Refreshingly flawed characters revisit a rom-com trope.
Pakistani Muslim Americans teens Kiran and Deen are reluctantly pulled together again when their siblings get engaged, three years after the end of their own failed secret relationship.
After Kiran’s mother died a year ago, all she’s wanted is to keep her father and her sister, Amira, close. But when Amira announces that she’s dating Faisal, with the intention of marriage and a move from the Northeast to California, Kiran is gobsmacked. Worse still is the revelation that Faisal is the older brother of Deen, Kiran’s ex who ghosted her. Deen, a sophomore at New York University, hopes that Faisal’s engagement will bring Faisal much-needed happiness, confidence, and standing with their status-obsessed parents, who see him as a failure, especially after the incident that caused them to leave Philadelphia. Discovering that Kiran is prying into the past and secrets that he and Faisal want to keep buried away—and possibly trying to sabotage the marriage to get to the truth—Deen is determined to protect his brother’s happiness no matter what the cost. Told in dual voices and text messages that cross time and virtual gaming platforms, Rishi weaves a multilayered coming-of-age narrative that addresses growth and identity, Islamophobia, struggles with faith, and capricious twists of fate (or divine intervention). Characters are mostly South Asian Muslim; Kiran’s best friend is Filipino, and Faisal’s best friend is Black and Muslim.
Refreshingly flawed characters revisit a rom-com trope. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-274148-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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