Romance and a Twitter war brew between two New York teens whose families run competing eateries in this fresh debut.
Though unsure of her aspirations after high school, high-achieving student Pepper Evans is sure that good grades and entrance into a top college will please her mother, co-founder of Big League Burger, one of the country’s top fast-food franchises. Classmate and funny guy Jack Campbell feels overshadowed by his gifted identical twin brother, Ethan, a feeling that grows when their father hints that he expects Jack to take over their family’s deli, Girl Cheesing, while Ethan goes on to greater things. When Big League Burger announces the release of a new menu item called “Grandma’s Special,” a sandwich that is a copy of a Campbell family classic, Jack tweets a snarky response through Girl Cheesing’s account. Unbeknownst to him, Pepper, instructed by her mother, claps back, and a battle ensues. While their public slam down goes viral, Pepper and Jack anonymously confide in one another through an online messaging app called Weazel, which Jack developed himself. From meme wars to social media marketing, Lord accurately depicts various sides of today’s online culture. Amid all the digital hoopla is an engaging story about family loyalty and pursuing one’s own passions. Most characters are white except for some secondary characters whose names suggest ethnic diversity; Ethan is gay.
A just-right combination of sweet and cheesy. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-23732-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE
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An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
29
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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 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
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Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably.
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Two struggling teens develop an unlikely relationship in a moving exploration of grief, suicide and young love.
Violet, a writer and member of the popular crowd, has withdrawn from her friends and from school activities since her sister died in a car accident nine months earlier. Finch, known to his classmates as "Theodore Freak," is famously impulsive and eccentric. Following their meeting in the school bell tower, Finch makes it his mission to re-engage Violet with the world, partially through a school project that sends them to offbeat Indiana landmarks and partially through simple persistence. (Violet and Finch live, fortunately for all involved, in the sort of romantic universe where his throwing rocks at her window in the middle of the night comes off more charming than stalker-esque.) The teens alternate narration chapter by chapter, each in a unique and well-realized voice. Finch's self-destructive streak and suicidal impulses are never far from the surface, and the chapters he narrates are interspersed with facts about suicide methods and quotations from Virginia Woolf and poet Cesare Pavese. When the story inevitably turns tragic, a cast of carefully drawn side characters brings to life both the pain of loss and the possibility of moving forward, though some notes of hope are more believable than others.
Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-75588-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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