Complex, compelling characters populate a satisfying romance with some plotting issues.
World-renowned actor Allegra Brooks escapes her celebrity life for the summer and grapples with fame and love as an autistic person.
Eighteen-year-old Allegra is ready for a break from the Hollywood grind of being on set and going on press tours. She heads for the respite of quiet Lake Pristine, the small-town setting of 2024’s Some Like It Cold. She’s planning to spend time with her father, who owns a bookshop there and runs a popular annual book festival. This interlude provides Allegra with an experience unlike any she’s previously had: She gets to focus on making friends, working a normal job, and navigating the complexities of authentic relationships. She does all of this while trying to escape constant public scrutiny and find her way as an autistic person in a neurotypical world. When she meets Jonah Thorne, who’s also autistic, they form a deep and meaningful connection, although it’s fraught thanks to disagreements, romantic tension, and external forces working against them. Allegra is a beautiful, talented, mid-size, neurodivergent woman whose autism is described with nuance and honesty. Despite its richly drawn characters, the plot is unevenly paced, bogged down by a subplot involving a mysterious email correspondence that feels like an unnecessary complication. Characters largely present white.
Complex, compelling characters populate a satisfying romance with some plotting issues. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781250335562
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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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