An entertaining visit to the ballpark.
A high school baseball player fights for his dream of pitching in the major leagues.
Lazarus “Laz” Weathers—so named because he almost died while being born—is a pitcher living in Jet City, a trailer park in Seattle. With a speech impediment and a learning disability, Laz believes that baseball might be the only path available to him after high school. His half brother, Antonio, is 18 months younger and also likes baseball—but lately, Antonio has been hanging out with Garrett, a small-time drug dealer, which worries Laz. After the baseball program closes at North Central High, it’s announced that Jet City will be demolished by developers, and his mother decides to move out of the city. Laz receives the opportunity of a lifetime: transfer to Laurelhurst High, which has the city’s top team, and live with the family of their star player. Knowing he’ll get better training and more exposure to college scouts in Seattle, Laz must decide whether to leave his family and chase after his dream. Deuker (Gutless, 2016, etc.) weaves an interesting plot dealing with socio-economic inequality and drug use into a cast of varied characters. Unfortunately, the secondary characters at times prove to be more interesting that the protagonist, whose characterization falls flat. With few physical descriptions or cultural markers, ethnicity is difficult to determine.
An entertaining visit to the ballpark. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-01242-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come.
A heady blend of courtly double-crossing, Faerie lore, and toxic attraction swirls together in the sequel to The Cruel Prince (2018).
Five months after engineering a coup, human teen Jude is starting to feel the strain of secretly controlling King Cardan and running his Faerie kingdom. Jude’s self-loathing and anger at the traumatic events of her childhood (her Faerie “dad” killed her parents, and Faerie is not a particularly easy place even for the best-adjusted human) drive her ambition, which is tempered by her desire to make the world she loves and hates a little fairer. Much of the story revolves around plotting (the Queen of the Undersea wants the throne; Jude’s Faerie father wants power; Jude’s twin, Taryn, wants her Faerie betrothed by her side), but the underlying tension—sexual and political—between Jude and Cardan also takes some unexpected twists. Black’s writing is both contemporary and classic; her world is, at this point, intensely well-realized, so that some plot twists seem almost inevitable. Faerie is a strange place where immortal, multihued, multiformed denizens can’t lie but can twist everything; Jude—who can lie—is an outlier, and her first-person, present-tense narration reveals more than she would choose. With curly dark brown hair, Jude and Taryn are never identified by race in human terms.
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come. (map) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-31035-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
A powerful tale of found family and first love.
After a year away, Ellis returns home to confront her past.
Graduating from high school far from everything familiar was not part of Ellis Truman’s original plans, but she nevertheless ended up spending her senior year with her aunt in California. In Indiana, Ellis practically grew up with the Albrey family and their three tightknit sons, Dixon, Tucker, and Easton. Now, Tucker wants her to return home for matriarch Sandry Albrey’s 50th birthday celebration on the Fourth of July—but Ellis is dreading seeing Easton, as they haven’t talked since she left. Chapters alternate between past and present, and much of the story unravels slowly: How did she come to live with the Albreys? What caused Ellis to then end up in San Diego? What happened in her relationship with Easton? Patient readers will find the heartfelt tension pays off. With her father in and out of jail and an absent mother, socio-economic differences separating Ellis from the middle-class Albreys don’t go unnoticed, and Ellis’ down-to-earth journey shows how she unpacks her feelings about her relationship with her parents. The slow-build romance is swoonworthy, and young adult fans of Colleen Hoover seeking emotional devastation and unforgettable characters will find much to enjoy here. Characters read as White.
A powerful tale of found family and first love. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308853-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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