A solid romance buoyed by engaging protagonists and a charming backdrop.
Teen music stars get romantically involved.
Clay Coolidge is the flashy heartthrob of the Nashville country music scene, content to make songs people drink and hook up to but never saying anything meaningful with his music. Annie Mathers is country music royalty about to embark on her own career five years after her legendary parents tragically died. The teens tour together in an effort to boost Clay’s sales and launch Annie’s career. Managers and record producers push them together as a fake couple, but it doesn’t take long for the artists to spark and spread fire. Annie and Clay bring out the best in each other, building each other up as musicians and people. Their romance is well-plotted and sweetly drawn: Readers (particularly those listening to the recent A Star Is Born soundtrack on repeat) will delight in the story’s rhythm and musical backdrop. The author makes sly observations here and there about the recording industry, but there’s affection here for the uniquely American style of music and the stories that come out of country music culture. The palpable endearment for its setting and characters makes for a warm read. While not thuddingly original, this is still a good ol’ fashioned love story, and there’s something to be said for a song we all know being sung with tenderness and care. All main characters are white and there is some diversity in background characters.
A solid romance buoyed by engaging protagonists and a charming backdrop. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19288-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one.
Teens become astronauts in record time for an inaugural space mission.
After losing his family to “the greatest flood Rome has ever known,” skilled white Italian swimmer Leo Danieli would never have expected that in his darkest moment he would be drafted by the European Space Agency to attend the International Space Training Camp, where teens will train to terraform and colonize Jupiter’s moon Europa for human settlement. California native Naomi Ardalan, a second-generation Iranian-American, has also been chosen for her expertise in science and technology. During a period of violent climate change worldwide, Earth’s governments are desperate to draft teens for a space mission for which they have only a few weeks in which to prepare. Twenty-four teen finalists, many orphaned by cataclysmic natural disasters, have been chosen from all over the world to compete for this space colonization mission. Warnings come to Leo and Naomi that there is a more sinister aspect to this mission, especially after things go tragically awry with other candidates during the training. The relationship that develops between Naomi and Leo feels forced, as if their meeting necessitates speedy deployment of a romantic cliché. The use of predictable plot devices, along with the fundamentally ludicrous premise, undermines any believability that would make a reader invest in such an elaborate space journey.
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one. (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265894-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
A tightly plotted thriller helmed by a firecracker that never loses her spark.
Estranged best friends must come together to survive man-made threats in the harsh Alaskan wilderness.
Maddie and Logan, both white, were best friends at age 10. Maddie’s father’s job was to keep the president safe, and as the president’s son, that meant Logan too. But when Russians attempt an attack on Logan and the first lady, everything changes. Maddie’s father decides they must move somewhere with no phones, no internet, no access. Soon Maddie and Logan are thousands of miles apart, she in rural Alaska and he in the White House. For six years there’s no contact; Maddie spends two years writing to him with no response. She becomes skilled in the ways of the wilderness, her anger at Logan building. His perspective highlights a privileged, reckless life, leading the president to administer a unique punishment: staying with Maddie and her father in Alaska. But Logan brings dangerous baggage with him, and with her father away for the night, it’s up to Maddie to keep them both safe. Maddie’s grit, humor, and cleverness make her an engaging action hero. Logan’s less dynamic, hyperfocused on ensuring Maddie’s safety when she’s not the one who needs saving. Fans of survivalist fiction will be impressed by the well-researched, immersive Alaskan landscape and all its beauty and brutality.
A tightly plotted thriller helmed by a firecracker that never loses her spark. (Thriller. 14-17)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-13414-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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