Up in Flames - Hardcover

Alcaraz, Hailey

 
9780593525548: Up in Flames
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 059352554X ISBN 13: 9780593525548
Verlag: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

Gorgeous, wealthy, and entitled, Ruby has just one single worry in her life—scheming to get the boy next door to finally realize they’re meant to be together. But when the California wildfires cause her privileged world to go up in flames, Ruby must struggle to find the grit and compassion to help her family and those less fortunate to rise from the ashes.

At eighteen, Ruby Ortega is an unapologetic flirt who balances her natural aptitude for economics with her skill in partying hard. But she couldn't care less about those messy college boys—it's her intense, brooding neighbor Ashton who she wants, and even followed to school. Even the fact that he has a girlfriend doesn't deter her . . . whatever Ruby wants, she eventually gets. 

Her ruthless determination is tested when wildfires devastate her California hometown, destroying her parents' business and causing an unspeakable tragedy that shatters her to her core. Suddenly, Ruby is the head of the family and responsible for its survival, with no income or experience to rely on. Rebuilding seems hopeless, but with the help of unexpected allies—including a beguiling, dark-eyed boy who seems to understand her better than anyone—Ruby has to try. When she discovers that the fires also displaced many undocumented people in her town, it becomes even more imperative to help. And if she has to make hard choices along the way, can anyone blame her?

In her powerful debut novel, Mexican American author Hailey Alcaraz chronicles a riveting portrait of transformation, resilience, and love with an unlikely heroine who, when faced with unforeseen disaster, surprises everyone, especially herself.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Hailey Alcaraz enjoys writing stories about multicultural Latinx characters, girls who choose the difficult path when it comes to love, and the clumsy journey of “finding yourself” as a young adult. As a second-generation Mexican American woman, a middle school English teacher for mostly Hispanic students in South Phoenix, and a lover of powerful female protagonists, Alcaraz is uniquely qualified to tell this story of a mixed race young woman blazing her own trail. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, daughter, and German shepherd, Lemon.

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1
Ruby Ortega always got what she wanted.

However, Ruby Ortega also frequently wanted what she couldn’t have—which was precisely how she found herself in her current predicament: engulfed by a flock of rowdy boys lavishing her with the attention and adoration she craved on this tedious evening but still feeling just a little bit bored.

Among this crowd were, of course, the Trujillo brothers; they never passed up a chance to brag and boast in front of an audience. Ruby had once found the name of Alex Trujillo, the youngest of that tall brood, doodled in her sister’s notebook with hearts and swirls, and suspected an unreciprocated crush. Then there were a handful of other boys she’d grown up with—Mike Thomas, Ian Percy, and Daniel de la Cruz—whose parents either worked with her father, attended spin class with her mother, or operated in some capacity in the high--society circle to which the Ortegas belonged. There were a few others who were less familiar, like Sam Gomez, whose parents sent him off to boarding school last year after a drunken, late-night joy ride in their Beemer that had resulted in several thousand dollars of property damage near Balboa Park. All in all, the boys surrounding Ruby were all fine. No one particularly special, but at least they were better than the girls her age.

As they took turns blustering about achievements they seemed to find impressive—high scores on Madden or beer pong tournaments—Ruby feigned interest with a thin smile and a tigerlike scan of the rest of the partygoers clustered around the patio of her family’s bed-and-breakfast.

At least two hundred guests had come to Elena’s quinceañera. Ruby’s father claimed most of them were related to their family, but who could really know with him? He referred to everyone as primo so-and-so or tía what’s-her-name. Ruby’d had her own quince three years ago, and he’d introduced her to about twenty people who were “cousins” she’d never met.

Elena had been babbling incessantly about this party for months, and for the past week, no one in her family had been able to talk about anything else. Her sister had gone to everyone but Ruby as she deliberated over the color of her dress (mint green, which no one had the courage to tell her brought out the sickliest undertones in her skin), the party favor (key chains with her face on them—who the hell would want that?), or even the centerpiece flowers (it didn’t matter that they were some exotic daisy that her mother had called three different florists to track down—they were still daisies). Daddy got to offer his opinions. Mom was integral to every decision. Even Carla, who was eleven, got to make suggestions. But anytime Ruby was proximal to any party planning, Elena would snap, “Oh, Ruby. I’m sure you’re busy getting ready for college. You don’t need to worry about my birthday.”

It was unrelenting, and Ruby’d had all she could bear.

She let out a bored sigh and locked eyes with Alex across thecircle of boys as he shoved a sopaipilla into his face. He glanced around uncertainly before he realized that he was the one who Ruby had zeroed in on. She ran a hand over the shimmery fabric of her dress, acutely aware of the effect that would have on him. The wolfish way he stared at her as he finished off the fried pastry, scattering powdered sugar all over his shirt, was somehow both revolting and satisfying.

Ruby had a slim figure, but it was not offset by the gentle curves most of the other girls had upon exiting puberty. Her skin was fair, but not quite porcelain; it was just light enough for people to comment frequently that she didn’t “look Latina”—whatever that meant. She had thick, dark hair that, on her best days, fell in glamorous waves down her back, but on her worst days drew Medusa-like comparisons. While some girls may have listed these qualities as flaws, Ruby in fact knew them to be traits she could use to her advantage with the right amount of confidence and a good deal of batting her eyelashes. There was absolutely no challenge that Ruby wasn’t prepared to bend to her will.

Alex barreled toward her, earning more than a few irritated scowls as he did so.

“You look amazing,” was all he could muster, a nervous grin playing on his sugarcoated lips.

She smiled back, instantly filled with the familiar satisfaction of having all eyes on her.

He seized her brief silence as his opportunity to interject what he probably thought was his most remarkable trait. “I don’t know if you saw the new truck out there.” Ruby maintained a blank expression, but he was undeterred. “It’s mine. I just bought it. It’s got three hundred horsepower. Which is a lot. Most people don’t know the difference between horsepower and torque.”

How did we go from complimenting me to thisso quickly? she wondered.

Somehow he had transitioned to towing capacity, which apparently was also different from horsepower, and Ruby resisted the overwhelming urge to point out that all those things were similar in that she did not give two shits about any of them.

She eyed Ian Percy, who stood to the right of Alex’s colossal shoulder with a disappointed scowl on his face. She’d always found him kind of skeevy, ever since she heard he had multiple iPhones to text different girlfriends, but perhaps he’d be a more interesting target? “I’m sorry,” she cooed to Alex apologetically. “My champagne seems to have disappeared.” She held up her empty hands and gave him a helpless shrug.

She flicked her eyes up at him and waited five full seconds for him to realize she was waiting for him to make himself useful.

At last, his eyes brightened with understanding. “I’ll go get you one. Bartenders never ask for my ID.” He put his own cup to his lips and drained its contents with one cartoonishly loud slurp. “Because I’m so tall,” he added unnecessarily.

Ruby rewarded him with an affectionate pat on his arm. “Oh, would you? I’ll see you back here in a minute, then.” Before the relief of finally shaking the bumbling buffoon (really,what did Elena see in that guy?) could sink in, Ruby felt a gentle but firm hand pull her by the arm, away from her gaggle of admirers.

“Ruby. Catherine. Ortega.” Instantly, she was spun so her back was to the boys, and she was instead face-to-face with the reproachful glare of her mother—the only person in the world whose whisper could still be heard over the thumping of a DJ. “Are you trying to give your father a heart attack?”

Her father subsisted on a diet that was primarily made of tequila and red meat, so while a heart attack wasn’t completely out of the question, Ruby didn’t really see how it could be blamed on her.

Before she could answer, her mother snapped, “You know he didn’t want you wearing that dress, and I still don’t know how you made it out of the house without me seeing it.” Her mother’s eyes darted furiously over the pale green bodycon dress that clung to her torso, exposing more than a tasteful amount of cleavage. Of course, the dress’s fit was only part of her parents’ disapproval of her choice. The other part had been Elena’s whining that the color was too close to the mint-green gown she’d selected for herself, which Ruby found ludicrous. Everyone knew green was her color.

Though it had required borderline espionage to escape her mother’s authoritarian watch this...

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Verlag
Viking Books for Young Readers
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
059352554X
ISBN 13 
9780593525548
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
384
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
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