Thirteen-year-old Dalia loves roller coasters. At least, she loves watching videos about them—she’s never actually been on one. Her plans to do so, however, are derailed when she has a falling out with her best friend and her divorced dad suddenly tells her he has a fiancée. He wants her to spend the summer bonding with the fiancée’s college-age daughter, Alexa. When Dalia discovers that Alexa and Alexa’s friend Dhruv had been planning an amusement-park road trip for the summer, however, she concocts a plan to come along, bringing her new friend Rani. Alexa isn’t happy to have to “babysit,” however, and has issues with her own mother as well. On the trip, Dalia and Alexa have to negotiate their touchy relationship as Dalia’s feelings for Rani deepen into something she can’t quite figure out.
Luckily, it turns out that both Dhruv and Alexa are queer, too, and Alexa’s secret girlfriend Sara is also joining them on the trip. Although Alexa and Dalia don’t get along at first, they eventually find a kind of respect, and ultimately, Alexa, Sara, and Dhruv offer supportive guidance to Dalia as she works through her feelings for Rani. It’s a lovely example of how queer people form community and the importance of queer bonds and mentorship across generations.
This is a sweet queer romance with appropriately roller-coaster bumps and twists, not only with regard to Dalia and Rani’s relationship, but also to the relationships among the other characters. And while it is a coming out story as Dalia assesses her feelings for Rani (and Rani’s for her), neither character has angst about being queer per se, which is refreshing. Author Jake Maia Arlow knows her roller coasters, too, weaving in lots of fun facts about their history and structure via Dalia’s enthusiastic retelling.
Dalia is of Polish Jewish heritage and Rani of Persian Muslim heritage, and while neither of them is religiously observant, they each make reference to cultural touchpoints that ring true. Arlow also throws in some nice touches like having Dalia use “they” pronouns for a minor character they meet, not assuming their gender. This isn’t dwelt upon or even pointed out, but offers a good example for other writers of how to model such inclusion even in stories that aren’t “about” gender identity.
A soaring debut novel with engaging characters and a perfect balance of fun, romance, and emotional insights.
