An honest, fresh, and thoughtful summer romance.
Childhood friends reconnect only to discover a new type of love.
Korean Americans Hannah Cho and Jacob Kim were the best of friends growing up. That is, until Jacob’s father died and he and his mom moved to South Korea. Now 18, Jacob is starring in a hot K-drama and feeling the pressures of fame. After Jacob is injured while trying to help a distressed fan, his mother decides they’ll escape to San Diego for the summer and stay with their old friends the Chos. Hannah, fresh from a breakup, is preoccupied with getting back together with her White ex-boyfriend, Nate, who is even more into K-pop and K-drama than she is. When Jacob and Hannah are thrown back together, years’ worth of unspoken hurt feelings—and affection—resurface. Despite their initial walls, Hannah and Jacob quickly realize how much they have missed their friendship. The two fall back into their friendly rhythm, and it turns into something more. The narrative alternates between Hannah’s and Jacob’s first-person perspectives, with third-person interludes following the pair’s mothers. The love story flows easily as Lee incorporates the trappings and obligations of life as a K-drama celebrity, such as fake dating one’s co-star, as well as humorous and occasionally frustrating incidents that come with the territory and affect the couple’s budding relationship. The novel also meaningfully examines issues around Korean American identity, code-switching, objectification of Asian culture and people, family dynamics, and finding inner strength.
An honest, fresh, and thoughtful summer romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-335-91578-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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