A charming, crowd-pleasing debut.
Six Asian American teens live together for a month as part of a reality show.
Chinese American Sabine Zhang is thrilled to get out of Moline, Illinois, and appear on Hotel California, a small reality series that centers on six Asian high schoolers living together for four weeks. When she arrives at the show’s Palm Springs house, Sabine realizes the other contestants—including artsy Mari, who’s implied Japanese; bookish Nigerian and Taiwanese Grant; aspiring actor Chris, whose ethnicity is not specified; and cool, sporty Danny, who’s cued South Asian—aren’t regular teens like in previous seasons. They all look like models and hail from bigger cities. The new season, it’s announced, is going to air on a huge streaming platform, so the casting focused on looks and the likelihood of romantic and interpersonal tensions. Sabine is most unsettled by gorgeous and outspoken Manhattanite Yoona Bae, the narrative’s second protagonist. An only child, Yoona is just happy to be away from her controlling mother and their gossipy Korean community. Yoona doesn’t want to come off as the beautiful mean girl, and Sabine doesn’t want to seem like an insecure Midwesterner, but in the producer’s hands, the two are established as antagonists. This winning story thoughtfully explores Asian representation, the differences between growing up a person of color on the coasts versus middle America, and how girls are expected to be rivals rather than friends.
A charming, crowd-pleasing debut. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9780063223271
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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