I really liked this story for the family and friendships and his our MC grows as she processes her grief and deals with the mess she makes with a lie.

This was a very good book. I loved the fact that Castillo wants to become a“Fairy godmother” party planner. The Disney vibes are strong in this story. We have Cas, who used to go to Disneyland with her family a lot when her mother was alive. Then we have Paulina, who is a Disneyland food vlogger.
Paulina hires Cas to do her quinceañera. She wants it to have a Disney/Star Wars theme. It stars out great, everybody is excited, but of course, something goes wrong. There is miscommunications and people feel betrayed. It’s up to Cas to do her best to fix it.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the Disney and Star Wars themes. Cas managed to get her family involved and help out. In all it was a cute, feel-good book with a bit of romance. A great YA book!

This book gave me all the cozy Disney shows and 2000s romcom feelings, with culture, sisterhood, loss and grief, family and happily ever afters. And would love to see this become a movie!!

💕Loved the writing! Easy to read along with wittiness, jokes and sayings. It added a fun tone to the story.

💕Also LOVED the food and drinks... wow.. I was so invested in all the food and drinks mentioned throughout the book and left me craving a ton of them 😂 I could taste and smell some of the ones I am familiar with.

💕Cas and Po were my fave! Having a big sister I related to their dynamic so much and thought their relationship was beautiful and hilarious.

I’d recommend this book to a more YA audience or if you’d like the longing/nostalgia feeling you felt when watching a Disney movie and/or a nostalgic 2000s romcom on a Saturday morning. And I will definitely have this for my daughter to read when she is in her teens.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Jessica Parra for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"The Quince Project" by Jessica Parra is a poignant and moving debut novel that explores the complexities of family, grief, and finding one's own path in life. The story follows Castillo Torres, a young woman struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of her beloved father.

Parra's writing is lyrical and evocative, drawing the reader into Castillo's inner world as she navigates her grief. The novel is structured around Castillo's attempts to complete her father's final project - growing a quince tree from seed. This metaphor for growth and healing is woven throughout the story, adding depth and meaning.

One of the novel's strengths is its portrayal of the Torres family. Parra captures the messy, complicated love that binds them together, even as they grapple with their individual pain. Castillo's relationships with her mother and siblings feel authentic and well-developed.
The novel also touches on themes of identity, particularly Castillo's mixed heritage and her desire to connect with her Latinx roots. Parra handles these elements with sensitivity and nuance.

While the pacing can be uneven at times, with some sections feeling a bit slow, "The Quince Project" is ultimately a powerful and moving exploration of grief, growth, and the enduring power of family. Parra's debut marks the arrival of a talented new voice in fiction.
Fans of character-driven stories that delve into the human experience will find much to appreciate in "The Quince Project." It's a promising start for Parra, and readers will eagerly await her next work.

Quince are a big deal, I've been to so many simple and extravagant and not a topic covered in alot of books, my kids are muti-racial books that center on Hispanic culture and events are not so common (except for soccer or Coco) so this book intrigued me from the he title and excited for my girls to be able to read and it was good - it was a little slow to grab me and pull me in but it got me, the story includes loss and grief for our main girlie's and how it affects the family, there's laughter and some love bits too, but a story of family was my favorite part! Loved it

I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

Book 20 of 2024 - ☑️! Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books & huge thanks to Jessica Parra herself for an ARC of The Quince Project by Jessica Parra.

I heard Jessica Parra speak on a panel at a book event last year, and immediately felt a connection as fellow Cuban-American / 1/2 Cuban - I’ve had her YA debut novel - Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success - on my list, and I knew I wanted to read The Quince Project the second I heard about it. A book that’s a YA-spin on the movie The Wedding Planner, set in SoCal with an up-and-coming event planner who’s focusing on school events and Quinceañeras? Sign me up. This is yet another book I would have LOVED to read as a young adult.

In The Quince Project, Castillo “Cas” Torres wants nothing more than to get a prestigious internship for an event planner she’s always admired. In the midst of school events, her family life (where they’re all still reeling from the death of Cas’ mother), planning an “Unquince” for a local influencer to hopefully get that dream internship, and then realizing she’s falling for the chambelán - things go awry, and Cas has a lot to juggle and come to terms with.

Parra’s writing style is very vivid and fun, and her nods to our specific culture and other Latine cultures and communities is so beautifully done. Additionally, we’re definitely kindred spirits because I caught a Lord of the Rings reference and it’s the movie that made me want to work in entertainment. For those who love Disney & Star Wars, you’ll be absolutely delighted by all of the references and the intertwining of creative ways she incorporated those worlds into a Quince. Loved the representation here, especially with Latine cultures, as well as LGBTQIA+ rep.

5/5 ⭐️ and the 🌶️ rating is not applicable here as it’s YA. I can’t wait to attend one of the stops on Jessica’s book tour to celebrate this book in person! 🌹 🏰 📝 #NetGalley #TheQuinceProject

YA is super hit and miss for me, and this is unfortunately a miss - it feels really immature for me and I'm DNFing at 6% because I have no interest in continuing. I'm disappointed as the premise was intriguing, and I do think the exploration of grief would have been interesting to continue reading about, but I'm just not interested. Thanks anyway for the ARC.

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for a review copy of The Quince Project in exchange for my honest opinions. I haven’t seen enough about this adorable book, so I want it to get more recognition! I read this via a mix of audiobook and ebook last weekend while I was traveling, and it was truly enjoyable. If you are a Disney and/or Star Wars superfan, I bet you would enjoy it even more than I did, as there are plenty of small details and Easter eggs that I know went over my head!
Cas is a high school student who loves event planning. Stemming from an unfortunate incident at her sister’s quinceañera, Cas uses her day planner to skillfully manage events for school. She gets hired to run an event for a classmate, and Cas tries to build on this success in order to get enough experience under her belt to apply for an internship with her favorite event planner. The Quince Project showcases its Cuban American protagonist addressing cultural coming of age traditions the way J. Lo’s character addressed wedding traditions in the beloved movie The Wedding Planner. And while event planning can be fun and at times frivolous, the book has a deeper theme of grief, addressed in a very appropriate manner. While the reader must witness Cas learning some difficult but quintessential coming of age lessons, the stress is worth it for the final outcome. Personally, I think event planning would be a supremely stressful job, but I enjoyed reading about it, This book and audiobook (with great narration) is available everywhere now. Check it out!

Thank you Wednesday books and NetGalley for the ARC

This was a sweet read and one that touched on important themes throughout that were appropriate for the targeted audience. I would reccomend it!

A very cute fluffy romance that also handles topics like grief which I appreciated the arcs of the characters and their realizations of how they handle their own and how others handle it.

Some parts were very enjoyable while some parts left me wanting more. I do wish the plot was more captivating and intriguing and most of the “action” happened in the third act. The characters I wish had more empathy was the dad! I felt so bad for him as he was grieving. I loved and didn’t love some characters so overall the book was somewhat balanced. I was just wishing more for the plot and characters.

While I had a difficult time connecting with this story I know there will be plenty of readers who declare this the book to read this summer.

I hope you'll give this a go and see if this is the right book for you.

This book is a sweet quick read that allows you to tap into your emotions and possibly your own life experiences. I will definitely recommend this book to enter more classroom and school libraries.

Format: Kindle ARC
⭐⭐⭐Enjoyed, would recommend
🌶️ Rating: 0


The Quinceañera Project by Jessica Parra follows Castillo "Cas" Torres, a determined event planner dealing with personal loss while striving to perfect her craft. The book does a great job highlighting the cultural significance of quinceañeras, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It touches on themes like grief and personal growth, making Cas’s story relatable.

The book's cultural insights and earnest storytelling made it an enjoyable read for fans of young adult fiction and those interested in event planning and cultural traditions

A Rom com about planning a Disney themed quinceañera, I mean what could go wrong. I enjoyed it. I laughed and I cried. But I did also learn a lot. I am enjoying this new diversity in rom coms.

I loved the concept of this book, but I took issue with the execution. The biggest for me was the overuse of metaphors that just didn't make sense. It felt like every page there was a Disney reference, not to further the story, but just to have one there. I am a massive Disney fan, WDW Annual Passholder, and self-proclaimed Disney adult, so I was the target audience here. But the constant references were so distracting and annoying that it really kept me disconnected from the story. The story itself was really sweet and emotional and I think if the implementation was better, this could have been a real winner.

I was a huge fan of Jessica Parra’s debut novel, so I’m so excited to have finally read her sophomore novel too! Fun and funny while also digging into some of the more serious elements of the characters, THE QUINCE PROJECT looks at a party planner trying to get her dream internship after her sister’s disastrous quinceañera and her mother’s sudden passing. She books her dream party, and maybe starts catching feelings for a guy along the way. It’s a little bit nerdy (there are so many Disney and Star Wars references in the story) but overall just a fun story. And even as the characters make some questionable decisions, I couldn’t help but root for a happy ending (even if it doesn’t end up being just like the ones in fairytales). There are multiple cute romances happening (and the secondary one is sapphic) but I think that Castillo’s story is still the main element and main draw of the story. A fun, heartfelt book and definitely worth the read.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the complimentary book. These opinions are my own.

Castillo is a high school student who plans everything with her many lists. And when she finishes planning her sister's college applications and her school's events, she hopes to become an event planner. To help her get an internship with her favorite event planner, she tries to start planning a quinceañera for her sister's favorite Disneyland influencer.

This book wasn't a great fit for me. There were too many secrets and lies and clearly bad decisions for too long. I understand this is a YA book, but even the adults felt like they acted like children. I don't think I was the correct audience.

But I did appreciated and can recommend a few things that I enjoyed:
All of the insider winks about Disneyland visits
Very well written LGBT rep
The emphasis on organization and planning
Spanish language and celebration of Cuban culture

3.5 stars rounded up

Overall this was a cute coming of age story. I enjoyed the character growth of our main character, Cas Torres, and her family. The author wrote about parental loss with care, while also showing some of the very real sides of grief.

There were some laugh out loud moments, like the scene with the ice sculptures and the love story was swoon worthy.

While I did enjoy the Disney references, I did think they started to feel a bit forced by the end rather than being seamlessly woven into the story.

A cute, heartfelt YA about a young Cuban-American girl who aspires to be an event planner and provide her future clients with a HEA that she could only dream of. Cas lands a job planning a quince and gains more than experience in party planning; she grows closer with her family, gains some friends along the way, and learns how important it is to live in the moment.

Castillo Torres (Cas) wasn't always a stickler for planning, but the death of her mother made her want to control everything. It became her way of dealing with grief. After her sister's quinceanera ended in disaster, she wanted to make sure that never happened to any other person again. So, she hopes to get an internship with one of the best in the business. But, she needs more experience. When a famous Disney vlogger asks her to plan her quince she accepts and may have lied a bit about her qualifications.

During the planning process, you realize how closed off Cas has been and how her sister Po, client Paulina, and her best guy friend Javier help knock down those walls. Paulina and Po really hit it off and that means Cas is spending most of the time with Javier. They actually met at the beach but didn't go into full introductions. They have sparks and amazing chemistry and I was excited for their awkward run-ins.

The character development stood out for me because Cas has taken on so many roles since her mother passed away. She felt like she had to grow up quickly for her dad and sister and turned to planning in all aspects of her life. She thought if she could plan for things, that life would just fall into place the way she expected. I understand her reasoning, but we all know that life has a way of surprising us when we least expect it. I think she learned this a bit more during her planning for Paulina. And she finds her way back to Disney again. It used to be her special place with her mother and lost that excitement, but it brought me so much joy to see her live life again.

The Quince Project is a great read for young adult readers who enjoy a coming-of-age story with romance and hope, Disney fans who love the magic of a happily ever after, Star Wars lovers for all the references, and Latinx readers because the Cuban-American representation is beautiful.