Bubbly but not naïve: a worthy rendition of a classic high school story.
A cheerleader-meets-quarterback story, with a twist.
Pretty, peppy, and popular, junior Amber McCloud is poised to be the next cheer captain at her high school in the Florida Panhandle. All she needs to do is keep her sexuality under wraps. Meanwhile, on the football team, talented new player Jack Walsh is ready to take the Atherton Alligators to the next level. Or, she would be, if the team and the town could swallow their sexism and accept Jack (short for Jaclyn) as the QB. Against a nostalgic—yet truthfully brutal—tapestry of archetypal American teendom, the two find their way into each other’s pockets and under one another’s skin. Adler keeps the pages turning with well-mapped tension and compelling characters, using clichés to her advantage as she builds an appealing and heartfelt romance. Sweet as the bones of the story are, it’s the dark flashes of underbelly that keep it moving. As QB, Jack attempts to fill the mythically enlarged shoes of a not-so-nice boy who died while driving drunk. Cara, one of Amber’s best friends, is the daughter of a fire-and-brimstone preacher, and the specter of bigotry is never far from the story’s consciousness. Both Jack and Amber are White, while a deep bench of secondary characters includes Miguel, Amber’s Cuban American gay best friend–cum–fake boyfriend, and the school’s first Black cheer captain, Crystal.
Bubbly but not naïve: a worthy rendition of a classic high school story. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-76584-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance.
A Connecticut girl and her best friend devise a series of plans in order to achieve their goals: following a dream and winning back an ex.
Eighteen-year-old Audrey Barbour has a Master Plan: attend Blue Ridge Glass School in North Carolina and someday turn her Etsy shop, Golightly Glass, into a thriving business. But her uber-wealthy parents insist that she instead follow in their footsteps and go to business school. So Audrey decides to go find the tuition money she needs with help from her best friend, Henry Chen. Henry needs a favor, too: He hopes that fake dating Audrey will help him win back his ex-girlfriend, and he points out to a reluctant Audrey that this could make her crush, Griffin, notice her. While Audrey’s parents vacation in France for three weeks, the pair rent out the Barbour mansion on the Long Island Sound. Soon romantic chemistry grows alongside their business partnership. Despite the pair’s great preparation and an abundance of secondary characters with connections and talents to help pull off their increasingly ambitious ideas, plans go awry, leaving Audrey and Henry scrambling and second-guessing their choices. The pacing is even, but the characters often take a back seat to the whirlwind of activity that drives the plot, with the emphasis falling on each person’s practical skills and their role in keeping the action moving over their emotional bonds. Audrey is white, and Henry’s surname cues him as Chinese American.
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593904794
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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