A love story that successfully blends the lighthearted with the serious to demonstrate the power of community.
Tragedy reunites estranged childhood friends.
When Ms. Barnes, his beloved hometown librarian, dies, Said Hossain’s older sister, Safiyah, picks him up from boarding school a week before summer vacation so he can return home to Vermont for the funeral. The somber occasion puts Said back in contact with childhood friend Tiwa Olatunji, who hasn’t forgiven him for leaving her and their community behind. Thrust back together, Said and Tiwa must reconcile their past while dealing with current challenges, which include saving the local Islamic center (after being damaged by a fire on the day of Ms. Barnes’ funeral, it’s now slated to be torn down and replaced with apartments), ensuring that the upcoming community Eid celebration can go off without a hitch, and figuring out how to heal their friendship and move forward as romantic feelings grow between them. Told from Said’s and Tiwa’s alternating first-person perspectives, the narrative successfully transitions between the co-authors’ equally strongly executed chapters. The engaging writing tackles grief, anti-Black racism within the Muslim community, and the teens’ navigating and reconciling parental expectations with personal dreams. The characters reflect the lived diversity of the American Muslim community: Said is Bangladeshi American, while Tiwa, who’s Black, is Nigerian American; lesbian Safiyah embarks on a sweet relationship with another girl from the Islamic center.
A love story that successfully blends the lighthearted with the serious to demonstrate the power of community. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781250890139
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
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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