The Wrap-Up List

In this modern-day suburban town, one percent of all fatalities come about in the most peculiar way. Deaths—eight-foot-tall, silver-gray creatures—send a letter (“Dear So-and-So, your days are numbered”) to whomever is chosen for a departure, telling them to wrap up their lives and do the things they always wanted to do before they have to “depart.” When sixteen-year-old Gabriela receives her notice, she is, of course devastated. Will she kiss her crush Sylvester before it’s too late? Friendship, first love, and fantasy artfully mesh in this magically realistic world that ultimately celebrates life.

With only seven days left, Gabriela creates a Wrap-Up List that’s more about helping her friends than herself. But can she uncover a decades-old family secret in time to earn a Pardon and save her own life?
A Race Against Time: When a supernatural creature called a Death delivers sixteen-year-old Gabriela a letter, she has just one week to say her goodbyes.Magical Realism: A unique world where eight-foot-tall, silver-gray Deaths are a normal, if strange, part of suburban life.First Kisses and Last Wishes: Instead of a bucket list for herself, Gabriela's Wrap-Up List focuses on finding first kisses for her friends—and maybe one for herself with her crush, Sylvester.A Family Mystery: The key to survival may lie in the past. Her attending Death, Hercule, is the same one who attended her grandfather during WWII, and discovering his secret could be her only hope for a Pardon.