M. García was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She moved to New York where she studied creative writing at The New School, worked in publishing, and lived under a pile of to-be-read books. She is the author of Even If the Sky Falls and the upcoming The Resolutions from Katherine Tegen books (an imprint of Harper Collins) coming November 13, 2018.
That's right. The Resolutions is out TODAY. Here's a bit more about this amazing book:
A heart-expanding novel about four Latinx teens who make New Year’s resolutions for one another—and the whirlwind of a year that follows. Fans of Erika L. Sánchez and Emery Lord will fall for this story of friendship, identity, and the struggle of finding yourself when all you want is to start over.
From hiking trips to four-person birthday parties to never-ending group texts, Jess, Lee, Ryan, and Nora have always been inseparable. But now with senior year on the horizon, they’ve been growing apart. And so, as always, Jess makes a plan.
Reinstating their usual tradition of making resolutions together on New Year’s Eve, Jess adds a new twist: instead of making their own resolutions, the four friends assign them to one another—dares like kiss someone you know is wrong for you, find your calling outside your mom’s Puerto Rican restaurant, finally learn Spanish, and say yes to everything.
But as the year unfolds, Jess, Lee, Ryan, and Nora each test the bonds that hold them together. And amid first loves, heartbreaks, and life-changing decisions, beginning again is never as simple as it seems.
In honor of Mia's book birthday, I sent her some questions and did my best not to exclusively discuss food (it was very hard not to!). Here's what Mia had to say:
1) Let's talk writing. How would you describe your drafting process for The Resolutions? How did it differ from your (AMAZING) debut, Even If The Sky Falls?This is an excellent question because Even If the Sky Falls felt like such a plot driven story – not that emotions didn’t play a large role in it – but because of the 24-hour time constraint I had to keep the action going and make sure you were always aware of the storm that was approaching moments away.With The Resolutions we follow four characters over a whole year, which meant I had more time to work with feelings and linger on small moments. It also meant that with four characters that time was limited.I forgot where I was going with this…Ah yes. Both novels were started under-contract so I had a strict deadline for both. Both were written in under 4 months and each editorial round took around 6 weeks to complete. But (going back to my earlier statement) because Even If the Sky Falls was a much more plot driven story, there was a clear skeletal structure that I could grasp onto while I was editing. It took me several revisions to find that structure in The Resolutions because each character had their own beat and each beat had to come together with the other to form a symphony or at least a runaway pop hit.2) The Resolutions centers around a group of friends who pick New Year's resolutions for each other (confession: I wouldn't trust my friends with that, lol). What came first during your brainstorming process for this particular story, the characters or the premise?I hear you – I’m not sure if I’d trust my friends with that either, though I have a feeling I know exactly what they’d pick.The Resolutions was a collaboration between my editor Alex Arnold and myself. We both have a love of book friendships. In fact, I think the way she described this book when it was announced was “friendship = life’s blood” which is totally true. We brainstormed each character’s resolutions, which gave us the skeleton for the story. But it wasn’t until I figured out their relationship and voices (and particularly their repartee) that things really came together. My favorite scenes to write were the text exchanges and the moments where they were being silly and supporting each other.3) One of the reasons why I love The Resolutions so much is the FOOD. You have no idea how stoked I am to see Puerto Rican cuisine so often in this story. If you could eat only one Puerto Rican dish for the rest of your life, which one would it be?Amparo! How could you do this to me? ONE dish!?! Can I have a savory and sweet dish? I’m going to pretend you said yes.I’m a sucker for a good bistec and habichuelas – particularly because I can never find recao over here so it never tastes right when I make it. For dessert I am very judgmental of flan/tres leches because I’m partial to my mami’s. OMG I almost forgot mallorcas – like – how could I?Clearly I can’t answer this question…4) If you were a character in The Resolutions, what's a resolution you'd like for your friends to pick for you? It can be one that's not featured in the book!Ohh, that’s interesting, because I put a little of myself in each of my four main characters so in a way it feels like I’m in the novel already, but…Amparo this is hard!! OK, I think they would encourage me to have a little more patience with the dating process, but to be honest it feels like another job and I don’t need another job!
5) Which fictional character from any other story would you pick a resolution for and what would that resolution be?I would tell Minerva McGonagall to take a sabbatical – she needs it.
Thank you so much to Mia for letting me pick her brain! Make sure to get your copy of The Resolutions at the links below:
Also, you can follow Mia here:
