A stunning teen novel in verse that was mouthwatering and profound. Danna is slowly losing her grandfather to dementia, it's taking away her favorite person and she is determined to hang on to him for as long as she can. She cooks his favorite meals and gets the food he so lovingly wrote about when he was a food writer. Sometimes he comes back for a minute, sometimes an hour, sometimes it has no effect.
Raul is a mediocre student who just wants to play the guitar so he can forget about the fact that his mom is locked up in prison. When he and his uncle go to Danna's house to sing and play guitar as part of music therapy he and Danna form an instant connection. Their teenaged lives are in turmoil and through food, prayer, and friendship things will work out. Not the way they planned it, but they will work out. Beautiful writing; it's impossible not to get hungry while reading this. It's practically a love letter to food and the memories it can store for us. ( )

Danna's beloved grandfather has dementia, and she's made it her mission to try to bring him moments of clarity through the foods he's loved and written about throughout his life.

Raúl has lived with his uncle, a pastor, for the past two years while his mom has been in jail, but when she finally comes home, it doesn't go back to the way it used to be between them: she has nightmares, sobs in the shower, and hassles him about grades.

Raúl and Danna meet when he visits her house with his uncle for sessions of music therapy with her grandpa. There is instant chemistry, but beyond that, the two quickly develop a rapport and share their feelings, fears, and joys.

Danna's cousin and best friend Victoria and her dad both love her unconditionally, but her mother is cold and judgmental, especially about Danna's body, clothes, and what she eats; it turns out this has to do with something in her own past.

Novel in verse. Danna's text is aligned left, Raúl's is aligned right. Set in Austin, TX; some Spanish. Enough descriptions of food to make readers salivate!

Quotes

...because he told them they were good
and what they heard
is that they're good enough.
And if an alien came down to Earth
and asked me
what a Christian is,
that's what I would tell them.
That it's a person who thinks
they're good enough. (142)

Maybe flying and falling
are actually the same thing.
Maybe the only difference
is how it makes you feel. (165)

Arguing over this body that
won't fit
into the keyhole
that unlocks
my mother's love. (195)

I hear it in his voice,
this longing for someone
who isn't supposed to be lost. (237)

Life isn't a test you can take again.
You either pass or you fail
and the older I get,
the less time she has to
stack the deck in my favor,
to have any say in
who I'll end up being. (250)

"I can't stop
chasing that feeling.
This appetite
for miracles
I can never
satisfy." (271)

"Healing
doesn't always look
the way we want it to" (320)

"Maybe that's why [time] dragged.
Because while I was begging it to speed up,
somewhere in the world
someone else was begging it to slow down." (330)

...that's
what I'm so afraid
of losing.
Not just Grandpa
but how he sees me. (383) ( )