London On My Mind

Gr 9 Up–After the tragic death of her single mom, grief-stricken 16-year-old Dayana finds herself relocating from her hometown of Rio de Janeiro to London. A devoted One Direction fan and Anglophile, Brazilian Dayana has always dreamed of visiting England, though not under these circumstances—forced to move in with a father who abandoned her, a stepsister who has emotionally supplanted her, and an insufferably direct stepmother. But glum days turn royally bright when Dayana is knocked over, both literally and figuratively, by a mysterious redhead fleeing Buckingham Palace. Dayana, who identifies as bisexual and is plus-sized, finds herself swept into a queer romance à la Notting Hill. Told primarily from Dayana’s first-person perspective after arriving in London, the narrative is also peppered with flashbacks to life before the death of Dayana’s mom, tabloid articles about the royal family, and drama-studded text chains. While ultimately a light rom-com, the novel does have deeper layers broaching grief, body image, chronic disease, immigration, blended families, and forgiveness. Readers might laugh, cry, swoon, and cringe as raw and impulsive Dayana tries to woo—and then win back—the girl of her dreams. At times, the English translation of the Brazilian Portuguese text misses nuances in the language or key character moments when the dialogue functioned better in Portuguese for plot reasons, but overall, readers should catch the author’s intent.