My Diary by Raquel Reyes - Plot Summary and Review

Hi everyone! I just finished Raquel's diary! Here is the plot summary and review:

The diary begins on June 21, 2026 - the first day of summer. Every year on the first day of summer, Raquel's family's paleta shop, Paleta-Palooza, is open late, debuts 2 new flavors, and has a celebration. This year, Raquel, who became interested in learning how to DJ after seeing one at her cousin Santiago's graduation party, is playing her first set ever publicly. After the party, she gets a schedule for a family reunion with her mother's side of the family, and decides to try to do a set at the family reunion talent show, even though her mother's European side of the family doesn't like to dance as much as her father's Mexican side of the family.

The family prepares to go from Kansas City, Missouri to Long Island, New York, for the reunion, but the day before the reunion, Raquel's dog Luzita goes missing. Luckily, Raquel and her 7 year old brother Sol find her, and they are off to the reunion, where they are meeting their cousin Harper, fiance Jordan, 14 year old Liam, 11 year old Sloan, 8 year old Mina, and 6 year old Bentley, along with their aunts, uncles, and Grandma Meg. Once Raquel and Sol arrive at the beach, they have lunch and play on the beach with Harper, who is a marine biologist and tells them about sea life.

The next day, as Sloan is arriving, Harper invites Raquel to go to her wedding venue, an estate on Mount Bedford, forty minutes away, where her great-great-grandma Samantha Parkington used to live. Curious about learning more about Samantha, Raquel goes, but wants to invite Sloan as well. Sloan, however, refuses to go, and Harper and Raquel go together. Raquel than learns that Samantha, in the 1920s, founded a school for girls and became a teacher, and while she searches for something for Harper to wear at the wedding, she finds Samantha's old diary from 1906. In the diary page, 11 year old Samantha wonders how she can help fight for women's right to vote, which intrigues Raquel, as she was only taught the history of the woman's suffrage movement in school.

After Raquel and Harper come back to Long Island, the cousins get ice cream together. Raquel and Sloan bond over their mint ice cream, but when Raquel mentions that Samantha enjoyed ice cream like that, Sloan withdraws from the day's activities, including a volleyball game and a family photo. During the game, Sloan draws pictures of the cousins, and Raquel asks if that's a talent she is interested in for the talent show, but is ignored.

The next day, as Raquel reads more of Samantha's diary from 1906, she learns that Samantha eventually gained the courage to give a speech about giving women the right to vote, which inspires her. At breakfast, Raquel tells her family about Samantha's interest, and Sloan explains the woman's suffrage movement to her younger cousins - only to withdraw once again once Raquel compares her passion to Samantha's. That day, the cousins go on a boat to search for dolphins with Harper and Jordan, and Raquel tells Sloan more about Samantha and their similarities, specifically the part where she's adopted. Sloan brings up the fact that she was adopted too, but still seems bothered by the whole thing, enough to even avoid the dolphin watching. Eventually, a loud tourist boat playing music, which scares the dolphins, comes by, and Harper stands up for the animals - something Raquel feels like Samantha would do.

At the talent show that night, Raquel gets nervous when she watches her parents sing karaoke, but no one dances to their music. She is encouraged by Sloan to try to play a few songs, and she does play a few songs from artists she usually plays when she is DJing, namely Taylor Swift and Selena, but it doesn't get her family dancing. But Raquel knows from the advice she got when she started DJing - to listen to what the audience wants and change the song if they aren't dancing - that she needs to adapt. She plays We Are Family, which gets the crowd dancing, but Sloan doesn't dance, and withdraws from the situation once again.

When Raquel reads Samantha's diary the next day, she sees that Samantha wrote about wanting to help her "friend" Agatha - which inspires Raquel to try to get Sloan to open up to her and apply her DJ skills to her bond with her cousin. She thinks about how Sloan enjoyed the mint chip ice cream, and makes mint chip paletas with her - only for the bond to be wrecked when Raquel mentions Samantha again, and Sloan runs away.

To make matters worse, Liam sets off a snapper in the sea, which triggers Luzita and makes her run away. Sloan comes to help Raquel find Luzita, but when that happens, Raquel asks her what's wrong. Sloan admits to Raquel that she got a letter from her birth mom, who wants to meet with her and start a relationship with her, and that made her feel confused about her family - feeling like she didn't belong and that she wasn't even related to Samantha, which made Raquel's stories about her feel upsetting. Raquel supports Sloan - but then, they find Luzita, who found 2 stranded dolphins. Raquel calls Harper for help, and Sloan stands up for the dolphins when tourists try to come to touch them and keeps the animals back. Harper eventually comes and rescues the dolphins, and when Raquel has to leave the reunion to go to New York City, she keeps Samantha's diary for inspiration - and promises to give it to Sloan when she's done reading it and sees her again at the Mount Bedford wedding.

Alright, my thoughts! Firstly, I felt like this was a lot better paced as a story than some of the previous Girl of the Year journals. I was a little nervous going in since I didn't really like Summer's book and the journals haven't been really telling a lot of story, but it was great getting to know these locations and about Raquel's life and about how her vacation goes! I do have one issue with this story, though - I felt like too much of the conflict revolved around Sloan, and much of the story wasn't driven by Raquel's actions, but about how Sloan was reacting to being around her family. This was prevalent to the point where American Girl got an advisory board team member dealing with adoption when Raquel isn't even adopted. Raquel wasn't able to make many mistakes or have much of a plotline that didn't revolve around her cousin, which I hope is rectified in her full length novel. That being said, though, I loved what we did get to see of Raquel as a character. I did like how she was trying to find her voice, and Samantha's story empowered her to try to be a good friend and cousin, and she learned to stand up for things she believes in and find her footing in a side of her family she is less familiar with, in terms of both location and culture. I also am very happy with the direction they took Samantha's character after her series - it is very true to how Samantha acted in her series, and as an adult now, I am proud of the adult that Samantha has become. And one last thing - I'm so happy the wedding or anything like that hasn't happened yet. The other journals have felt like complete stories, but this one genuinely leaves you wondering what's going to happen next, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. I cannot wait to read Raquel Saves the Wedding! 7/10