A thrilling joy ride for car lovers.
The thrill of boosting muscle cars in Las Vegas nearly exceeds Julia’s main objective of getting herself and her younger sister, Emma, out of foster care.
After 43 car thefts in nine months, 17-year-old Jules has earned the street name the Ghost. Her white hair and pale skin add to her legendary invisibility. But when she’s finally caught and faces five years in juvie, she gets a reprieve. In a twist on the typical plot of troubled kids in the foster-care system, Jules and Emma are placed with a wealthy white philanthropist, Roger Montgomery, along with three other teenagers highly skilled in the criminal arts: Nick, a sexy, blue-eyed, white muscle-car aficionado; red-haired, white Chelsea, an expert lockpick; and Mat, a Latino computer hacker. Roger, a man with a decidedly creepy fixation on collecting rare cars, offers them a deal: steal a particular seven cars in seven weeks and he’ll give them each $100,000. A heavy suspension of disbelief is in order for readers to go along for the ride in this exciting but thinly plotted tall tale. A massive amount of detail about muscle cars outweighs the preposterousness of the teens’ car-boosting abilities, Roger’s ulterior motives, and even Julia’s other extraordinary skill as a ballet dancer. But adventure and romance—and family loyalty—rule the day.
A thrilling joy ride for car lovers. (Thriller. 14-17)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3944-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Several yards short of a touchdown.
A transgender boy starting over at a new school falls hard for a popular cheerleader with a reputation to protect in this debut.
On the first day of senior year, transgender boy Pony locks eyes with cisgender cheerleader Georgia. They both have pasts they want to leave behind. No one at Hillcrest High knows that Pony is transgender, and he intends to keep it that way. Georgia’s last boyfriend shook her trust in boys, and now she’s determined to forget him. As mutual attraction draws them together, Pony and Georgia must decide what they are willing to risk for a relationship. Pony’s best friend, Max, who is also transgender, disapproves of Pony’s choice to live stealth; this disagreement leads to serious conflict in their relationship. Meanwhile, Georgia and Pony behave as if Pony’s trans identity was a secret he was lying to her about rather than private information for him to share of his own volition. The characters only arrive at a hopeful resolution after Pony pays high physical and emotional prices. McSmith places repeated emphasis on the born-in-the-wrong-body narrative when the characters discuss trans identities. Whiteness is situated as the norm, and all main characters are white.
Several yards short of a touchdown. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-294317-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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