Fill up the tank because this one is taking you for a sweet ride.
Chloe Torres isn’t ready to leave old friendships behind.
At 18, Chloe is primed for her next adventure: studying art at Rhode Island School of Design. But one fateful day, she runs into her two closest friends from middle school, Sienna Aguilar and Ramona Cruz. They were “La Tripleta”—until their friendship fell apart. But Chloe can’t shake the feeling that their story isn’t over. When Papi gifts her three tickets to see their middle school obsession, the boy band Intonation, she takes it as a sign that they’re meant to be together again, and she proposes a weeklong road trip from their Massachusetts town to Las Vegas for the epic reunion concert. Minor conflicts arise along the way as the young women iron out the kinks and relearn who they are after all these years. This sweet story deftly inserts a queer romance that doesn’t detract from the beauty of the girls’ reemerging friendship. Their various stops provide opportunities for character growth that may seem convenient but ultimately work. The first quarter of the novel is heavy on exposition, which makes it hard to engage with, but the rest of the story is worth it. Diverse representation in sexuality, race, neurodivergence, and body size appears throughout, and Maldonado incorporates characters from The Fall of Whit Rivera (2023), which will please fans.
Fill up the tank because this one is taking you for a sweet ride. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9780823452378
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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