Fireblooms

Villasante (The Grief Keeper) presents a raw meditation on grief and personal growth in this emotionally resonant speculative read. Leaving Papá and Abuela in San Marcos, 17-year-old Sebas boards a Greyhound bus to New Gault, where he will care for his estranged mother, recently diagnosed with cancer. New Gault is a city run by TECH, a privately owned technological corporation that also funds the local high school. Student ambassador Lu—a nonbinary poet with anxiety, whose unwavering faith in TECH stems from their past trauma—informs Sebas that the only way to succeed academically is to opt into TECH’s network, which grants societal privileges in exchange for constant surveillance and monitoring. Sebas’s refusal rattles Lu and simultaneously sets the stage for the novel’s central, slow-burning romance. Across their alternating first-person perspectives, the teens support each other through family discord, mental health obstacles, and resurfacing ghosts from the past, which Villasante renders using gritty, slang-rich prose. Compelling secondary characters and TECH’s utopian foundational principles highlight the juxtaposition between New Gault society’s glorified ideals and human imperfection in a gracefully crafted tale that portrays Lu and Sebas with authentic vulnerability as they navigate bullying and loss. The cast is intersectionally diverse. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)