This quirky tale of love and time travel demands that readers totally suspend disbelief to enjoy some of the more contrived...
In a stark departure, Brashares, of Traveling Pants fame, returns with a lightning-paced sci-fi time-travel romp that, much like a cinematic blockbuster, offers intrigue, romance and a healthy dose of implausibility.
After blood plague ravages her world, Prenna James emigrates with a group of refugees, known as travelers. However, it’s not where she ends up, it’s when. Her community tries to assimilate into a society decades in the past, with stringent rules about how they must conduct themselves in the time natives’ society. Predictably, Prenna falls in love with Ethan, a handsome time native—one of the gravest offenses a traveler might commit—and quickly learns that her tightly knit authoritarian community may indeed be harboring secrets. Brashares’ worldbuilding is solid, and she handles the time-travel elements with a fluid, cinematic ease. Unfortunately, she relies too much on dei ex machina to propel Ethan and Prenna forward. Cars, money and opportunity pop up with uncannily good timing and convenience, helping the time-crossed lovers right the wrongs of the past. Those willing to overlook such shortcuts will surely be swept into the whirlwind romance and breathlessly turn pages to discover if there truly is a possibility for a better future.
This quirky tale of love and time travel demands that readers totally suspend disbelief to enjoy some of the more contrived plot elements . (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: April 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-73680-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
PROFILES
Morgan, a likable, troubled protagonist, hits all the requisite issue-book beats with a believable and sympathetic journey...
A 17-year-old girl knows she shouldn’t shoplift, but it’s the only way she can cope with the rage.
Morgan, a petite redhead, has been furious since her mother left. She loves her dad, but sometimes the anger gets the better of her. That’s when she steals: a lip gloss, a bikini, jewelry. Morgan’s luck finally runs out when a security guard sees her slip a pair of $185 sunglasses into her purse. Morgan, always one of the good kids, is now an offender, with required community service. For the rest of the summer, Morgan will spend her Saturday mornings at Rita’s Reruns, a nonprofit thrift shop. Luckily, Rita is lovely and supportive, if eccentric. And maybe it’s a small perk of the job that Rita’s nephew, Eli, is smoking hot. Blond, tanned, and fit, Eli’s recovering from a disabling hockey injury, and he’s super into Morgan. However, Morgan’s not willing to let Eli find out about her shoplifting; can she juggle a new relationship, her recovery, and a whole slew of lies? When the inevitable catastrophe comes, at least she’s prepared for it. The book follows a white default; main characters are white, and there is some diversity in secondary characters.
Morgan, a likable, troubled protagonist, hits all the requisite issue-book beats with a believable and sympathetic journey from self-loathing and crime toward healing . (Fiction. 13-15)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-257094-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Another teenager-with-a-dead-parent-gets-their-heart-broken tale.
The grief of losing a parent to cancer and the grief of a breakup—they may not be on the same scale, but for Maya, they feel connected.
After her boyfriend, Whit, breaks up with her the summer before she starts college, Maya goes through her dead mother’s scientific research papers and finds an experiment on romantic attraction. She decides to carry on the research herself, with help from her mother’s former assistant. After all, if she can get Whit to remember what it felt like when everything was good between them, he’d want her back, right? In need of more test subjects, she plays with the hearts and minds of two other friends, Kyle and Asher, with little consideration for their feelings. Also given little consideration? Her decision to ingest the serum made from her subjects’ DNA samples and other materials stolen from the lab. She keeps her two closest friends, Yael and Bryan, who are both gay, ignorant of her experiment in this science-y twist on the age-old tale of a broken heart. Some fun, quirky details give the story and its characters a boost, but in general, there is little to distinguish this novel from the rest of the teenage breakup genre. The characters are entertaining yet predictable, the action is well-paced but predictable, the premise is mildly interesting yet....The book assumes a white default.
Another teenager-with-a-dead-parent-gets-their-heart-broken tale. (Fiction. 13-15)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-328-76464-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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