The Brothers Torres

Frankie Towers has always looked up to his older brother, Steve, and with good reason.  Steve is a popular senior who always gets what he wants: girls, a soccer scholarship, and--lately--street cred. Frankie, on the other hand, spends his time shooting off fireworks with his best friend Zach, working at his parents' restaurant, and obsessing about his longtime crush, Rebecca Sanchez.

Frankie has reservations about Steve's crusade to win the respect of the local cholos.  He doesn't think about them, though, until he gets into a fist fight John Dalton - the richest, preppiest kid in his New Mexican high school, and longtime nemesis of Steve.  After the fight, Steve takes Frankie under his wing - and Frankie's social currency begins to rise.  The cholos who used to ignore him start to recognize him; he even lands a date to Homecoming with Rebecca.

The situation with Dalton continues to simmer, and after another incident Steve is bent on retaliating.  Frankie starts to think that his brother is taking this respect thing too far. He may have to choose between respecting his brother and respecting himself.

In an honest and humorous debut novel, Coert Voorhees uses a coming of age story to look at where loyalty ends and the self begins.

"Set in a small New Mexico town along the Rio Grande River, Voorhees's debut novel puts a fresh and often funny spin on a familiar plot line, the awkward teen boy who desires the hot girl. Rebecca Sanchez, says Frankie Torres, is biracial, 'a coyote like me, but unlike me, she got the best of both worlds.... Eyes such a deep shade of blue that sometimes you want to lean in close so you can see the bottom. Cheesy as hell? Definitely. But I'm telling you.' If only Frankie can find the right words to ask her to the homecoming dance! But not all is light: Frankie worries about his bad-ass older brother Steve's taste for macho violence, especially after Frankie gets beaten up by rich white boy John Dalton — how far will Steve go to get revenge? Strong secondary characters round out this sexually charged story, which is peppered with Spanish words and phrases. Frankie's observations on life, friendships and family loyalties wittily punctuate the narrative, ensuring that readers will listen closely to this unlikely hero. Ages 14 — up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)