Adios to All the Drama-Diana Rodriguez-Wallach

Adios to All the Drama
Diana Rodriguez-Wallach
Kensington, Jan 2009, $9.95
ISBN: 9780758225573

In Spring Mills, Pennsylvania, high school student Mariana Ruiz is shocked to find sitting at the breakfast table, Alex, whom she met during the summer when she visited family in Puerto Rico (see AMOR AND SUMMER SECRETS). Her last memory of him is his standing roadside in Utuado as she drove off to go home after they were an entry during the summer. Whereas Alex is ready to continue where they left off, Mariana is unsure whether she wants to take up where they left it especially since she also is attracted to her locker buddy Bobby (see AMIGAS AND SCHOOL SCANDALS) that she tried to hide but everyone seems to know.

As always Mariana asks Madison and Emily for advice, but the former is totally preoccupied with her on-line boyfriend whom she has never met in person and her other friend has parental woes Meanwhile estranged Aunt Teresa is getting married on New Year’s Day with the teen cousins Mariana and Lilly serving as her bridesmaids while Mariana wonders who she will save the last dance for when the ball comes down; because that is whom she will kiss.

The third tale has the three amigas with boy problems that strains their friendship as for the first time they are not there for one another. The cast is solid and the subplots involving Teresa, Madison and Emily add to the overall teen angst, but no question there is only one star in Diana Rodriguez-Wallach teen series, Mariana, who first hand understands the Loving Spoonful’s prime question of the universe (and not that of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy): Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?. ADIOS TO ALL THE DRAMA is an interesting look at teen decision making, information gathering, and especially drama queen angst.

Harriet Klausner