Adios To All the Drama
by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

    ADIOS TO ALL THE DRAMA by Diana Rodriguez Wallach
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  1/1/09
    Publisher:  Kensington
    Reviewed by:  Jaglvr
    Rating:  5 Stars


    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!