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amberisreading's review against another edition
3.0
so this was a book about our mc victoria cruz, a 2nd generation latina whose parents immigrated from cuba so they could attain "the american dream". as such they have so many expectations of victoria as i can imagine the immigrant parents have of their children and victoria's life is a series of predictable constants which she has come to find boring but is too scared to try to change. that is, until she meets strand who's posting a flyer about auditions for a new lead singer of their band. victoria auditions despite her fear of not being good enough in addition to her fear of disappointing her family and she succeeds thus beginning her new found friendship with strand, krina and levi.
this book was pretty good in that it explored topics such as living up to the expectations of your family vs doing what makes you happy, new teenage relationships and all the insecurities and drama that come with it etc. i did find that i often forgot the characters were 15-16 year olds (probably because my life wasn't so exciting at that age although i can't remember what i did at 15 for the life of me). there was a part coming to the end where victoria was being severely judgemental towards strand and her best friend annie due to a mix up (and i seriously DISLIKE miscommunication as a trope to further a plot it's just so...lazy imo) but in a strange way that made her even more human because yes she wants to be happy for her friends but she's also experiencing all these other emotions of jealousy and anger and regret. all in all, even though i wouldn't put it up there with my favourites i liked it.
this book was pretty good in that it explored topics such as living up to the expectations of your family vs doing what makes you happy, new teenage relationships and all the insecurities and drama that come with it etc. i did find that i often forgot the characters were 15-16 year olds (probably because my life wasn't so exciting at that age although i can't remember what i did at 15 for the life of me). there was a part coming to the end where victoria was being severely judgemental towards strand and her best friend annie due to a mix up (and i seriously DISLIKE miscommunication as a trope to further a plot it's just so...lazy imo) but in a strange way that made her even more human because yes she wants to be happy for her friends but she's also experiencing all these other emotions of jealousy and anger and regret. all in all, even though i wouldn't put it up there with my favourites i liked it.
lostinmylibrary's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars, rounded down because I was pretty underwhelmed and also Victoria's gaydar is so bad that it's on the line between hilarious and embarrassing.
samwlabb's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed getting to be there as Victoria tried to figure out who she wanted to be. Fun friendships and lots of family time made this more than a romance, AND I got a grand gesture.
Pro: Victoria was a great character. I feel like there was some part of her everyone could related to, whether it be having overprotective parents, being part of the race for a space in the Ivy League, feeling unattractive, thinking your sort of boring, or trying to please your everyone in your life.
Pro: I love the wonderful group of friends Milanes assembled for Victoria. The suave and charming Strand, the fierce and riot grrlish Krina, and the loyal and super focused Annie, all of them encouraged and supported Victoria throughout this story.
Pro: Their band is named for my favorite Pixies song. How cool is that?
Pro: Lots of witty and amusing banter, and I often laughed during Victoria's inner monologues.
Pro: Strand! I was so happy that Milanes made him three dimensional, because my first impression of him was not too favorable, but as more and more of his layers were revealed, I became president of his fan club.
Con: Victoria was really insecure and sometimes it got on my nerves, but not too often.
Pro: It was really nice to see Victoria's family play such a big role in this story. They were not the perfect family, but they cared for each other deeply, and we shared a lot of important moments with them in this book.
Pro: So many awesome musical references, and the playlists were awesome too.
Pro: We got a grand gesture! I love grand gestures, and this one was pretty darn sweet.
Pro: Although there is romance in this book, this is not a romance. This is a story of self discovery and figuring out how to be the person you want to be.
Check out the song that inspired the band's name
Overall: A fun and heartwarming story of Victoria trying to figure out who she is and how she can become the Victoria in her head.
BLOG | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
Pro: Victoria was a great character. I feel like there was some part of her everyone could related to, whether it be having overprotective parents, being part of the race for a space in the Ivy League, feeling unattractive, thinking your sort of boring, or trying to please your everyone in your life.
Pro: I love the wonderful group of friends Milanes assembled for Victoria. The suave and charming Strand, the fierce and riot grrlish Krina, and the loyal and super focused Annie, all of them encouraged and supported Victoria throughout this story.
Pro: Their band is named for my favorite Pixies song. How cool is that?
Pro: Lots of witty and amusing banter, and I often laughed during Victoria's inner monologues.
Pro: Strand! I was so happy that Milanes made him three dimensional, because my first impression of him was not too favorable, but as more and more of his layers were revealed, I became president of his fan club.
Con: Victoria was really insecure and sometimes it got on my nerves, but not too often.
Pro: It was really nice to see Victoria's family play such a big role in this story. They were not the perfect family, but they cared for each other deeply, and we shared a lot of important moments with them in this book.
Pro: So many awesome musical references, and the playlists were awesome too.
Pro: We got a grand gesture! I love grand gestures, and this one was pretty darn sweet.
Pro: Although there is romance in this book, this is not a romance. This is a story of self discovery and figuring out how to be the person you want to be.
Check out the song that inspired the band's name
Overall: A fun and heartwarming story of Victoria trying to figure out who she is and how she can become the Victoria in her head.
BLOG | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
reader_fictions's review against another edition
5.0
Most of my favorite reads this year have been rereads, which is always a bit disappointing. I mean, obviously I want my rereads to be amazing (ideally, the books just get better every time), but I also want the books I’m reading for the first time to be amazing. Is that really so much to ask? For all my reads to be outstanding? Logic tells me yes, but my heart says no. Finally, though, for the first time in what feels like months but is probably actually weeks (because reading so much really does turn your brain—though mostly in great ways), I loved a new-to-me title. Technically, I should have read The Victoria in My Head an age ago, but our relationship was worth waiting for. Seriously, though, this book is so fracking cute.
Contemporary romances break down into several different subcategories to me with regards to how they feel, rather than to tropes:
Sheer fluff (e.g. Royals by Rachel Hawkins)
Low drama, realistic plot with fluff (e.g. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli)
Melodramatic soap opera (e.g. Summer trilogy by Jenny Han)
Super sad balanced with totes adorbsness (Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson)
Super sad but lightening elements, aka heart-crushing but the book won’t leave you only feeling sad (The Memory Book by Lara Avery)
Unrelenting tragedy (We Are Okay by Nina LaCour)
Not sure if that will have meaning to anyone else, and I know it’s super weird that I stopped talking about the review book to discuss other books, but it’s my review and I do what I want.
Okay, all that was because I want to categorize this book and have it make sense. The Victoria in My Head falls into the realistic fluff category, despite having a plot that occasionally leans toward soap opera (love triangle drama). For me, that flavor of contemporary is decidedly my favorite. Emma Mills does those so incredibly well, as does Becky Albertalli. These books don’t have massively dramatic plots, with most of the drama being merely the day-to-day weirdness of growing up, but they’ve got a bit more edge to them than a sheer fluff story. To sum up, if you like Emma Mills or Becky Albertalli, consider checking out The Victoria in My Head.
The title truly helps the reader understand Victoria. She’s been drifting through life doing what she’s supposed to: working hard to get into Harvard to fulfill the dream of her parents who immigrated from Cuba precisely to give her this opportunity. Victoria’s a scholarship student at this super fancy prep school in NYC, and her life is flat. Meanwhile, she has this idea of who she is in her head, of this exciting Victoria who has dreams and passions, but that person has never been on the outside. That’s such a relatable feeling I think, for teens especially, as they struggle to decide between being themselves and being popular. (I know it’s not that and cut-and-dried, but omg does it feel like it when you’re in high school.)
Victoria’s character arc rocks (pun intended), and it starts as many a YA heroine character arc does, when she spots a boy so hot she cannot put words together in a reasonable order hanging up a flyer about auditions for a lead singer. Victoria, conveniently, has a great voice, and she loves to sing and to dance. Victoria, inconveniently, has massive stage fright and pretty much zero confidence in herself. With some encouragement/pushing from her bestie Annie, Victoria tries out for the band and makes it
Her journey takes a long time; it’s a slow slide towards confidence and authenticity with many a setback. Her romantic journey mirrors her emotional one too, with her pursuing someone she does not truly want merely because he seems like who she should want. I know a lot of people loathe love triangles, and I get it, but I love them when they’re well done, as this one was. Obviously it’s frustrating to watch Victoria make the wrong choice, but I wasn’t actually mad about it because I understood why she was doing what she was doing, and I could totally see my teen self doing something similar in that situation. Victoria doesn’t yet know what she wants, and she’s trying so hard to make the right choices.
Well, except with her parents to whom she lies for much of the book. But! I loved her parents. They’re sweet and loving and protective but not overprotective. I don’t see a lot of parents like that in YA. It feels like a lot of the time they’re either absent, cruel, besties, or overprotective. Though Victoria’s parents aren’t particularly like mine, I found the dynamics of their relationship pretty relatable, because her parents always tried to do their best for her even if they don’t always understand (admittedly hard to do with an uncommunicative teen like Victoria). They’re not perfect parents but they felt like realistic, good parents.
The romance, obviously, is super, super cute, with a great slow burn. And I liked that I wasn’t really on board initially either and got to be won over with Victoria. The nicknames in this book are absolutely precious (and I’m picky about that). I had such shippy feels for so much of this book, AND the way the love triangle resolves is outstanding. OH! And to make everything even better, there was an f/f ship on the side that was also absolutely shippy.
Milanes’ debut The Victoria in My Head made me smile so hard for pretty much the entirety of the time I spent reading it. The voice is excellent, the romance is shippy, the supporting cast is lovable, the plot is low drama, the character arc is dynamic and believable, and the family dynamics are fantastic. What an amazing debut!
Contemporary romances break down into several different subcategories to me with regards to how they feel, rather than to tropes:
Sheer fluff (e.g. Royals by Rachel Hawkins)
Low drama, realistic plot with fluff (e.g. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli)
Melodramatic soap opera (e.g. Summer trilogy by Jenny Han)
Super sad balanced with totes adorbsness (Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson)
Super sad but lightening elements, aka heart-crushing but the book won’t leave you only feeling sad (The Memory Book by Lara Avery)
Unrelenting tragedy (We Are Okay by Nina LaCour)
Not sure if that will have meaning to anyone else, and I know it’s super weird that I stopped talking about the review book to discuss other books, but it’s my review and I do what I want.
Okay, all that was because I want to categorize this book and have it make sense. The Victoria in My Head falls into the realistic fluff category, despite having a plot that occasionally leans toward soap opera (love triangle drama). For me, that flavor of contemporary is decidedly my favorite. Emma Mills does those so incredibly well, as does Becky Albertalli. These books don’t have massively dramatic plots, with most of the drama being merely the day-to-day weirdness of growing up, but they’ve got a bit more edge to them than a sheer fluff story. To sum up, if you like Emma Mills or Becky Albertalli, consider checking out The Victoria in My Head.
The title truly helps the reader understand Victoria. She’s been drifting through life doing what she’s supposed to: working hard to get into Harvard to fulfill the dream of her parents who immigrated from Cuba precisely to give her this opportunity. Victoria’s a scholarship student at this super fancy prep school in NYC, and her life is flat. Meanwhile, she has this idea of who she is in her head, of this exciting Victoria who has dreams and passions, but that person has never been on the outside. That’s such a relatable feeling I think, for teens especially, as they struggle to decide between being themselves and being popular. (I know it’s not that and cut-and-dried, but omg does it feel like it when you’re in high school.)
Victoria’s character arc rocks (pun intended), and it starts as many a YA heroine character arc does, when she spots a boy so hot she cannot put words together in a reasonable order hanging up a flyer about auditions for a lead singer. Victoria, conveniently, has a great voice, and she loves to sing and to dance. Victoria, inconveniently, has massive stage fright and pretty much zero confidence in herself. With some encouragement/pushing from her bestie Annie, Victoria tries out for the band and makes it
Her journey takes a long time; it’s a slow slide towards confidence and authenticity with many a setback. Her romantic journey mirrors her emotional one too, with her pursuing someone she does not truly want merely because he seems like who she should want. I know a lot of people loathe love triangles, and I get it, but I love them when they’re well done, as this one was. Obviously it’s frustrating to watch Victoria make the wrong choice, but I wasn’t actually mad about it because I understood why she was doing what she was doing, and I could totally see my teen self doing something similar in that situation. Victoria doesn’t yet know what she wants, and she’s trying so hard to make the right choices.
Well, except with her parents to whom she lies for much of the book. But! I loved her parents. They’re sweet and loving and protective but not overprotective. I don’t see a lot of parents like that in YA. It feels like a lot of the time they’re either absent, cruel, besties, or overprotective. Though Victoria’s parents aren’t particularly like mine, I found the dynamics of their relationship pretty relatable, because her parents always tried to do their best for her even if they don’t always understand (admittedly hard to do with an uncommunicative teen like Victoria). They’re not perfect parents but they felt like realistic, good parents.
The romance, obviously, is super, super cute, with a great slow burn. And I liked that I wasn’t really on board initially either and got to be won over with Victoria. The nicknames in this book are absolutely precious (and I’m picky about that). I had such shippy feels for so much of this book, AND the way the love triangle resolves is outstanding. OH! And to make everything even better, there was an f/f ship on the side that was also absolutely shippy.
Milanes’ debut The Victoria in My Head made me smile so hard for pretty much the entirety of the time I spent reading it. The voice is excellent, the romance is shippy, the supporting cast is lovable, the plot is low drama, the character arc is dynamic and believable, and the family dynamics are fantastic. What an amazing debut!
paulieg's review against another edition
4.0
Engaging and fun, this YA novel moves briskly through a Latina teen's sophomore year at a Manhattan prep school where she breaks out of her Harvard-track rut by auditioning for a rock band. As she tentatively explores dating and starts to question what she wants her post-high school future to look like, family conflicts arise. This story thread rang very true: in fact, I think the book should have a prominently displayed Trigger Warning for strict, overprotective parents. The main character, Victoria, is delightful overall but at times seems both too sophisticated and too immature for her age. Her angst is also frustratingly off-the-charts, even for a teen. However, I was fully behind her on this journey of self-discovery and thoroughly enjoyed this quick, absorbing read.
**As a side note, this book is beautifully edited: not a typo to be seen, with balanced pacing and a solid underlying structure. It's such a forgotten pleasure to read effortlessly, after slogging through several poorly (if at all) edited books lately.**
**As a side note, this book is beautifully edited: not a typo to be seen, with balanced pacing and a solid underlying structure. It's such a forgotten pleasure to read effortlessly, after slogging through several poorly (if at all) edited books lately.**
sierra's review against another edition
WOW, this book is adorable!! I'm overwhelmed with feels, especially over the two couples I shipped throughout the novel. Victoria's transformation was realistic and I love her so much. I love this book so much, in fact, that I have like, zero words to review it with. Just read this.
joceraptor's review against another edition
5.0
UPDATE: because maybe I should try to give an actual review?
The first thing I want to get out of the way is that this is a completely subjective 5-star read that, if I wasn't in the right state for/if I had ever had something that represented me in this way growing up, I might not have loved as much but you can fight me if you think I'm going to change that rating.
In essence, this is a sweet, coming of age contemporary that's centered around a young Cuban-American girl who's learning to rebel a little bit so she can carve out her own space. She is a scholarship student in a Manhattan school, and so most of her peers are affluent. The pressure she gets from her parents is impacted by her culture, her parents' socio-economic status, her desire to be a "good daughter" and fulfill all their American dreams, and all of it hit home for me. She, like so many other latinx kids in the States, isn't "enough" of one or the other.
Enter: a boy. (Of course, but please don't roll your eyes just yet.) When Victoria sees said boy hanging up singer auditions for a band, she impulsively takes the flyer. She isn't sure if she's actually interested or if she just wants something to break up the monotony of her life, but she takes it regardless. Since this is a book, I'm sure we all assumed that she does end up auditioning and the band does become a central part of the book, and congratulations we're all right. But it's what happens because of this band - the forming of new friendships, exploring romantic relationships and heartbreak, and especially Victoria learning how to assert herself - that truly make this book stand out. Victoria's life becomes that of every other messy teenager and that alone makes me cry. Latinx and other POC have been told again and again that their lives should be confined to "issue books," the books that talk about race and oppression and trauma. And while those stories are all necessary and true, sometimes it's nice to just see ourselves live. So please don't tell me that this book isn't relatable because her parents don't go around talking about cigars and Castro constantly. Milanes writes wonderfully, and created the best kind of cute, tropey romance, which meant Victoria immediately became a new favorite.
I am so unbelievably ready to reread this book. Until then, I'm gonna keep this playlist on repeat.
----
So Milanes did this thing where she lured me into this story in the most unassuming way. I should've known with the first chapter being Mitski's "Your Best American Girl" that The Victoria in My Head would be more than I had in mind. A fluffy, YA, own voices, Cuban-American contemporary book is the exact thing I never had when I needed it most and I was instantly sucked in. It was cute. It was comfortable. Victoria was relatable.
Now - not even 24 hours later - I'm listening to the playlist of all the songs referenced and so very in my feelings that I'm crying over nothing and don't know how I'm going to recover.
The first thing I want to get out of the way is that this is a completely subjective 5-star read that, if I wasn't in the right state for/if I had ever had something that represented me in this way growing up, I might not have loved as much but you can fight me if you think I'm going to change that rating.
In essence, this is a sweet, coming of age contemporary that's centered around a young Cuban-American girl who's learning to rebel a little bit so she can carve out her own space. She is a scholarship student in a Manhattan school, and so most of her peers are affluent. The pressure she gets from her parents is impacted by her culture, her parents' socio-economic status, her desire to be a "good daughter" and fulfill all their American dreams, and all of it hit home for me. She, like so many other latinx kids in the States, isn't "enough" of one or the other.
Here’s the thing—I’m in between two worlds, but I can’t fit into either one perfectly. I can round my words when I speak English so that there’s no trace of my family’s accent. Pull my hair up into a bun so you can’t see how wild and unconfined it is. My skin is pale enough to make me ethnically ambiguous—I can pass for Italian or Greek or French. But when I’m around all my Cuban relatives, I don’t feel quite right either. My Spanish is clunky, and I’ve never spoken it fluently so I opt to keep my phrases short, a barely passable Spanglish. I don’t bother with quinces or feel any nostalgia for a country I’ve never visited.
Enter: a boy. (Of course, but please don't roll your eyes just yet.) When Victoria sees said boy hanging up singer auditions for a band, she impulsively takes the flyer. She isn't sure if she's actually interested or if she just wants something to break up the monotony of her life, but she takes it regardless. Since this is a book, I'm sure we all assumed that she does end up auditioning and the band does become a central part of the book, and congratulations we're all right. But it's what happens because of this band - the forming of new friendships, exploring romantic relationships and heartbreak, and especially Victoria learning how to assert herself - that truly make this book stand out. Victoria's life becomes that of every other messy teenager and that alone makes me cry. Latinx and other POC have been told again and again that their lives should be confined to "issue books," the books that talk about race and oppression and trauma. And while those stories are all necessary and true, sometimes it's nice to just see ourselves live. So please don't tell me that this book isn't relatable because her parents don't go around talking about cigars and Castro constantly. Milanes writes wonderfully, and created the best kind of cute, tropey romance, which meant Victoria immediately became a new favorite.
I am so unbelievably ready to reread this book. Until then, I'm gonna keep this playlist on repeat.
----
So Milanes did this thing where she lured me into this story in the most unassuming way. I should've known with the first chapter being Mitski's "Your Best American Girl" that The Victoria in My Head would be more than I had in mind. A fluffy, YA, own voices, Cuban-American contemporary book is the exact thing I never had when I needed it most and I was instantly sucked in. It was cute. It was comfortable. Victoria was relatable.
Now - not even 24 hours later - I'm listening to the playlist of all the songs referenced and so very in my feelings that I'm crying over nothing and don't know how I'm going to recover.
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