ALA Booklist (Wed Jul 06 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

After a video of Jacaranda singing for a favorite customer while bagging groceries goes viral, a mysterious anonymous benefactor offers to send her to the Midwestern Arts Academy in rural Michigan, far from her life as a Florida foster kid. With grateful exuberance, Jackie begins sending them emails all about her life. At MAA, Jackie hides her past in order to blend in. She says her incarcerated mother is "out of the country," and this allows Jackie to accept holiday invitations to stay with new school friends at their penthouses in Manhattan. There she also sees the charming boy who's been sweeping her off her feet, introducing her to diners and Broadway shows. While the epistolary format can be awkward, the theater moments are spot-on, from Jackie's first scene assignment (from My Fair Lady) to fraught auditions for the school musical (Into the Woods) and stressful end-of-semester juries. Female-centric teen theater novels are surprisingly uncommon; this one offers a satisfying journey to self-acceptance, a sweet, sincere romance, and a bit of mystery st who is Jackie's benefactor?

Kirkus Reviews (Wed Jul 06 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Talent trumps disadvantage in this romance about a teen whisked off by an anonymous benefactor to a prestigious boarding school for the arts in Michigan.Sixteen-year-old Jacaranda Abbott has spent years moving between foster homes due to her mother's imprisonment for attempted murder of an abusive boyfriend. When a video of Jacaranda singing at the Miami Publix supermarket at which she works goes viral, it changes the course of her life. The admission essay she writes to Midwestern Arts Academy sets up the details of this story, giving way to a long series of confessional, heartfelt, and unanswered emails directed to Mr. Smith, as she dubs the mystery man responsible for the fairy-tale scenario now playing out. Jacaranda's voice is quick, witty, and frank, making her an easy, if archetypal, character to root for. Her relationships with her new peers, almost all of whom are dramatically more privileged than she is, provide fertile ground for some convincing points about class and stigma. Jacaranda's romance with Jarvis, the wealthy, kind cousin of one of her suitemates, is a sweet one, predictably weaving its way through some rocky points with a final twist that will be spotted a long way off by many readers. Jacaranda and Jarvis are white; some racial and ethnic diversity is suggested by secondary characters' names and textual cues.An engaging but exceedingly familiar tale of underdog triumph. (Romance. 14-18)

School Library Journal (Wed Jul 06 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Gr 9 Up-Jacaranda's mother was imprisoned five years ago for attempting to murder an abusive partner, and Jacaranda's only contact with her is the occasional letter. A high school junior and foster child, Jacaranda sings in a school chorus and keeps to herself. When a video of Jacaranda singing goes viral, a mysterious benefactor offers to send her to a boarding school in Michigan specializing in musical theater. With an arsenal of new possessions, she's swept into a world where competition is fierce and soon falls behind in the art-focused high school. As she falls in love with a rich, high-profile boy named Jarvis, she wonders how long she can keep her past a secret and who has given her this new lifestyle. In the epistolary style of Jean Webster's Daddy-Long-Legs , Jacaranda's story is told through emails to her anonymous benefactor, and her voice strikes a balance of enthusiasm, earnestness, and troubles over friends, boys, and school. Many of the characters have strong arcs and believable flaws, but some seem to exist to propel the plot. The romance is sweet and fast-moving, with Jarvis written as a character who has had some troubles in life to explain his over-the-top generosity. There are many small plot points that slow down the story's pacing, but ultimately lead to a frothy conclusion. Flinn adds depth to the plot with several references to musical theater and a subplot about justice for Jacaranda's mother. VERDICT This is for collections where Flinn's other retellings are popularwhile the tale's various threads have satisfying resolutions, they may feel a bit unreal, and overly optimistic for some readers. Liz Anderson, DC P.L.