In Search of Us

Starred review from January 15, 2018
Dellaira’s debut novel, Love Letters to the Dead, was good; her second, which tells two connected tales set 18 years apart, is spectacular. First comes the story of 17-year-old Marilyn, whose mother is so committed to her daughter’s future stardom that she moves them into a tiny Los Angeles apartment with Marilyn’s unwelcoming, alcoholic uncle. But Marilyn’s vision of her future involves going to college, taking photos, and making a life with her smart and handsome new neighbor, James. Next comes the present-day story of Marilyn’s biracial daughter, Angie, also 17, who wonders about the father she never met. Did he really die in a car crash? Does she have relatives who look like her? Will knowing her past help her find her way forward? Past and present collide when Angie runs away from Albuquerque to L.A. to find the man she thinks may be her uncle. Readers will be left sobbing, both for the characters they’ve come to love and for the state of the country—Dellaira draws on persistent racial divides to craft an ending that is surprising yet inevitable, heartbreaking, and hopeful. Ages 12–up. Agent: Richard Florest, Rob Weisbach Creative Management.

February 1, 2018

Gr 9 Up-A coming-of-age novel about all kinds of love, this is a realistic look into how teens' lives intertwine with their parents' pasts. The initial time line begins with Angie, a 17-year-old daughter of a single mother, leaving home to find answers about her past. Angie is searching for the truth about her father and his family, whom she never knew. The second narrative follows Marilyn, Angie's mother at 17. Marilyn is working through obstacles in her life that center around her unhinged family life and newfound love, James. Dellaira uses the two parallel threads to explore what it would be like for a young woman to know her mother's story and realize how it is also her own. Readers will be drawn into Marilyn's tale and keep wondering until the very end how Angie fits in. Some sexual situations are present but are not explicit. Readers who enjoyed Dellaira's Love Letters to the Dead or Emery Lord's When We Collided will fall in love with this title. VERDICT A must for collections where the author's previous work is popular and where realistic love stories circulate well.-Elizabeth Pelayo, St. Charles East High School, IL

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2018
Mother and daughter move through parallel journeys separated by time but connected by introspection in Dellaira's (Love Letters to the Dead, 2014) latest.Told in alternating voices and timelines, this narrative explores two young women's searches for completion. Marilyn Miller, 17 in the late 1990s and dreaming of the freedom of college, must contend with her mother's plans for her to become a rising star in Hollywood. Stretched to the breaking point between the promise of self-determination and the weight of her mother's hopes, Marilyn, a blonde white girl, finds relief and unexpected romance with her enigmatic black neighbor, James. Fast-forward 18 years to meet Angie Miller, Marilyn and James' biracial daughter, who has lived her entire life believing her father was dead. When she discovers that her mother has lied about this, Angie journeys to Los Angeles with her ex-boyfriend Sam (also biracial, with a white father and Mexican mother) to find the missing pieces that have distanced her from Sam. Exploring the dynamic tension between identity and relationships, and the realities of violence and racism (although less so white privilege), the separate narratives converge to tell one family's story of pain and loss, love and forgiveness. Time jumps occasionally disrupt cohesion, and readers unfamiliar with the '90s may find Marilyn's narrative irksomely referential, but overall, this is a compelling intergenerational tale.Achingly vibrant. (Fiction. 14-adult)

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