An engaging, if trope-filled, drama. (Fiction. 14-18)
In this contemporary romance, a high school senior falls for the boy who accidentally killed her sister while he was joyriding in a stolen car.
Seventeen-year-old Beth strains beneath the suffocating weight of her parents’ grief and overprotectiveness. When she learns they’ve intercepted her college applications because they intend to force her to live at home and undertake an online degree program, she reaches a breaking point. Readers will easily sympathize with Beth’s struggle even as she spontaneously rebels by going to a party in a neighboring town with a crowd she doesn’t know. There she meets mysterious Chase and has sex with him, creating a bond between herself and the misunderstood bad boy that fuels their predictable magnetism. It may strike some as unbelievable that Beth wouldn’t have heard any gossip beforehand about Chase’s upcoming release from juvenile detention and enrollment at her high school, especially given the depiction of her insular, middle-class community. There are also some instances in which the dialogue between teen characters seems uneven, with passé phrases like “get our party on” clashing with more current slang such as “lit as fuck.” Still, teens with a penchant for clandestine love stories will find plenty to keep them going here. A secondary plot involving Beth’s sister’s old boyfriend adds an edgy layer, appealing to those who favor thrillers. The book assumes a white default.
An engaging, if trope-filled, drama. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-335-01727-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Breathtakingly complex and intriguing.
When someone murders the renowned founder of an oppressively rigorous Washington, D.C., school, three students—all boys of color—emerge as prime suspects.
The police haul in a trio of Urban Promise Prep students, two Black and one Salvadoran, for questioning following the murder of Principal Kenneth Moore. For J.B. Williamson, Urban Promise’s strict rules and regulations are suffocating, but his luck seems to turn when he finally makes a tentative move forward with his crush. Jokester Trey Jackson, meanwhile, does his best to ensure his place in the big basketball game, and no one—not even his tough-as-nails Uncle T—can stop him. Ramón Zambrano dreams of one day owning a restaurant. In the meantime, he gets by hustling pupusas at school and refusing to succumb to pressure from his beloved cousin César, the feared leader of the Dioses del Humo gang. At Urban Promise, one false move can cost a college-bound future. Unfortunately, all three boys engaged in public spats with Principal Moore before his death; to clear their names, they must investigate and uncover the killer’s identity. In a masterful use of multiple points of view from both the main protagonists and secondary characters, Brooks weaves a tale of intrigue, doubt, and hearsay with ease, doling out crucial tidbits and clues. Each gradual reveal prods readers to reconsider and reassess. Featuring a sharp examination of systemic inequality in urban schools and Black and Latine boyhood, this novel delivers in spades.
Breathtakingly complex and intriguing. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-86697-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Another engaging entry in this world of spies and international intrigue.
Pop superstar Winter Young is again drawn into the world of secret agent Sydney Cossette in this follow-up to Stars and Smoke (2023).
Though constantly on one another’s minds, Winter and Sydney have resisted making any contact with each other since narrowly surviving a mission in which Panacea, the secret organization Sydney works for, tapped Winter to use his megastar status to infiltrate a wealthy and powerful criminal underworld. Ratcheting up the tension in this enemies-to-lovers romantic thriller is the fact that Sydney is being sent to Singapore to extract Tems, a fellow agent who also happens to be her ex. Winter, who needs a plus-one for a Warcross Championship gala in order to better maintain his cover, invites his former girlfriend. Witty insults and crossed signals abound in the pair’s smoldering relationship, but this second installment is a bit darker than the first. If some of the betrayals and losses involved are easy enough to spot coming, they still pack an emotional punch due to the strong development of Winter’s and Sydney’s respective backstories, told in alternating third-person narratives, both involving abuse and psychological pain. Winter is Chinese American; Sydney is white, and there’s a diverse cast of supporting characters whom readers will likely see again—Lu has left the ending tantalizingly open for another installment.
Another engaging entry in this world of spies and international intrigue. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9781250852915
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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