Sisters, Strangers, and Starting Over Book

Sometimes the family you've lost can lead you to the family you need...

When Beatriz Sánchez-Milligan turned her back on her troubled sister, she ushered in a lifetime of regret. So when the niece Beatriz never knew she had appears on her doorstep—announcing that her mother has died—she can't help but see fourteen-year-old Celeste as a chance to redo the past . . . despite her own family's objections.
But Celeste is skittish around her new family. She can feel the tension radiating from her uncle and cousins and, despite her aunt's enthusiasm, is hesitant to share her dreams of the traditional quinceañera she and her mother had been planning. Overwhelmed, Celeste does what her mom did years ago: she vanishes. Terrified the past is repeating itself, Beatriz scrambles to uncover the mystery surrounding her sister's life and death-and build a future in which the niece she dearly loves is truly part of her family.

Publishers Weekly

The second in a captivating series (following Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz) focusing not just on girls going through the traditional coming-of-age Quincean~era celebration, but on the mothers (and others) who love them, this volume follows 14-year-old Celeste Sanchez as she deals with the murder of her mother, a Mexican labor organizer, and a new home in America. Arriving at her Aunt Beatriz's San Antonio, Tex., home in time for Beatriz's 25th wedding anniversary party, Celeste meets her teenage cousins Carlos and Raul, but finds her Uncle Larry, a strict father with Irish roots, less welcoming; as his wife makes tentative plans to adopt Celeste, Larry fears she'll be an unpredictable handful like her mother. As Celeste and Beatriz reconnect, an investigative journalist from El Paso comes to San Antonio looking for Celeste, hoping to pass on a final gift from her mother. Emotionally profound, Acosta's joyous celebration of sisterhood, motherhood, friendship, and family is an insightful read. (July)