Julie is running om her friends, her parents, the brother who came back from war changed, and, most of all, from herself. She blames herself for her brother's accident iving drunk, he hit and paralyzed one of Julie's acquaintances d she's desperate for an escape. With her parents' blessing, she joins a church group building homes, à la Habitat for Humanity, in New Orleans, but even there she cannot find the escape she craves. Feeling trapped by the cloying humidity and the cheerfulness of her group, she runs away from them and their touchy-feely leader, Tavis, and sneaks onto the bus taking another group into the city. Arriving on the night of Midsummer Mardi Gras, she meets Miles, a boy with electric blue hair and a banjo, and starts to fall in love, finding forgiveness and calm til a Category 2 hurricane begins to rage around them. Garcia's debut is a wrenching, high-stakes exploration of self-discovery. Readers of Gayle Forman, Sarah Dessen, and E. Lockhart will find themselves engaged by Julie's quest.

Julie, who's suffering from an unknown trauma, is volunteering in New Orleans with her "suffocating" Christian youth group. After she bolts into Mid-Summer Mardi Gras and takes up with a handsome local banjo player and his crew, wandering leads to healing and whirlwind romance as a tropical storm draws closer. A wild, sensitive, and vibrant love song to New Orleans, Shakespeare, and adolescence.

During a summer service trip to New Orleans, Julie escapes from her church group and revels in Mid-Summer Mardi Gras for one magical, romantic night. In New Orleans volunteering with her church, Julie sneaks away to the French Quarter to get away from a too-flirtatious team leader. There, after seeing the crowd dressed for August's Mid-Summer Mardi Gras, she crafts an impromptu fairy costume and then finds herself drawn to a black banjo player with an electric-blue Afro and a killer smile. They decide to spend the evening together but without the burden of real names. He calls her Lila (which means "night" in Arabic), and she names him Miles (like the musicians Davis and Kane) as they head out to visit his favorite haunts around NoLa. As the night progresses, the two are so caught up with each other they don't realize a dangerous storm is headed their way. The author's rich descriptions of New Orleans make the vibrant city come alive, from the music and ghost stories to the vampire lore and delicious beignets. The steamy atmosphere reflects the heated chemistry between Julie and Miles. Throughout the night, the characters share secrets, discuss serious issues, and explore Julie's Puerto Rican background in addition to Miles' experiences as a multigenerational New Orleanian. A compelling 24-hour romance that's as charged as its New Orleans setting. (Romance. 14-18)

Reeling from a tragedy involving her brother, who is newly returned from military duty, Julie flees her youth group's volunteer house in New Orleans to get away from Tavis, whose romantic interests are not returned. In a spur of the moment decision, she decides to investigate Mardi Gras, where she meets up with an attractive, soulful young man. They agree to wander the celebration, and the city, together, without revealing each other's names, going by "Lila" and "Miles." What follows is a walking tour of New Orleans and the festival, as the two try to escape the present and deepen their connection over the course of twenty-four hours, but another hurricane is on the horizon, and if the new duo gets separated, they might not be able to find each other again.Debut author Garcia deserves a lot of credit for not resorting to the usual young adult tropes. Julie's brother's backstory is suitably tragic, but feels like a relatively unique take on the sibling who returns home from war. One of Miles's buddies is gay, but does not come across as a token, although the story belongs to the couple falling in love. Miles and Lila have sex; refreshingly, Julie is not a virgin and Miles comes across as suitably experienced. Their romance never quite rises to be an epic love story, but readers witness two likable characters figuring out their hearts.Matthew Weaver.