Adios to All the Drama

The beginning of ADIOS TO ALL THE DRAMA finds Alex, Mariana's Puerto Rican boyfriend, coming to stay with her family for the next few months. Her Spring Mills friends are eager to check him out after what they've finally learned about him. The arrival of Alex brings all sorts of new complications into Mariana's life. The day she is creating a welcome basket for him, her friend, Emily, encounters her mom at the Constitution Center with a strange man. Emily confronts her mom and decides to go live with her father. And Madison is avoiding the obvious with her so-called boyfriend, Evan - Evan doesn't want to admit to his friends that he even knows her. So it's on this note that Alex arrives. And life gets even more involved upon his entrance to her house. Her father catches her and Alex kissing in her bedroom. He goes ballistic. And then when Mariana discovers unknown photos of her on Alex's camera, she calls her brother, Vince, for guidance. Vince turns around and tells their father. With her uncles in tow, the grown Ruiz men take Alex on an unforgettable bonding day. From the day Mariana discovers the photos, her feelings for Alex start to change. Throw in that she's still confused over the almost-relationship with her locker buddy, Bobby, and she just doesn't know what to do. ADIOS TO ALL THE DRAMA continues where AMIGAS AND SCHOOL SCANDALS left off. Mariana is back into her life at Spring Mills and everything is spiraling out of control. With constant rehearsals for her impending holiday ballet recital, Emily's ever-growing secretive ways, and her Tia Teresa's New Year's Eve wedding to help plan, there's no rest for her. But as the wedding looms closer and closer, Mariana must finally get everything in her life back in line. Can she do it? Throughout the entire series, Ms. Wallach has been able to keep the characters and the drama in Mariana's life consistent and realistic. Mariana has been a wonderful person to see mature over the last six months. The story has flowed seamlessly from one book to the next. I only hope that we haven't seen the last of Mariana Ruiz and her friends in Spring Mills. There's so much more that can happen for her! Reviewed by: Jaglvr

Mariana's summer fling, Alex, is staying with her family as he researches colleges in the area. Although she's missed him, she still has unresolved feelings for her locker buddy, Bobby. But things are weird between them ever since she found out her friend, Emily's, secret. Madison is now head over heels for a popular guy named Evan, but Emily's behavior has Mariana concerned. Is she going for her friend's guy behind her back? Nothing Emily does makes any sense anymore. When a ballet performance disaster occurs, Mariana finds out the answers to her friend's strange actions. And she finally makes the decision that's been weighing on her own heart at her aunt's wedding. I really enjoyed this three book series, but this one was definitely the best, in my opinion. Despite the fact Mariana is not one of the popular girls, she manages to stay true to herself and her own values in this book, not succumbing to any peer pressure to compromise herself. Mariana shows great self-confidence in making all the right decisions for herself, knowing she needs to live with the consequences. I enjoyed getting to know her, and I'm sorry to see this series end. Reviewer: Alice Berger, Bergers Book Reviews

In Spring Mills, Pennsylvania, high school student Mariana Ruiz is shocked to find sitting at the breakfast table, Alex, whom she met during the summer when she visited family in Puerto Rico (see AMOR AND SUMMER SECRETS). Her last memory of him is his standing roadside in Utuado as she drove off to go home after they were an entry during the summer. Whereas Alex is ready to continue where they left off, Mariana is unsure whether she wants to take up where they left it especially since she also is attracted to her locker buddy Bobby (see AMIGAS AND SCHOOL SCANDALS) that she tried to hide but everyone seems to know. As always Mariana asks Madison and Emily for advice, but the former is totally preoccupied with her on-line boyfriend whom she has never met in person and her other friend has parental woes Meanwhile estranged Aunt Teresa is getting married on New Year's Day with the teen cousins Mariana and Lilly serving as her bridesmaids while Mariana wonders who she will save the last dance for when the ball comes down; because that is whom she will kiss. The third tale has the three amigas with boy problems that strains their friendship as for the first time they are not there for one another. The cast is solid and the subplots involving Teresa, Madison and Emily add to the overall teen angst, but no question there is only one star in Diana Rodriguez-Wallach teen series, Mariana, who first hand understands the Loving Spoonful's prime question of the universe (and not that of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy): Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?. ADIOS TO ALL THE DRAMA is an interesting look at teen decision making, information gathering, and especially drama queen angst. Harriet Klausner