Author Crystal Maldonado pens a tribute to boybands and the power of friendship

Author Crystal Maldonado spent her middle school years in AOL chatrooms devoted to the Backstreet Boys — creating online zines, quoting lyrics and exchanging fun facts about the band. But what started as a preteen fandom evolved into friendships that she holds dear to this day. Maldonado’s fifth book, “Get Real, Chloe Torres,” is her tribute to boy bands, unironic love for the things that bring you joy and the enduring power of friendship.

The summer before heading to the Rhode Island School of Design, Chloe Torres is nostalgic for the days when she and her ex-best friends dreamed of nothing more than meeting their favorite boy band, Intonation. When her dad surprises her with three VIP tickets to Intonation’s reunion concert in Las Vegas, Chloe seizes the opportunity to reunite with Ramona and Sienna and proposes the idea of a cross-country road trip. But as Ramona and Sienna reveal ulterior motives for joining the trip, and the love triangle that sabotaged the trio bubbles to the surface again, Chloe wonders if she’s being too idealistic to think they could forgive each other’s past betrayals.

“Get Real, Chloe Torres” follows Maldonado’s 2024 Massachusetts Book Award win for her novel “The Fall of Whit Rivera.” What has remained consistent across her work is creating authentic stories starring fat, queer Latina girls.

“So many of us have been put through the wringer,” said Maldonado, speaking about the uptick in negative rhetoric about people of color and LGBTQ+ communities. “It’s more important than ever to have books that counter that narrative and make the people who are receiving those messages feel seen, heard and like they matter.”

Readers have responded enthusiastically to Maldonado’s work over the years — including a viral trend in 2021 where people dressed up like the titular character of “Fat Chance, Charlie Vega,” Maldonado’s New England Book Award-winning debut. “I would tear up every time,” she said. “That captured everything I had been hoping for and working towards.”

In Maldonado’s subsequent books, she wrote characters who shared other parts of her identity — chronic illness and neurodivergence. “The Fall of Whit Rivera” drew from Maldonado’s teenage experiences with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), grappling with day-to-day struggles of feeling overly exhausted, growing excessive body hair and facing doctors whose sole suggestion was to lose weight. “I was mortified. I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it so I hid it for a long time,” she shared.

Maldonado said it’s “deeply gratifying” that the book is resonating with readers, especially those who have PCOS. “It felt like a breakthrough moment,” she shared. “Saying, ‘Here I am,’ and having others see the value in me speaking up about something I was afraid to for so long.”

Maldonado has also been inspired to speak up in other ways. She recently joined Authors Against Book Bans, a group that aims to protect the freedom to read by attending local town meetings, discussing legislation and working with politicians.

“So many books are getting banned because there happens to be a trans person or a queer person or ‘insert whoever here,’” Maldonado said. “It’s disheartening, it’s erasing history, it’s silencing voices and that’s unacceptable.”

She thinks it’s important for young people to read books that reflect their own experiences and books about characters who share nothing in common with them. “I’m a big believer that books can build empathy and we need more of that,” she said.

“Get Real, Chloe Torres” shows what building mutual understanding looks like in practice. It also delivers Latina representation in a warm and comforting rom-com, and offers levity in a moment of uncertainty.

“One of the ways to push back on narratives saying that we don’t matter is to find joy,” Maldonado said. “Joy is an act of resistance.”