy to follow, and the book as a whole is a fast read appealing to either gender. The author has a real talent for showing readers who these characters are right from the first page, and that had me invested in the story from the beginning.
The only things keeping this book from a five star were the handful of editing errors, which could easily be resolved with one more editing round, and the fact that the first chapter of the book started at chapter seven which confused me.
As a kid from the 80’s I loved all the pop references—not too many to lose current YA readers, and just enough to snag the heart of an 80’s kid like me. Well done, and I highly recommend this book, best for YA readers aged 13+ and lovers of 80’s genre romantic comedies.
You can also read this review on ReedsyDiscovery.