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Spotlight Sprinkles
Fun in the Sun
A girl’s spring break gets complicated by an unexpected love triangle in this latest installment in the tween middle grade rom-com series, Spotlight Sprinkles!
At first, Anna thought spending spring break with Grandma Gina would be a total snooze fest, but her grandma’s friend Lillian has the cutest grandson—Mason! Anna and Mason get along great, until Grandma Gina’s neighbor brings over her chatty grandkids, Daniella and Daniel.
How can Anna figure out if Mason feels the same way she does if every time they’re together, Daniel keeps trying to get her attention? Is it possible that Daniel and Mason like Anna? How does she tell Daniel that she likes someone else? Oh no, what if Mason is trying to tell Anna he likes someone else?!
At first, Anna thought spending spring break with Grandma Gina would be a total snooze fest, but her grandma’s friend Lillian has the cutest grandson—Mason! Anna and Mason get along great, until Grandma Gina’s neighbor brings over her chatty grandkids, Daniella and Daniel.
How can Anna figure out if Mason feels the same way she does if every time they’re together, Daniel keeps trying to get her attention? Is it possible that Daniel and Mason like Anna? How does she tell Daniel that she likes someone else? Oh no, what if Mason is trying to tell Anna he likes someone else?!
- GenresRomanceMiddle Grade
160 pages, Hardcover
Published December 9, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 5, 2026
This turned out way better than I expected.
Loved it!
Loved it!
November 16, 2025
Copy provided by the publisher
Originally published as Angela Darling's Isabella's Spring Break Crush in 2014. Ana Miller lives in Chicago, where it is still wintery cold for spring break. Her best friends are all traveling, but Ana's parents are too busy. Her mother is a pediatrician and her father is an accountant, who suggests that Ana work in his office over the break to earn some money. This is NOT Ana's plan. Her twin brother, Adam, doesn't mind as much, but when Ana sets out to convince their parents to plan a vacation, he goes along. Ana has quite the impressive presentation, and her parents eventually give in... to a point. Ana and Adam will fly to spend the week in Florida with their Grandma Gina. While she loves her grandmother, this doesn't sound like the best plan, especially when her grandmother mentions that a neighbor will have her grandson there as well. The neighbor, Lillian, is very quiet and reclusive, which doesn't bode well for Mason. Once in Florida, however, Ana is sucked into the fun of visiting an orange Grove, watching The Sound of Music as Grandma Gina sings enthusiastically along, and eating ice cream. When Mason turns out to be a really cute baseball player, things are looking up. The kids hang out at the pool and go to a museum, which is a lot of fun until neighbor Sonia's twin grandkids, Daniel and Daniella, get brought into the mix. Daniella seems to like Mason, and tries to get Ana interested in her brother, calling a forced movie night "a double date". When Lillian and Gina plan a nice dinner out, Ana goes shopping with her grandmother, and the two have a great time bonding over cute outfits, and Ana is glad that she is getting to spend time with her. Things are going well, but a trip to Adventure Land with Daniel and Daniella leads to some tension. A week isn't a very long time to spend with anyone, but at the end of the week Mason asks for Ana's phone number, and the two plan to text until they both spend some time in Florida over summer vacation.
Strengths: The Spotlight Sprinkles books have been wildly popular with my students; they are only 160 pages long, and have plenty of friend and boyfriend drama. This is one of my favorites, mainly because Grandma Gina is such fun. She gets up early, swims, and is always on the go. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I can remember how long a week can seem when one is twelve, and how interesting it was to meet other children on vacation. Grandma Gina's reminiscing about the long distance relationship she had with Ana's grandfather was rather sweet; mentioning it made it clear that she took Ana's emotions seriously, even if she knew that kids in Chicago and New York didn't have much of a chance for a serious relationship. The drama with Daniel and Daniella spiced things up, and the array of activities made sense. This was a fantastic vicarious spring break trip!
Weaknesses: Since I've taken exactly two spring vacations in the last forty years, I didn't have a lot of sympathy with Ana's plight. At least she didn't complain too much out loud, and she did eventually enjoy being with her grandmother. Young readers will commiserate more with her. Did appreciate the effort she put into developing a vacation pitch to her parents!
What I really think: While I would love to know who is really writing these, I am just glad to see short, middle grade romances. The original Crush series ended rather abruptly; I hope that Spotlight Sprinkles has a few titles that are original and not reworked from previous editions. Making Waves comes out 5/5/26.
Originally published as Angela Darling's Isabella's Spring Break Crush in 2014. Ana Miller lives in Chicago, where it is still wintery cold for spring break. Her best friends are all traveling, but Ana's parents are too busy. Her mother is a pediatrician and her father is an accountant, who suggests that Ana work in his office over the break to earn some money. This is NOT Ana's plan. Her twin brother, Adam, doesn't mind as much, but when Ana sets out to convince their parents to plan a vacation, he goes along. Ana has quite the impressive presentation, and her parents eventually give in... to a point. Ana and Adam will fly to spend the week in Florida with their Grandma Gina. While she loves her grandmother, this doesn't sound like the best plan, especially when her grandmother mentions that a neighbor will have her grandson there as well. The neighbor, Lillian, is very quiet and reclusive, which doesn't bode well for Mason. Once in Florida, however, Ana is sucked into the fun of visiting an orange Grove, watching The Sound of Music as Grandma Gina sings enthusiastically along, and eating ice cream. When Mason turns out to be a really cute baseball player, things are looking up. The kids hang out at the pool and go to a museum, which is a lot of fun until neighbor Sonia's twin grandkids, Daniel and Daniella, get brought into the mix. Daniella seems to like Mason, and tries to get Ana interested in her brother, calling a forced movie night "a double date". When Lillian and Gina plan a nice dinner out, Ana goes shopping with her grandmother, and the two have a great time bonding over cute outfits, and Ana is glad that she is getting to spend time with her. Things are going well, but a trip to Adventure Land with Daniel and Daniella leads to some tension. A week isn't a very long time to spend with anyone, but at the end of the week Mason asks for Ana's phone number, and the two plan to text until they both spend some time in Florida over summer vacation.
Strengths: The Spotlight Sprinkles books have been wildly popular with my students; they are only 160 pages long, and have plenty of friend and boyfriend drama. This is one of my favorites, mainly because Grandma Gina is such fun. She gets up early, swims, and is always on the go. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I can remember how long a week can seem when one is twelve, and how interesting it was to meet other children on vacation. Grandma Gina's reminiscing about the long distance relationship she had with Ana's grandfather was rather sweet; mentioning it made it clear that she took Ana's emotions seriously, even if she knew that kids in Chicago and New York didn't have much of a chance for a serious relationship. The drama with Daniel and Daniella spiced things up, and the array of activities made sense. This was a fantastic vicarious spring break trip!
Weaknesses: Since I've taken exactly two spring vacations in the last forty years, I didn't have a lot of sympathy with Ana's plight. At least she didn't complain too much out loud, and she did eventually enjoy being with her grandmother. Young readers will commiserate more with her. Did appreciate the effort she put into developing a vacation pitch to her parents!
What I really think: While I would love to know who is really writing these, I am just glad to see short, middle grade romances. The original Crush series ended rather abruptly; I hope that Spotlight Sprinkles has a few titles that are original and not reworked from previous editions. Making Waves comes out 5/5/26.
May 9, 2026
This super cute book brought me back to the good old days of going to the mall and to the fun time spent with time with my nana and my grandma. Lee Heart has the talent of writing modern middle grade books that remind me of how awesome books were in the 2000s and 2010s. This one has a little bit of drama and a lot of Florida March sunshine. I would recommend it to my students.
May 11, 2026
Good for 5-7th grade students.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews