Val Vega

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>A captivating heartfelt tale about family diplomacy and finding one's place in the universe. - </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>Kirkus Reviews</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>(starred review)</em></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Val Vega figured that in her junior year of high school all she'd have to worry about was getting a decent score on the SATs captaining the softball team and figuring out her unrequited crush on her cute nonbinary bestie. Then Val discovers a family secret she never expected: her t��o Umberto is Earth's ambassador to an interstellar council of planets and his unexpected death installs Val as his successor.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Two Galactic empires are on the brink of war and only Val can salvage interstellar peace. She has to hammer out treaties with giant jellyfish-shaped aliens that float like zeppelins gets abducted by underground insurgents and has to navigate the divisions of a colonized planet where telepathy puts every thought and every conflict out in the open. Her impossible task is even harder since Earth is known across the Galaxy as a violent self-destructive backwater planet with intolerable humidity. Worse she learns her uncle's death was no accident - he was assassinated and the prime suspects are the three aliens Val trusted as her uncle's allies.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Out of her depth and with the weight of two worlds on her shoulders Val must solve her uncle's murder and bring peace to the Galaxy-all while helping her grieving family managing the dramas of her friends and getting a passing grade in trig.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Ben Francisco's debut novel is a Latinx space adventure populated by diverse humans and aliens who break the binaries of Earth and the Galaxy.</span></p><p><br></p>