This book is absolutely adorable and I look forward to reading it once it’s released! Unfortunately it wasn’t quite formatted enough for me to be able to read on my ereader.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this! I am leaving this feedback voluntarily.

Thank you to Netgalley and Holiday House for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

RATING: 3.75/5

“Get Real, Chloe Torres” is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story featuring the lively and vibrant Chloe we all know (and love) from “The Fall of Whit Rivera”, featuring the both hilarious and beautifully emotional writing of Crystal Maldonado.

I loved Chloe from the second I read “I took a bite of a bath bomb inside of a Lush once” all the way to her joyful conclusion; the ADHD representation in her character was authentic and real, highlighting how ADHD can be both a fun quirk while also being a very real and debilitating disability. I wish there had been a bit more fat positive rep throughout her story, it mostly felt condensed into the first few chapters of the book, but I still loved her as a character regardless.

The story itself was extremely compelling, I’m always a huge fan of a well done roadtrip trope, and Maldonado does not disappoint! Each stop of their adventure was full of fun and engaging activities while also stringing together a slow burn sequence of heart to heart conversations about the ways in which the breaking up of Chloe’s friendship trip impacted each member differently. The estranged best friends to best friends for life pipeline truly brought so many tears to my eyes, and I feel like this is an element of this story that the author absolutely nails perfectly. I also really loved how accurate the details about tattoo apprenticeship were, as well as the exploration into the camaraderie that blossoms in fan girl culture.

Romance-wise, the gay pining that Chloe felt for Ramona was palpable in each scene, and I loved their ways in which they rekindled their friendship as well as ignited a romance. In terms of the love triangle aspect, I feel the triangle fizzled out by the 30% mark of the story, but I enjoyed Chloe and Ramona so much that I didn’t mind the lack as much.

I had a few small pet peeves with the story, namely how Diego felt shoehorned into a Gay Best Friend character and how there were far too many song lyrics present in the text, but my biggest critique of the story is in the lack of scenes that built closure or introduced good tension into the plot. I wanted a post-skinny dipping gay panic scene. I wanted a REAL conversation where Sienna voiced feelings about the brewing romance and her parental pressure instead of both topics being shrugged off. I wanted a scene where Chloe has a scary convo with her dad about her future academic career. I wanted a scene where LITERALLY any of Chloe’s family members addresses the prominent tattoo she has. I wanted a scene where Chloe gifted Sienna and Ramona the watercolor paintings she made of them while on the trip. I feel the story suffers from both plot holes and jagged story transitions with the lack of these scenes and it’s the sole reason this book didn’t hit as hard as “The Fall of Whit Rivera”.

I’m still a massive fan of Crystal Maldonado, her work is always emotionally devastating and creative & funny at the same time; “Get Real, Chloe Torres” just didn’t fully work for me, but I would still recommend the story for a lighthearted story full of friendship and gay panic.

Former friends going on a road trip to see the reunion show of their favorite band who broke up while also crossing off items from their childhood bucket list!?! This sounded so cute + the cover is so pretty… so of course I had to check it out!

Unfortunately, I was annoyed basically the whole time. The main character, Chloe, is so annoying. She was very sensitive and while I get that, it gets repetitive at some point. She kept getting annoyed at her (former) friends because she found out they had ulterior motives for coming on this trip…

I say: of course they did!! And also, WHO CARES? You guys haven’t talked for YEARS and suddenly you invite them on a road trip with like three days notice and you don’t expect them to have an ulterior motive???

Anyway, I did like Sienna and Ramona for the most part. They each had their annoying moments but usually they were chill. A lot less annoying than Chloe.

I also found the dialogue super cringy. It was not realistic for 18 year olds at all and the amount of pep talks/long speeches was both unrealistic and annoying. No 18 year old talks like that. It sounded like they were in a self help group or talking to a therapist half the time.

At about 60% it started to get more interesting and I enjoyed the ending. The romance was cute as well as their rekindled friendship! There’s definitely a lot of things to like but (for me) there was also a lot of stuff I disliked. It’s definitely a young adult book, and I love those, but this one might be better for a bit of a younger audience!

Aspects:
🧳Road trip
📋Bucket list
💞Friendship
🏳️‍🌈Queer & Latiné characters
🧠ADHD rep (though I found it to be a little repetitive)

This book made my heart happy with all the representation (ADHD, plus sized rep, bipoc rep, LGBT rep) and love between characters. There’s a special kind of magic when you’re able to reunite yourself with people you used to be friends with through an out of the box journey and an imaginative bucket list. I need to read more from this author.

⭐️: 4.5/5

💬: "Something in me knew that it's always been you."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

A book about ex-best friends embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime, epic road trip across the country to see their favourite boy band perform? Sign me right up!

💜 What I liked about it 💜
✨️ The characters are what really made this book shine. I loved Chloe, Ramona and Sienna both individually and together. They were so fun to read about and had such sparkling chemistry
✨️ I looove a book that features a road trip, especially one that involves ex-best friends. The confined space and long drive gives so many opportunities for drama and I just eat it up
✨️ The representation! There was fat positivity, sapphic romance, ADHD representation, various Latine identities... it was all so wonderful to read about
✨️ I also really liked the fact that the trio were ticking off items from a bucket list they had compiled back when they were younger and still friends. It was fun watching them achieve their goals - or shake them up a little
✨️ This book had a well-balanced mix of hilarious and heart-wrenching moments

💫 Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink for providing an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📅 Get Real, Chloe Torres will be published on 13th May 2025

For fans of:
🚗 Road trips
🏳️‍🌈 Queer characters and romance
🧠 Themes of mental health
🖤 Strong female friendships
🫶🏻 Fandoms

Get Real, Chloe Torres is a moving story about what to do when friendships seemingly break and go their separate ways. This is the last desperate attempt of Chloe to keep her friend group together by begging them to go on a road trip with her. Will this bring them back together? Or will it just cement their break up?

it delivered what was promised and a little more!

when a group of three queer best friends falls apart because one of them changes schools and the other two kiss, the three teens never recover; especially chloe torres, who can't seem to let go of the good old times.
that's why, when, at her 18th birthday party, she gets three tickets to see their childhood boyband, she plans a whole road trip with her dad to reunite with her former best friends. now, how will they handle one week of driving thought states while resenting and blaming each other? that's what we are gonna discover.

this book was nothing as i expected and to be completely honest, i wasn't enjoying it at first because i wasn't vibing with chloe, but i kept reading. i guess i related to her a little too much for my liking. in the end, i really enjoyed reading chole's journey to independence and self-discovery. also, the best friend's checklist was a cute addition to the plot!

it was a very lighthearted, positive and hopeful read on some serious topics, like grief and loss, heartbreak, overprotective parents and the different kinds of family there are with the good and the bad side. kinda wish the book was longer so it could focus more on some of the issues, but i understand the book's premise.

i liked the different representations of queer, poc and neurodiverse people. the three girlies were very different but so understanding. plus, the drag cousin and their families were so sweet, caring and loving above all!

that being said, i think that this book is a necessary read for teenagers feeling lost and with no purpose in life. the acceptance, hope and understanding that came from this book kinda healed my teen version if i'm being honest.

younger me would have loved knowing that i'm not alone in this journey to adulthood, with all the added obstacles. adult me is happy that more books like this exist so fewer teens feel alone during the complicated and lonely years as a teenager with growing responsibilities.

3.5 stars rounded up. I struggled rating this because several things were issues for me but I also recognize that I'm not the right audience, this is definitely geared for teens, I found the characters so utterly delightful, and I loved the concept of female friendship bonded over fandom. Plus I was so pleased to see loud and proud bisexual and pansexual representation explicitly spelled out on the page.

Chloe doesn't want to grow up. She plays a princess for a party company and is stuck in little-kid nostalgia. But the one thing from her childhood that didn't survive was her friend group, who became close over a mutual love of the boy band Intonation (and the girls are all queer). Sienna's pansexual, Chloe's a sunshine chaos bisexual Latina artist with ADHD and Ramona's an ice queen (with a heart of gold) lesbian vegetarian tattoo artist apprentice.

Chloe's turning 18 and her loving, overprotective father surprises her with tickets to go see her favorite boy band. But she doesn't have anyone to go with. So she gets the "band" back together and proposes a summer road trip to reconnect. Along the way they find common ground again based on their shared past and fandom geekiness.

When Sienna left for private school, that's when their friend group crumbled. Chloe had a crush on Sienna and Ramona had a crush on Chloe, and things got all twisted up between them.

I loved how close Chloe was with her Papi and her cousin Diego who was a gay drag queen, but these three often felt more like tweens than 18-year-olds. There's a lot of arrested development in 18-year-olds though. My generation of Millennials was the first of the helicopter parents and it's only gotten worse in terms of both social independence and housing costs. But again I'm not the right audience so I can let that slide. And Chloe frequently struggles with not wanting to let go of her childhood.

I didn't see much of a love triangle here because there was no spark or even burn between Sienna and Chloe. I did see the spark between her and Ramona and was glad she picked her. The romance was almost such a side plot that I felt it almost didn't need it. I just really liked their friendship group and how their personalities fit together. But Ramona and Chloe worked as a couple too.

But part of that is my other main issue with the writing style. There was a ton of info dumping at the beginning that I really had to push through, and so. much. telling. that bogged down an otherwise breezy, lighthearted story.

But I loved this ode to queer joy and female friendship and it was a fun, lighthearted summer road trip read that will appeal to teens. Anyone who's been through that boy band fandom life like me will find lots to appreciate here.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I cannot describe how much I loved this book. It was such a cute and fun read while also tugging at my heart strings. It took me back to when One Direction first started and how obsessed I was with them. I cheered and cried for Chloe, Ramona, and Sienna and grew frustrated with each of them at certain points (lots of eye rolls). I couldn’t put it down and can’t recommend this enough. It’s an insanely good second chance romance and second chance friendship, you won’t be disappointed!!

Road trip, broken friendships, and an unresolved love

I received an E-ARC of "Get Real, Chloe Torres*" and from the very first pages, I was captivated by Crystal Maldonado’s engaging storytelling. The book follows Chloe, a young woman about to start art school, who decides to plan the ultimate dream trip to fix a broken friendship. Her plan? Convince her ex-best friends, Sienna and Ramona, to embark on an unforgettable road trip to see their favorite boy band live. But there’s a catch: they haven’t spoken in a long time – and the reason involves complicated feelings and a kiss that changed everything.

One of the strongest aspects of the book is how it portrays female and queer friendships with sensitivity and realism. Maldonado explores the emotional impact of a "friend breakup" and how these relationships can be just as intense as romantic ones. Chloe still deeply feels the loss of her friendship with Sienna and Ramona, and her attempt to bring them back together isn’t just about nostalgia—it’s about healing old wounds. The tension between her and Ramona, in particular, adds an extra layer of drama and emotion to the journey.

The characters are well-developed and full of personality. Chloe is a charismatic protagonist—determined yet insecure—which makes her incredibly relatable. Ramona and Sienna also have their own struggles and unresolved feelings, making the trio’s dynamic both engaging and full of bittersweet moments. Maldonado crafts authentic relationships, steering clear of obvious clichés and showing that friendships are complex and require effort to mend.

The road trip isn’t just a fun adventure—it’s a symbol of the characters’ personal growth. Each stop along the way presents challenges and conversations that force them to confront their past. The car becomes a space where all emotions come to the surface, making the journey as internal as it is external. Additionally, their love for the boy band adds a nostalgic and humorous touch, making the reading experience even more enjoyable.

Maldonado’s writing style is light and immersive, perfectly capturing teenage dialogue and emotions. The conversations between the characters feel natural, filled with pop culture references and funny moments, yet also deeply emotional. The author strikes a great balance between humor, romance, and drama, creating a story that is both entertaining and meaningful.

Overall, "Get Real, Chloe Torres" is a heartfelt read about friendship, identity, and growing up. Once again, Maldonado delivers an authentic, representative, and emotionally rich story. It was a privilege to receive the E-ARC and experience this journey firsthand. For those who love stories about second chances, deep connections, and a great queer romance, this book is a must-read!

I was given the pleasure of reading this ARC via Netgalley.

I quite enjoyed this book, it follows 3 women as they reunite and go on a roadtrip to see their favourite boy band, the band in witch gave me one direction vibes.

In terms of rep, there is a Lesbian with ADHD Rep and a Gay Man/Drag Queen Rep too.

I quite enjoyed the plot and found it easy to follow and get emersed in the story.

In terms of spiciness, there is no spiciness in this book, i would've liked to of seen at the very least a spicy scene between Chloe and Ramona, if not a spontaneous threesum "friends with benefits style" between the 3 women.
However obviously i understand this was not the approach intended by the author, this story was intended to be sweet and cute with a hint of romance.

For the lack of spice/romance though, I've deducted a star.

Otherwise, would i recommend this book? Definitely. If you're Lesbian, Have ADHD or Queer like myself, you'll quite enjoy this book.

As always, i would like to thank Crystal Maldonado and Holiday House for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I will certainly check out more of Crystal Maldonado's works in the future :)

Crystal Maldonado books have a lot of things I like and "Get Real, Chloe Torres" is no exception. This feels like a very current, very now YA book, despite some obvious Crossroads influence (and if you get that reference you'll know I'm well past YA age).

-Who doesn't love a roadtrip that ends with your seeing your favorite band in Las Vegas?

-As usual, Maldonado's main characters have sweet, very caring relationships with their parents and/or guardian figures.

-Throwback to other characters from previous books always feels like a fun Easter Egg. Love seeing what they're up to.

In short, this was a quick fun read that touched on some serious topics. Thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for my advanced reader copy.

Pub Date: May 13, 2025

I enjoyed the characters but stretches of the book had me losing interest. I didn’t fully connect with the content but there is a good book here and I know it will be a favourite book of the target audience.

Thanks to NetGallery for this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

I have enjoyed every book by Crystal Maldonado and I especially appreciated the queer/fat/ADHD rep in this book.

The story of reconciliation after senior year plus the bucket list was moving. I wish we had seen a bit more of the buildup of the romance between Chloe and Ramona but they had some sweet moments. I liked seeing Whit and Zay from previous books.

A fun, light, summery read about friendship -- and how we find our way back to it.

I liked this book! I thought the main characters were great -- Chloe, Ramona, and Sienna -- and each managed to have their own distinct voice and personality which can be difficult when you're focusing so closely on multiple characters. I also adored the side characters -- Papi, Diego, and Karina were especially well written.

The relationship Chloe has with her family is, like I previously said, so well-written and authentic. She loves Karina, her stepmother, but also worries about how where she'll fit into her family when she leaves for college and her new baby sister is born. I loved her Papi too, who cares deeply for Chloe and is also struggling to adjust to her growing up. Their relationship is just so sincere and realistic. Diego was a breath of fresh air with his humor and grounding presence for Chloe throughout.

Of all the storylines, I was most invested in Sienna's. I feel like she was given the most to work with and had the deepest plot points. Ramona and Chloe's storylines were also obviously compelling, but I think Sienna's was fleshed-out the most of all.

The plot worked for me -- I love a road trip story and I love a "bucket list" story so this combined both of my favorite things! I also enjoyed the tension surrounding rekindling an old friendship. It's a topic that hits close to home for many people -- how do we navigate growing up and leaving behind those we used to love? Can we reconnect with lost friends or is sometimes the past too far away?

Lots of stellar representation in this -- body diversity and a fat MC, ADHD rep, lesbian, bi, pan, and gay characters, drag queen characters, and Latine characters.

Unfortunately, I didn't loveeee the romance as much as I wish I had. I think if it had been focused solely on the friendship aspect, it would've worked better for me. I thought they were cute together, but Chloe's crush seemed to flip about halfway through the book, and it was a bit jarring. I think no romance would've allowed the friendship to be deepened either further. However, they had some cute moments, and I wasn't dissatisfied in the end!

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. I was able to get through it pretty quick so it definitely kept my attention! Just a nice, fluffy, fun read that had me considering my own past friendships!

3.5 stars

Chloe Torres is facing alot of change. She just graduated high school. Summer is almost over and she starts college soon. Her dad and step mom are having a baby. She is struggling to handle all the changes. She runs into her estranged best friends from middle school one day. A few days later her dad gives her three tickets to see a reunion concert of her favorite band in Las Vegas. Chloe decides to see if her friends would be willing to get back together for a road trip to see their favorite band.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s alot of fun to get to take the road trip with three queer brown girls as they learn a lot about themselves and their friendship. I also really loved the character Diego, her queer cousin, who is a drag queen. My only issue that Some of the story seems a bit unbelievable, like how each girl can easily get time off from work last minute for more than a week to travel to the concert. But if you ignite that, you will enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Get Real Chloe Torres

Chloe Torres is facing alot of change. She just graduated high school. Summer is almost over and she starts college soon. Her dad and step mom are having a baby. She is struggling to handle all the changes. She runs into her estranged best friends from middle school one day. A few days later her dad gives her three tickets to see a reunion concert of her favorite band in Las Vegas. Chloe decides to see if her friends would be willing to get back together for a road trip to see their favorite band.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s alot of fun to get to take the road trip with three queer brown girls as they learn a lot about themselves and their friendship. I also really loved the character Diego, her queer cousin, who is a drag queen. My only issue that Some of the story seems a bit unbelievable, like how each girl can easily get time off from work last minute for more than a week to travel to the concert. But if you ignite that, you will enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Maldonado is a must-read author and a favorite storyteller of mine. Her characters are smart and I love the self exploration themes throughout her books. Her latest title is no exception. It is full of memorable moments and thought-provoking situations. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I think Maldonado's writing just isn't for me! I always think her books sound really good, and then I don't end up loving them - and unfortunately, this was my least favorite so far. I thought Chloe read very young (there are plenty of books out there about 18 year olds being scared of growing up where the character still feels like an 18 year old). I also felt like the relationship development between the three friends, and particularly Chloe and Ramona, was rushed and didn't feel earned. Overall this just was not for me!

3.75 stars

As soon as I saw the blurb for Get Real, Chloe Torres I knew I had to read it, as I'm always looking for sapphic neurodivergent books, and I wasn't disappointed. It was such a heartfelt coming of age story with great ADHD and sapphic representation. While I did enjoy reading it I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed, but overall I would definitely recommend it if you want a fun and quick read. I will definitely read another book by this author soon.


Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC