Just Say Yes

November 15, 2023
A Peruvian American teen is shocked to discover she's undocumented. It's 2007, and 17-year-old Brooklynite Jimena Ramos throws a rooftop party the night before she begins senior year. When the cops shut it down, Jimena worries that her law-abiding, telenovela-watching mom will be pissed. What Jimena doesn't count on is her mother's revelation: They overstayed their visa and are in the U.S. illegally. Devastated, Jimena embarks on Operation Green Card. She repeatedly asks her Russian American friend and neighbor, aspiring Oxford student Vitaly Petrov, to marry her--and he repeatedly declines. Instead, after offering to help with her mission of finding a suitable marriage candidate, he shows her a PowerPoint full of strategies and functions as her bodyguard while she goes on dates. Jimena joins a dating website, certain she'll find love and marriage. When that plan fails, she pivots to thinking about marriage as a business transaction and uses Craigslist to attract a potential husband. That, too, is a bust. Jimena then meets a blue-haired white boy activist at a DREAM Act rally, who offers to help her get her citizenship--but it all gets complicated, especially as her feelings for Vitaly begin to evolve. The first-person narrative successfully pulls at the heartstrings as Jimena's frustrations over her stunted future, her desperate urgency to become naturalized, and her fear of deportation grow with every moment. Grounded and relevant: a thoughtful exploration of living with uncertainty. (Fiction. 14-18)

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December 1, 2023
Grades 8-12 Jimena Ramos gets the surprise of her life when her mom lets Jimena in on a secret that she's been keeping: the two of them are in the country illegally. Jimena can't believe that her mom would keep such a life-altering fact hidden from her. After consulting an immigration attorney, Jimena figures out that the only way to stay in the country is by finding someone to marry for a green card. As she teams up with her tightly wound, nerdy neighbor, Jimena begins a hunt for a husband. But her plans become derailed when she starts to fall for the boy who has grand plans that don't include marriage. Moldavsky's newest novel is a fun play on a larger humanitarian issue. The novel, set in the early 2000s, is full of nostalgia, romance, and humor. It provides a full picture of Jimena's plight as an undocumented DREAMer, and readers will find it easy to empathize with Jimena's marriage scheme. Overall, this book is a sweet, compelling read.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 18, 2023
In 2006, 17-year-old Peruvian American Jimena Ramos, a high school senior, can’t wait to attend a great college and make her mark on the world. But after police break up a rooftop party and escort Jimena home, her terrified mother confesses that the family has overstayed their visas after emigrating from Peru. Jimena believes that her future is forfeit—unless she becomes an American citizen. Her only solution, she feels, is to marry, but finding a husband turns out to be harder than she anticipated; online ads and desperate dating get her nowhere. She is eventually drawn to her Russian American neighbor Vitaly, also 17, whose own hang-ups regarding marriage and determination to move to England ruin any chance of romance there. Still, Jimena’s growing feelings for Vitaly persist, forcing her to choose between pursuing real, authentic love or chasing after her carefully planned future at the expense of her heart. Though uneven pacing and occasionally flat dialogue lessen the impact of this promising concept, Moldavsky (Lord of the Fly Fest) deftly elevates the popular marriage of convenience trope by critically highlighting the insurmountable odds of the U.S. immigration system in this timely read. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency.

Starred review from January 1, 2024

Gr 8 Up-Seventeen-year-old Jimena Ramos learns that although her family immigrated to New York City legally from Peru when she was a toddler, their visa expired years ago and she is now living in the United States illegally. Desperate to change that, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that takes her through a maze of online dating and creepy classifieds in search of a green card marriage. Jimena finds friendship and a confidant in her Russian American neighbor, Vitaly, but will she be able to hold onto this in her race against time to secure her place in the only home she's ever known? Moldavsky was, like Jimena, born in Peru, and the novel is full of Spanish conversations between Jimena and her mother. The language flows naturally and is easily understood, making the story accessible to a diverse population of readers. Through laughter, love, and unforeseen challenges, readers follow Jimena in a tale that delicately balances the lighthearted moments with the profound struggles of living in the shadows. Jimena's charming wit brings humor to what could have been a heavy narrative, and does so without trivializing the experience. Here is a novel that brightly celebrates resilience, determination, and the universal desire for a place to call home. VERDICT A great romance with characters who, despite ridiculous moments, have relatable anxieties and fears. A first good purchase for any library serving teens, but especially for collections where there might be a need for a lighter companion to The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.-Claire Covington

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