I really wanted to like this one because the cover is gorgeous and eye-catching and the blurb sounded very interesting. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the main character and wasn’t a fan of some of the twists.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Ruby Ortega. She has just graduated high school and is getting ready to start college. She is also interested in her neighbor and he doesn’t even know it. There is also a fire coming towards her family’s home and it causes a lot of turmoil in her life. Ruby definitely has a lot going on in her life.

I personally didn’t like her as a character. She was messy when it came to romance. I get not making the best decisions in the love department. Spoilers start here! I was there once way back when, but never did I try to break someone up. There was also a brief kiss between her and that guy and that is cheating, no matter how small. I do not like any aspect of cheating so this was a hard no for me. She was also befriending the girlfriend even if she didn’t actually want to. End of spoilers! Guys kept falling over too and it created a lot of chaos that I wasn’t interested in. The guy she ends up with was okay but I feel like there was so much going on you actually don’t get to know him well. Plus, he has a facade.

When it came to the rest of the plot I did like the talk about immigration and what happens in the US. It was informative enough to get the main picture. It also covers wildfires as well which we have seen run rampant in the US as well as Canada this year. The fires rip apart lives for many. A lot of the plot twists felt rushed and didn’t give the impact I was looking for emotionally.

Overall, this was okay. It had its good parts but I didn’t like the main character and that ultimately made it hard to enjoy the book.

Up in Flames engages with so many incredibly difficult and deep themes — around racism and inequity, privilege and power, and how those intersect with natural disasters, AND around what it means to grow up and grapple with two cultures and identities. The messages about family, home, and the legacy that lives on long past death still make me cry.

I love so much about this story and its beautiful, complex characters—especially my ride-or-die Millie, the ultimate hype girl 🫡 I couldn’t more highly recommend this book to all YA lovers.

𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦:
🔥 contemporary YA
🔥 coming-of-age stories
🔥 biracial latinx representation
🔥 complex, ruthless FMCS
🔥 social justice themes
🔥 love triangles (but with one clearly superior pick 🥵 let’s be honest)
🔥 MMCs you can’t help but fall in love with (REMY!!!!)

Up in Flames by Hailey Alcaraz was an enjoyable read.
This is a wonderful YA debut with amazing writing and an incredible story.
I loved following Ruby’s journey. The beautiful writing was heartfelt. And the characters were easy to fall in love with and intriguing.
A story about family, love and grief.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Viking Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

I was interested in reading this book, as someone who lives in California and has seen many wildfires in the past. The main character, Ruby, starts of kind of annoying but becomes a better person and character through out the book as she is forced to face the hardships of the wildfire.

“𝐔𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬” 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

A coming-of-age loose retelling of “Gone with the Wind”.

𝘎𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥, 𝘙𝘶𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦—𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘙𝘶𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴.

This was a great YA read. The FMC, Ruby, is complicated and headstrong and pretty frustrating in the beginning but I really enjoyed her character arc and her growth and I think she’s going to be an FMC a lot of readers connect with. The love triangle is a tricky trope to tackle (say that five times fast) but I think, in this case, it was very well done. Overall this was a great young story and I definitely recommend.

Thank you so much to @penguinteen for my review copy! Up in Flames by @alcarazbooks is out October 3, 2023!

Synopsis: Gorgeous, wealthy, and entitled, Ruby has just one single worry in her life—scheming to get the boy next door to finally realize they’re meant to be together. But when the California wildfires cause her privileged world to go up in flames, Ruby must struggle to find the grit and compassion to help her family and those less fortunate to rise from the ashes.

I will admit that when I first started this book I really disliked the protagonist, Ruby. She seemed spoiled, entitled, used to getting what she wanted, and did not care if she used other people to get what she wanted. After finishing the book, I think this may have been intentional. The journey she made from that girl to the woman at the end of the book was incredible to read. The author did a wonderful job in writing her character growth in a natural way. I truly admire the Ruby Ortega I came to know by the end of the book, through all of her mistakes, struggles, determination, and hard work. I wasn't expecting to like her or her story, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Additionally, the sort of love triangle she ended up in was so refreshing and different from what I'm used to. Without giving too much away, Ruby starts out the book being in love with her childhood friend and neighbor Ashton. She meets Remy shortly after the book starts and he's immediately intrigued by her, though she is so blinded by her love for Ashton that she seems Remy as no more than a fun time. Both of her relationships have trials and tribulations that test them and teach Ruby a lot about herself. I particularly enjoyed how open the ending of the book was in the romance aspect (and Ruby's future, really).

I really enjoyed reading about Ruby's journey and would recommend it to other readers. I anticipate her story resonating with many readers in several different ways.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.

Retelling a saga like “Gone with the Wind” is quite an ambitious (and I imagine daunting) undertaking. I’ve read several retellings and it’s always interesting to see where the author falls on the spectrum between being true to the source material and creating something entirely new inspired by the source material.

I’ll be honest that I haven’t read GWTW or seen the movie in years, not since I was a teenager. I didn’t remember the entire story so I found the Cliffs Notes out of curiosity. This is a pretty faithful retelling. There was plenty of content that made it feel modern, but at the same time there was something about it that felt a little old-fashioned too.

As someone who grew up in Southern California then headed to Arizona State after high school, I of course identified with that aspect of Ruby’s story. Some of the other aspects were less familiar to me, but that made them even more interesting.

There were a few timing issues in the plot that I think came from translating twelve years in GWTW into just a year in this book, which also created some issues with Ruby’s age-appropriateness. I was able to get past those, though, and enjoyed the characters and the story overall.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Up in flames was definitely different then the books I have been reading lately. I did enjoy the book overall.

This book was not my favorite. I like the concept of the story and was excited to read it, but I didn't really like the writing style and couldn't get into it.

What a sweet debut this is! We follow Ruby who is oftentimes selfish and stubborn, but wonderfully flawed in the best and realest ways. I loved reading the journey through her eyes, and I was rooting for her all the way through the book. Sometimes the romance aspects felt a little awkward, and I was much more interested in Ruby’s coming-of-age story. Remy wasn’t a totally convincing love interest because I found him callous and flaky. Overall, this was a wonderful story and weaved together grief, family, growing up, and social awareness beautifully.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I’m going to be honest and say that I only made it 54% of the way through this book before I put it down. However, I do think that this book would be enjoyable for some people, just not me.

I really liked the premise of this book and have not read any other books pertaining to California wildfires. Not only does the author address how the wildfires affected people’s homes, but she showed how devastating these events are to all the immigrants in these communities. For those two reasons, I would recommend you give this book a try.

Now the reason I decided to stop reading this book is because of the characters. I expected the main character to have a lot of flaws based off of the synopsis, so this wasn’t surprising or upsetting. I’m all for character growth. However, if the main character is going to be unlikable, then I want to at least like some of the other characters in the story. I can’t think of any character in this whole book that I actually liked. This made me not want to read anymore because I just didn’t care what happened to any of the characters.

Overall, I would suggest giving this book a chance, especially if you enjoy unlikable characters or want to learn more about how the California wildfires affect people.

Ruby has led a privileged life and when wildfires upset her town and her family, it changes everything. She’s had a crush on Ashton, a neighbor, forever and when she finds out he’s dating Millie, she decides to go out with mysterious Remy. Remy wants to help migrant workers who have been displaced by the fire, and Ruby’s family has a bed and breakfast that can house them. Remy and Ruby become serious, and he wants her to move in with him. Ruby realizes if she moves in with Remy is she giving up on Ashton? What does Ruby end up doing?

I love this book cause of Ruby. Ruby Ortega is a ruthless girl. The character development she had was great. Good YA book! 4 out of 5.