In 1979, John Busby, a Falmouth, Mass., cop was shot in the face while driving to work. This alternating father-daughter memoir provides a graphic account of the event and its yearlong aftermath—both directly attributable to a corruption-riddled municipal government. Readers should know that the book depicts Busby’s shooting, injuries and reconstructive surgeries in unrelenting detail. Until the family was secretly relocated, Cylin, nine, and her brothers struggled to manage an intolerable burden of fear, even under 24-hour police protection. The account ends before readers learn how (or if) they made it to adulthood in one piece. Beyond recounting a fascinating, if lurid, tabloid story, neither author offers any analysis or reflection that would allow readers to place the events in a larger context. At once competitive, stubborn and aggressive, Busby’s personality seems to have both prompted the shooting and helped him survive it. The implications of governmental corruption go unnoted, including the official response to the shooting itself—protecting the family with taxpayer-funded firearms and police surveillance, rather than institutional reform. (Memoir. 14 & up)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59990-141-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2008
Entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable.
A Seattle teen fake dates his way into saving a family business.
Seventeen-year-old River Langston-Lee opens by informing readers that he’s sure he’s about to embark on the “Worst Day of My Life So Far”…but as he later ruefully reflects, it in fact turns out to be the “Worst Day of My Life Ever.” After suddenly dumping his girlfriend, Cecelia, the night before, he walks out of his SATs and heads to his part-time job at Cafe Gong, his family’s coffee shop “turned corporate caffeine hell.” Making things even more awkward, he and Cecelia are co-managers at the newest location, where most of River’s co-workers already hate him (it’s mutual). The day becomes even more disastrous when River pours a bag of coffee beans down the shirt of a rude customer, a green-haired goth girl, then impulsively quits. His best friend helps him find a new job at Bingsu for Two, a struggling Korean cafe where he meets a new co-worker, owner’s daughter Sarang Cho, aka Coffee Bean Girl. After River accidentally catapults Bingsu for Two into viral video fame, he and Sarang realize that fake dating for social media could save her family’s business—if they don’t strangle each other first. Unsurprisingly, River’s family and Cecelia aren’t happy about these developments. The strong narrative voice and amusing banter shine in this deeply heartwarming, laugh-out-loud rom-com that’s equal parts coming-of-age story. River is Korean American and white; Sarang is Korean American.
Entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781454954026
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
A coming-of-age story best appreciated by fans of genre romance.
Told she resembles one of Jane Austen’s least likable characters, an aggrieved, self-doubting teen strives to change her ways.
Marnie Barnes, 18, a wealthy senior at an upscale San Francisco boarding school, feels pressured. When her older sister Lindy was a senior, her project won the school’s prestigious Hunt Prize. Now Marnie’s desperate to win it herself—her Stanford ambitions and family’s appreciation ride on it. The third of five daughters, Marnie feels slighted by their mother, who comments unfavorably on her weight. Facing the deadline to submit her project proposal (having children read to dogs at an animal shelter), she’s neither gracious nor grateful when her roommate, Adhira Fitz, introduces her to friends with animal-shelter contacts. When exasperated Adhira compares her to Elizabeth Bennet’s awful sister, Marnie realizes she needs to change, a challenge made easier by Eugene “Whit” Whitlock, the cute boy volunteering at the animal shelter who helps get her project on track. But Marnie’s still crushing on hot venture capitalist Hayes Wellesley, Lindy’s best friend’s fiance.Unlike Austen’s Mary, Marnie is redeemable—refreshingly imperfect, her characterization mostly rings true, and it’s her struggles that will keep readers invested as the plethora of largely familiar character types move through the unruly plot. Marnie is White; Canadian Adhira, who largely functions as the supportive BFF, has relatives in India; and Whit has a White American father and Japanese mother.
A coming-of-age story best appreciated by fans of genre romance. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-306013-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
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