I consider myself a pretty private person. I’m a journalist. My job, as my j-school professors drilled into my head, is to tell other people’s stories, not mine. On social media, I mostly post career highlights, leaving my romantic relationships and other intimate details of my life a mystery. It’s intentional. It’s protective. It’s how I want it. And maybe some of it is cultural. After all, Latinas are often taught not to air our dirty laundry in public. And yet, come July 2027, some of the darkest and hardest moments of my life will be sitting on a bookstore shelf near you.

My debut memoir, The Best Love Stories Are Between Friends , will be out in the world, and in its pages, strangers and relatives will read about experiences I never shared with anyone. Why? Because the grief of losing my best friend , Angelica Alvarez, to stage 4 small-cell carcinoma lung cancer four years ago nearly killed me, too.…