Eventually it became clear to me that the book I needed to write would be — had to be — an homage to all the books I loved before. There were plenty of elements that I didn’t want to channel: Block’s characters pine after romantic love in a way that is at odds with our era of independent women, and the homogeneity and exclusivity of the other books deserve to be left in the early ‘90s — but the elements of ‘90s books that I did want to incorporate in my book were obvious. I pulled from both my pastel and passionate influences. My characters bow down to Claudia Kishi’s closet , and there is a confrontation at the food court, but my story is laced with magic, mess, and loneliness that comes from a deeper place than just being the only one not invited to the sleepover.