by Allison van Diepen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2017
It’s fast-paced, telenovela-style drama with dance parties, poetry slams, fights, blackmail, and life-threatening peril.
Life for a girl trying to make ends meet after high school becomes complicated when her ex-boyfriend, a gang member, re-emerges in her life.
Grace works concessions in a Miami movie theater owned by a former gang member gone straight, and she volunteers at a Head Start pursuing her dream of working in early childhood education. When her ex Mateo shows up as the theater security guard, done with the gang that was the reason for their breakup, the two immediately feel the heat again. Grace is worried about her younger brother, Alex, who seems to be getting involved in the Locos. Grace asks Mateo to try to protect Alex and get him out of the gang. While pursuing a career as a paramedic, Mateo agrees and is unusually adept at knowing when to intervene. Diversity abounds. In addition to Latino Mateo, biracial Grace has Latina heritage on her mother’s side (her dad is white), and most of her friends and workmates are brown; savagely feminist Feenix is a special treat. Van Diepen knows her audience. There’s much excitement around attending a Pitbull concert with Nayer and Mohombi opening. The cute day care kids balance the boozy after-work parties, casual cursing, and underlying lust, just as the poetry creates a tonal counterpoint to the gang plotline.
It’s fast-paced, telenovela-style drama with dance parties, poetry slams, fights, blackmail, and life-threatening peril. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-243335-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
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
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by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013
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
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