
Her family is cursed!
No “happily ever after” ever.
Maybe she can create a way to keep love!
Yet again, Amelia is single, just like her mother and her three aunts – no romantic relationship ever lasts for the Hernandez women.
Much as she loves them and her sisters, the high school senior doesn’t love the idea of running their family Puerto Rican bakery someday. She itches to get out of the big house they all share, so she secretly applied for a gap year program abroad and has almost enough saved up to go!
After Amelia’s most recent breakup, her sister sets up a “Romance Boot Camp” to help Amelia harness her best qualities. Why not try out her improved outlook on some of her ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends?
One leaves her hanging on a climbing wall (that video goes viral), another embarrasses her at karaoke.
And Leon is back, two years after he broke up with her – by text! She can’t avoid him as they both work toward the bakery’s grand opening… and perhaps she doesn’t want to.
How will her family react to her post-graduation escape plan?
Why can’t she master any job at the big fair?
Is there any possibility at all to reunite with Leon?
Supported by aura readings, makeup hints, empanadas, and unconditional family love, Amelia has to stop selling herself short and go for the future she longs for.
What kind of second-chance date with an ex would you choose?
**kmm
Book info: Build a Girlfriend / Elba Luz. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.