Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Mon May 08 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

A magical realist romance told in verse explores the many transitions of life: from homelands to new homes, from childhood to adulthood, from life to death and back again.The daughter of two immigrant legacies, Ilana Lopez knows what it is to live with ghosts of the past. On her mother's side, there is a 500-year-long Jewish journey from Spain to Cuba to Miami Beach, and on her father's side, a flight from 20th-century totalitarianism in the former Czechoslovakia. It's the phantom of her family's struggles that sees her exiled to Prague the summer of her 16th year: Separating Ilana from her friends and her beloved violin, her parents hope she will turn her attention to preparing for a stable, successful, American future rather than dreams of music. In Prague, she stays with her wild Aunt Žofie and stumbles upon a long-abandoned Jewish cemetery on the hill behind her house. Lonely and longing for understanding, Ilana learns about the heavy Jewish history of Prague as the ghost of a blue-eyed boy with dark curls wends his way into her beating heart. The past is alive in Ilana's Prague, and it's alive in this story that combines modern adolescent concerns, magical realism, and religious themes in pristine verse. An ode to the Diaspora and to the many folktales and myths populating Ilana's mixed heritage, Romero's luscious work dives into dark, painful caverns and emerges in sprays of enthralling hope.A must-read for lost souls everywhere. (Verse novel. 13-18)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon May 08 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Gr 9 Up Ilana Lopez is biracial Jewish Latina, born and raised in Miami by immigrant parents. Ilana's passion is music and playing her violin. This is crushing to her parents, who do not want her to struggle as they did. Attempting to snap her out of it, they take away her violin for the summer and send her to stay with her dad's sister, Aunt Žofie, in Prague. Aunt Žofie lives at Rose Cottage on Rose Hill. Arriving in Prague, Ilana discovers a neglected cemetery on her aunt's property. She begins to spend time clearing and maintaining the matzevots (tombstones), and is met with the ghost of Benjamin, a teen who died a century ago. They form a bond, and with Benjamin, Ilana discovers the magic and the history of Prague, of all those forgotten. While facing the horrors and monsters of the past of her people in Europe, and in feeling sadness, Ilana confronts her own demons and struggles. Romero's novel is beautifully written in heartbreaking verse. The blending themes of Jewish heritage, fairy tales, romance, monsters, and ghosts results in a rewarding read. Romero's writing seeps into the deepest part of the reader, providing much to think about in regards to love and death, passion and heartbreak. Broken down into four movements (a nod to classical music composition, no doubt), the novel's vibrant prose produces vivid imagery. VERDICT A modern folktale, a love letter to the diaspora, and a unique novel-in-verse, this work is recommended for all teen collections. Gretchen Schulz

ALA Booklist (Mon May 08 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Sixteen-year-old budding violinist Ilana Lopez, who has disappointed her parents with poor grades and SAT scores, is sent to Prague to stay with her aunt, an artist living near an abandoned Jewish cemetery. Reneging on a promise to study over the summer, Ilana tends the neglected graves, meeting Benjamin and several children (all ghosts), as well as Rudolph Wassermann, a man with no shadow who asks her to move in with him and his ghostly hostages. After Benjamin and Ilana fall in love, he divulges that Wassermann is actually a vodnik (folkloric river monster) who lures dead children to his house to eat them. Ilana vows to free the ghosts, but will she "survive / because she can be / just as ruthless / as the monster / who wants / to destroy her?" Romero's novel in verse combines Judaic tradition with fantasy and is divided into movements like a classical musical piece. The vodnik is appropriately creepy, and while his physical details don't match Czech folklore exactly, he makes a perfect foil for the innocent Ilana.

Horn Book (Mon May 08 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this verse novel, Cuban American Jewish teen Ilana Lopez spends a summer with her aunt in Prague. She finds an abandoned Jewish cemetery and, while cleaning it up, encounters Benjamin, the ghost of a long-dead boy her age; and Wassermann, a man with no shadow. Accustomed to hearing stories from her family's past ("I'm Jewish / we're good at remembering"), Ilana is unbothered by Benjamin's ghostly state, and a romance blooms between them. But something sinister is at play: Wassermann is a vodnik, a folkloric river spirit who consumes souls, and it will ultimately be up to Ilana to defeat him. The straightforward free-verse poetry is infused with Ilana's embrace of her background (most explicitly her Jewish background) and her awareness of her people's transient, precarious history (does her heritage "mean / moving across borders / like water / moves across stones / Or does it mean knowing / the Wassermanns of the world / are always one step / behind you?"). Creepy though the premise is, the thought-provoking novel is more fable than horror, as its protagonist finds a balance between past and present. Shoshana Flax

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A magical realist romance told in verse explores the many transitions of life: from homelands to new homes, from childhood to adulthood, from life to death and back again.The daughter of two immigrant legacies, Ilana Lopez knows what it is to live with ghosts of the past. On her mother's side, there is a 500-year-long Jewish journey from Spain to Cuba to Miami Beach, and on her father's side, a flight from 20th-century totalitarianism in the former Czechoslovakia. It's the phantom of her family's struggles that sees her exiled to Prague the summer of her 16th year: Separating Ilana from her friends and her beloved violin, her parents hope she will turn her attention to preparing for a stable, successful, American future rather than dreams of music. In Prague, she stays with her wild Aunt Žofie and stumbles upon a long-abandoned Jewish cemetery on the hill behind her house. Lonely and longing for understanding, Ilana learns about the heavy Jewish history of Prague as the ghost of a blue-eyed boy with dark curls wends his way into her beating heart. The past is alive in Ilana's Prague, and it's alive in this story that combines modern adolescent concerns, magical realism, and religious themes in pristine verse. An ode to the Diaspora and to the many folktales and myths populating Ilana's mixed heritage, Romero's luscious work dives into dark, painful caverns and emerges in sprays of enthralling hope.A must-read for lost souls everywhere. (Verse novel. 13-18)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

An intoxicating blend of the contemporary and otherworldly, Romero’s (The Dollmaker of Krakow) layered novel in verse interlaces romance and ghost story with an exploration of cultural identity, folklore, and history. The parents of Miami Beach–born Ilana each fled from communism: her father from then-Czechoslovakia, and her Jewish mother from Cuba following her own family’s flight from Spain. Ilana’s passion for the violin and social life worry them, so they “exile” the 16-year-old to Prague for the summer, to stay with her artist aunt, Žofie, and study for the SAT. Instead, Ilana finds and begins tending a deserted Jewish cemetery on the hill behind Žofie’s cottage, where she meets—and falls in love with—the blue-eyed ghost of 16-year-old Benjamin, who is Jewish. Wandering Prague with him, Ilana deepens her understanding of “what it’s like to be Jewish/ in Europe./ Every beautiful thing/ has horror buried under it.” Lured back to the violin by a mysterious older German musician who cares for Benjamin and three younger ghosts, she strengthens her commitment to her art—and grows tempted by an invitation to remain in Prague. In lyrical, immersive language that’s both contemporary and ageless, Romero brings vivid life to the teenagers’ powerful romance. Ages 14–up. Agent: Rena Rossner, Deborah Harris Agency. (May)