The Victoria in My Head by Janelle Milanes

The Victoria in My Head

by Janelle Milanes

A shy, rule-following teen joins a local rock band and finds herself caught between staying on the path she’s always known and straying off-course to find love, adventure, and danger in this novel that’s perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell.

Victoria Cruz inhabits two worlds: In one, she is a rock star, thrashing the stage with her husky voice and purple-streaked hair. In the other, currently serving as her reality, Victoria is a shy teenager with overprotective Cuban parents, who sleepwalks through her life at the prestigious Evanston Academy. Unable to overcome the whole paralyzing-stage-fright thing, Victoria settles for living inside her fantasies, where nothing can go wrong and everything is set to her expertly crafted music playlists.

But after a chance encounter with an unattainably gorgeous boy named Strand, whose band seeks a lead singer, Victoria is tempted to turn her fevered daydreams into reality. To do that, she must confront her insecurities and break away from the treadmill that is her life. Suddenly, Victoria is faced with the choice of staying on the path she’s always known and straying off-course to find love, adventure, and danger.

From debut author Janelle Milanes comes a hilarious and heartfelt tale of the spectacular things that can happen when you go after what you really want.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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I enjoyed getting to be there as Victoria tried to figure out who she wanted to be. Fun friendships and lots of family time made this more than a romance, AND I got a grand gesture.



Pro: Victoria was a great character. I feel like there was some part of her everyone could related to, whether it be having overprotective parents, being part of the race for a space in the Ivy League, feeling unattractive, thinking your sort of boring, or trying to please your everyone in your life.

Pro: I love the wonderful group of friends Milanes assembled for Victoria. The suave and charming Strand, the fierce and riot grrlish Krina, and the loyal and super focused Annie, all of them encouraged and supported Victoria throughout this story.

Pro: Their band is named for my favorite Pixies song. How cool is that?

Pro: Lots of witty and amusing banter, and I often laughed during Victoria's inner monologues.

Pro: Strand! I was so happy that Milanes made him three dimensional, because my first impression of him was not too favorable, but as more and more of his layers were revealed, I became president of his fan club.

Con: Victoria was really insecure and sometimes it got on my nerves, but not too often.

Pro: It was really nice to see Victoria's family play such a big role in this story. They were not the perfect family, but they cared for each other deeply, and we shared a lot of important moments with them in this book.

Pro: So many awesome musical references, and the playlists were awesome too.

Pro: We got a grand gesture! I love grand gestures, and this one was pretty darn sweet.

Pro: Although there is romance in this book, this is not a romance. This is a story of self discovery and figuring out how to be the person you want to be.

Check out the song that inspired the band's name

Overall: A fun and heartwarming story of Victoria trying to figure out who she is and how she can become the Victoria in her head.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 28 September, 2017: Finished reading
  • 28 September, 2017: Reviewed