A combination of pop-culture references, classic rom-com elements, and fun banter makes for an engaging read.
British Bangladeshi teens Zara and Adnan are besties, but can these friends stay just friends?
Adnan loves to flirt with girls IRL; Zara is happy in the world of romance novels. Their families are closely intertwined, and the two Bengali Muslim 16-year-olds share a friendship circle, which means everyone is constantly shipping them. Things get complicated when Adnan starts dating new classmate Camilla, who’s white and has an overly protective father who won’t let her have a boyfriend. To cover for them, Zara agrees to pretend to date Adnan, delighting their friends and leaving their families with starry-eyed dreams, but the trio soon discovers that this scheme is going to snowball out of control…especially when a new boy turns up, awakening some latent feelings in Zara. Zara mulls over questions around stereotypical depictions of South Asians that overshadow “the reality of who we are.” She checks out online gossip about her classmates and follows their lives through their posts, raising questions about social media pressures on teens as they relate to cultural norms and representation in popular media. Although the novel starts off slowly, it picks up the pace when the love triangle becomes a solid love square and family expectations take center stage in ways that readers will relate to.
A combination of pop-culture references, classic rom-com elements, and fun banter makes for an engaging read. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781547614509
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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
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
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