Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 09/01/2015 Gr 4–6—For tween patrons who idolize boy bands and are looking for some G-rated romance, this fun confection narrated by 12-year-old Mackenzie Lowell is just the ticket. Mac, an artist and budding graphic novelist spends much of her free time with her BFFs, drooling over the newest up-and-coming boy band Perfect Storm. The girls are bummed after spending the afternoon trying to score tickets to Perfect Storm's concert by calling in to a radio station. Mac's publicist mom saves the day by scoring VIP tickets. Mom's coolness factor skyrockets when she's hired to be the band's publicist, requiring her to travel with the band for a month—and Mac's going with her! This is Mac's chance to catch the eye of lead singer Zander, her crush. Perhaps he'll take her to the spring dance? But there are ups and downs on the tour including an accident involving Green Dragon soda, pranks, a rich mean girl, Zander's fickleness, and Mac's blossoming friendship with Kyle. There's a lot to like in this series starter: Mac's voice, snippets of her graphic novel, the authenticity, the humor, and the pacing. VERDICT The diary format and many illustrations will entice fans of Rachel Renée Russell's "Dork Diaries" (S. & S.) but should be appealing to a wide audience and will have tween readers eager for the next installment.—Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 11/01/2015 Twelve-year-old Mac can’t imagine anything more amazing than seeing her all-time favorite band, Perfect Storm, in concert. But then her mom announces that she has gotten a job as Perfect Storm’s tour manager, and the two of them will be joining the boys on the road for a couple of months. Let the manic texting and hyperventilating begin! Despite starting off the tour on the wrong foot, hanging out with the band is a dream come true, and as Mac gets to know the boys, her longtime crush on Zander starts shifting in another direction. Calonita captures squealing tween-girl excitement perfectly in this diary-style novel, but she makes sure being a fangirl isn’t Mac’s only M.O. Her ambitions to be an artist not only feature in the plot but also in its illustrations, as spreads from her comic book Mac Attack (home to her cool, confident alter ego) join the book’s spot illustrations. Middle-schoolers won’t likely identify with being on tour, but Mac’s crushes and obsessions will strike a familiar chord. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.