Like many a teenage daughter, Morgan Abbott finds her mother authoritarian and annoying. However, Morgan is the only one whose mother is also the president of the United States. This means that Morgan is under constant scrutiny, so much so that it’s practically a national emergency when she slips into the prop room to neck with her hunky boyfriend, Konner, a self-serving egotist readers will love to hate. To top it off, Morgan must battle a backbiting classmate and deal with her newly assigned, young secret-service agent, a strict by-the-book type, but, oh, so handsome. The plot comes together when Morgan, who has a talent for acting and is practically her mother’s double, is called upon to impersonate the president so that the great lady can attend a secret high-level negotiation. Can Morgan, a trouble magnet, finally make good? Credibility seekers should go elsewhere, but readers looking for a fun and breezy fantasy that’s full of girl appeal will enjoy the material, right down to its romantic but far-fetched ending. (Fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-172439-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
A sweet and joyful romance times two.
Natalya Fox is ready for change but afraid of making the wrong decision; luckily she doesn’t have to choose in this parallel-timelines rom-com à la Sliding Doors.
Seventeen-year-old Natalya Fox has been given the choice of spending the summer at home with her father in New York City or moving in with her mother in Los Angeles. Manhattan is the safer option and would keep Natalya in her all-too-familiar comfort zone, but it does come with the possibility of romance with the girl Natalya has been crushing on for ages, known to her only as the Redhead due to Natalya’s inability to introduce herself. Los Angeles offers an internship and a chance to reconnect with her mother, and the other new intern, a boy her mom describes as cute, could be an unexpected perk. So Natalya makes her choice—and then she makes her other choice. Split between two parallel timelines, the novel shows readers Natalya falling in love, exploring her post-graduation plans, and finding new ways of connecting with her parents in both cities. Each of the timelines is exciting and heartwarming, although the Los Angeles love interest reads as more complex than the one back East, and the New York storyline lacks significant conflict, giving the West Coast one more depth overall. Bisexual Natalya is Jewish, and subjects such as keeping kosher, being queer and Jewish, and observing Shabbat are thoughtfully woven in.
A sweet and joyful romance times two. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781250871640
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
A meditation and adventure quest offering solace to anyone bearing an unfair burden.
What does it mean to come into your own power by letting go of it?
The villagers of Empalme devoutly pray to Solís, the feared higher power who unleashed La Quema, or fire, on humanity for its ills of greed, war, and jealousy. As the village cuentista, Xochitl listens to and receives the villagers’ stories into her body, clearing their consciences, preventing the manifestation of their nightmares, and releasing them to Solís in the desert. Having diligently played this role since childhood, she is now a deeply lonesome 16-year-old whose only comfort comes from cherished poems. Worn weary by her role, she leaves on an odyssey in search of another way to exist. In their sophomore novel, Oshiro deftly weaves an intricate, allegorical, and often gory tale within a post-apocalyptic desert setting that readers will feel so viscerally they may very well need to reach for a glass of water. It is a world parallel to ours, rife with Biblical references and the horrific traps that Latinx immigrants face while seeking better lives. Xochitl’s first-person, questioning narration—interlaced with terrifying cuentos that she receives on her journey—is the strongest voice, although secondary and tertiary characters, both human and mythical, are given a tenderness and humanity. All main characters are Latinx, and queer relationships are integrated with refreshing normality.
A meditation and adventure quest offering solace to anyone bearing an unfair burden. (Fantasy/horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16921-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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