Review: Mia García – The Resolutions

I don’t remember how I found The Resolutions, but I do remember specifically wanting to pick it up in January, since it deals with New Year’s resolutions. And this really is the perfect time to read this book, even though it’s not exclusively set around New Year’s.

Goodreads Synopsis

New Years are for fresh starts, but Jess just wants everything to go back to the way it was.

From hiking trips, to four-person birthday parties, to never-ending group texts, Jess, Lee, Ryan, and Nora have always been inseparable—and unstoppable. But now, with senior year on the horizon, they’ve been splintering off and growing apart. And so, as always, Jess makes a plan.

Reinstating their usual tradition of making resolutions together on New Year’s Eve, Jess adds a new twist: instead of making their own resolutions, the four friends assign them for each other—dares like kiss someone you know is wrong for you, show your paintings, learn Spanish, say yes to everything.

But not even the best laid plans can take into account the uncertainties of life. As the year unfolds, Jess, Ryan, Nora, and Lee each test the bonds that hold them together. And amid first loves, heart breaks, and life-changing decisions, beginning again is never as simple as it seems.

Rep: gay Asian-Latinx MC, bisexual Latinx MC, Latinx MC, Latinx MC

CWs: past death of a parent, car accident, hospital, panic attacks

Review

Not only did I read it at the right time, it’s also the right kind of book for me. It’s centered around friendship, which I love. And it’s slice of life, which I also love. There isn’t a major focus on an intricate plot, but instead you get to know these characters and you get to know them and follow them for a little while, and get immersed in their lives.

One downside of this book was that it follows four main characters, but not all of them were as well developed. I especially loved Nora, and felt like she had a clear voice from the start. I also loved Ryan, and while I really liked Lee and Jess, I found I had a hard time telling them apart at times, and it wasn’t always very clear what defined them as characters. This did get better as the book progressed, however, and in the end, I do feel like all characters had a lot of depth.

Another small downside is that sometimes the sequence of events was unclear to me. A few times, something would suddenly have happened and it was never explained how or why, which was a little confusing and felt rushed.

Have you read this book? Is it on your TBR?

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