Nina Álvarez lo tiene todo. Es la capitana del equipo de baloncesto del instituto y una de las chicas más populares de la escuela. Eso sin contar con su prometedora carrera como influencer en las redes sociales. Un desafortunado comentario en una fiesta. Un vídeo que no debería haber subido a las redes y un cúmulo de circunstancias adversas logran que su perfecta imagen se tambalee. Tachada de homófoba, no solo está perdiendo seguidores en las redes, sino que varias universidades han decidido retirar sus becas para jugar al baloncesto. En pánico, Nina toma una rápida decisión, saldrá con una de las chicas de su instituto. Alguien a quien sus populares amigas no soportan… Alexia Taylor. Alexia es todo lo contrario a Nina. Inteligente y callada, no esconde sus preferencias sexuales. Su máxima aspiración es trabajar un día en la NASA y para eso debe mantener unas notas perfectas. Por supuesto, la oferta de Nina no le interesa en absoluto, pero cuando su amiga Cris se mete por el medio, no será tan fácil negarse.
Summary - English
(DeepL) Nina Alvarez has it all. She’s the captain of the high school basketball team and one of the most popular girls in school. That’s not to mention her promising career as a social media influencer. An unfortunate comment at a party. A video that she shouldn’t have uploaded to the networks and a series of adverse circumstances cause her perfect image to falter. Branded a homophobe, not only is she losing followers on the networks, but several universities have decided to withdraw her scholarships to play basketball. Panicked, Nina makes a quick decision, she will date one of the girls from her high school. Someone her popular friends can’t stand… Alexia Taylor. Alexia is the complete opposite of Nina. Smart and quiet, she doesn’t hide her sexual preferences. Her ultimate aspiration is to one day work at NASA and for that she must maintain perfect grades. Of course, Nina’s offer doesn’t interest her at all, but when her friend Cris gets in the way, it won’t be so easy to refuse.
Club Schedule
Week
Capítulo
Starting page
# of pages
Week 1
1
7
11
Week 2
2
18
12
Week 3
3-4
30
17
Week 4
5-6
47
21
Week 5
7-8
71
23
Week 6
9-10
91
21
Week 7
11-12
111
18
Week 8
13-14
127
16
Week 9
15
149
13
Week 10
16
163
14
Week 11
17-18
170
18
Week 12
19-20
182
18
Week 13
21-22
200
17
Week 14
23-24
218
17
Week 15
25-27
233
19
Week 16
28-29
256
14
Will you be reading along when the club starts on September 23?
Yes
No
I’ll be reading, but at my own pace
0voters
What type of media will you be consuming the book as?
Quick question for our participants: do we want to keep all discussion in this thread, since we’re a small group, or split each week’s reading into its own thread?
Okay, looks like we’re all of a pretty similar mindset. How about just a chapter a week for the first two weeks, then we ramp up to 20 pgs/week? So the schedule would look like this:
At the 3% mark, the last sentence before the first *** break.
Me he visto obligada a asumir el papel de madre el pasado año, con tan solo diecisiete años cuando no me corresponde y estoy harta de ello.
I think I get the meaning: I had to assume the role of mother the past year, which at only 16 yrs old is just not right, and I’m tired of it.
I’m having trouble understanding how ‘con tan solo diecisiete años cuando no me corresponde’ works here. How do ‘cuando’ and ‘con tan solo’ here work grammatically?
Thanks for the link, it think that’s one of the pieces I was missing. I just still don’t get how these sentences work grammatically. I suppose it’s not that important as long as I am understanding the meaning, but it’s bugging me.
Looks like ‘con tan solo’ is a set phrase, if that helps.
Just finished week 1; I’m liking the set-up so far. 16 is the minimum age you can get a job, right? I wonder if the sister has one/is looking for one. Nina’s only source of income appears to be being an influencer; I wonder how popular she is. She must have a small (or maybe even medium) number of followers at least for that to pay for anything.
I don’t remember the summary on the book, so they might already address it there, but: makes me cringe when high schooler just about to compete nationally blows off the danger of a drug test because it’s “a violation of privacy”. Uh-huh, sure. You go ahead and use that excuse. Shame to see Nina’s national chances go up in smoke like that, and no one’s even done any drugs yet.
Me he visto obligada a asumir el papel de madre el pasado año - I’ve found myself obliged to take on the role of mother the last year
con tan solo diecisiete años - at only 17 years old
cuando no me corresponde - when it’s not my job
y estoy harta de ello - and I’m fed up with it
The phrases for talking about age are constructed differently in Spanish to how we use them in English. Even the basic - tengo 17 años (lit I have 17 years) sounds weird when you first learn it. I hadn’t thought of con tan solo as being a set phrase but maybe that’s a useful way to think about it.
What a contrast to our last book! From the tech free world of the Amazon rainforest, chapter one was full of social media references. Also some nice slang words, yes I’m talking about you gilipollas!
It feels very teenage! I’m not sure quite what I’ve let myself in for on this one!
It does! Haha. I’m having to do so few lookups compared to our previous book. There was only the one sentence I couldn’t figure out on my own, so I’m fairly positive I can read along with the schedule already.
I… Have a problem with numbers, apparently. Nina is 17, and her sister Mariana is 15, right?
If so, the sister can’t get a job yet. Quince is 15 right? I am surprised she apparently also can’t cook or reliably use a microwave. Something went wrong there. First thing I do when I’m suddenly responsible for all the cooking is enlist my only 2 yrs younger sibling to help, isn’t it? Of course, this is Nina’s thoughts, she’s probably just being mean to her younger sister here. She does seem rather stressed already…
I had a moment like that when I first quoted the sentence I had trouble with: it says diecisiete right there and I wrote it too, and I still got sixteen from that.
Except we could maybe combine chapters 17&18 and 19&20, that would make for a more even page count.
I suppose it’s not that important as long as I am understanding the meaning, but it’s bugging me.