Smart girl chick-lit.
Three teenage girls take on the Big Apple when they share an apartment during the summer before freshman year in college.
Their various quests for meaning and romance in their lives play out against the backdrop of the city that never sleeps. Native New Yorker Sadie, warmhearted and grounded, asserts that “New York City is my boyfriend.” An aspiring urban designer, she wants to create spaces in which “people rejuvenate and connect,” and she shares her passion with a boy she meets in her internship. Californian Darcy, wealthy, entitled and promiscuous, has trouble figuring out what she really wants. A previous bad relationship has made her wary of commitment, so when she feels herself attracted to a street performer, she backs away and indulges in more casual hookups. Rosanna has more pressing problems. Her decision to come to New York with a huge social conscience but only pennies in her pocket makes it hard for her to stick to her principles when she is romanced by independently wealthy Donovan (who goes by D). Although the street-smart dialogue grates at times, the alternating voices of the three protagonists are clearly differentiated, and some real issues are highlighted through their different circumstances. Dramatic if sometimes-forced plot twists that pop up in the final pages of the novel will presumably be further developed in Book 2.
Smart girl chick-lit. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-230768-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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