Have you even gotten in trouble and thought there was no way to fix it? Things were messed up so bad there was nothing you could do? That’s how April Lundquist feels in the book Brothers, Boyfriends and Other Criminal Minds. April lives in New York in 1977, in a neighborhood that’s populated by the Mafia. Three men on her street are known hit men, two on the corners and one across the street. Francesco ‘Frankie the Crunch’ Consiglione lives on one end and usually keeps to himself. On the other corner there’s Vincent ‘Gorgeous Vinny’ Persico is apparently in the entertainment business and trying to get a big star on his show. The one April knows the best though is Salvatore ‘Soft Sal’ Luciano. He lives across the street and has a son her age. Sal asks a favor of April that leaves her wondering if she is ‘in’ with the mob now.
The first real problem is when April and her best friend Brandi are asked a favor by Sal. His son, Larry, has a few mental incapabilities, and has been transferred to April’s school. She and Brandi are supposed to walk Larry to and from school. But Larry is a drummer, who loves the band The Who and on the first day meets Dominick DeMao, bad boy rocker and April’s crush. Dom immediately sees the talent Larry has and decides to put him in his band. He also starts paying attention to April the ‘Keeper of the Sticks’ and good friend of his new good friend, Larry.
But Dom is not quite the guy April imagines him as. But being close to him is hard, since her best friend Brandi is trying to set her up with a guy from Xavierian, also known as Xa-fairy-land because it’s an all-boys catholic school. When Brandi gets a date to a dance with Walter, from Xavierian, she also brings April and sets her up with Walt’s friend Umberto, or Bert. April isn’t too crazy about it and doesn’t want to go. But Brandi keeps getting them together, even though Aprils made it clear they are just friends. Her brother’s best friend, Little Joe, is being very strange around April, especially after an accident at the beach. Meanwhile Dom is stirring up trouble with April when he ditches her for a week after making her his girlfriend. When Larry and April bring Dom over after school though, they get a surprise.
Matt, April’s 16 year old brother, is an actor. He’s performing as Romeo in a Shakespeare play. When April comes home with Larry and Dom, she finds Matt practicing with Bettina, who plays Juliet. They are obviously involved, but that’s not a good thing because Bettina is the daughter of Roberto ‘Bobby the Bull’ Bocceli, one of Colombo’s Capo’s. If you are a skinny blonde-haired Scandinavian boy like Matt, it was a death sentence to date a connected guy’s daughter, especially a Capo’s daughter. April is extremely worried about her brother, but by the time she can do anything, it could be too late.
I am very interested in this book. Something about the mob and criminal business fascinates people, and me. Mix that in with guy trouble from brothers’ buddies to weird-guys-from-catholic-schools to bad-boy heartbreakers to brothers-who-fall-in-love-with-the-wrong-girl-and-could-be-in-danger-because-of-it. Mix all of that in with best friend troubles and parents and teachers. This is a full-fledged teen drama written in an intriguing voice and beautiful prose. I can’t wait to finish the book and see what happens to these characters I’ve grown to love.
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