An entertaining novel about personal issues and relationships unfolding during a wild vacation break.
It’s Schoolies Week, when Australian teens celebrate high school’s end.
Zoë, Samira, and Dahlia are off to the coast with their respective friends to celebrate their exams being over. Academically inclined Italian Australian Zoë plans to stay at a big hotel. At the last minute, her conservative mother forbids her to go, but she runs off anyway. Lebanese Australian Samira has lots of friends and a serious boyfriend, and she’s worked hard at her family’s bakery to earn money for the luxurious trip, complete with beach house, adventurous activities, and a plan to consummate her relationship on her birthday. But she gets a rude awakening when Zain dumps her, and her friends reveal their true colors. Her week is saved when she meets a zany trio of pop-star groupies from the house next door. Dahlia, who reads as White, is still mourning her best friend Stevie’s death. She’s staying at a hostel with two female friends, one of whom turns into something more. The three protagonists, unknown to one another, occasionally meet around town, mostly enjoy their week of partying—and even consider their plans for the future. Using a plot structure of alternating voices and day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour, updates, this realistic novel about teen angst and fun will appeal to those looking for something light with a serious underpinning.
An entertaining novel about personal issues and relationships unfolding during a wild vacation break. (Fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4607-6063-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper360
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable, if predictable, romantic holiday story.
Is an exuberant extended family the cure for a breakup? Sophie is about to find out.
When Sophie unexpectedly breaks up with her boyfriend, she isn’t thrilled about spending the holidays at her grandparents’ house instead of with him. And when her grandmother forms a plan to distract Sophie from her broken heart—10 blind dates, each set up by different family members—she’s even less thrilled. Everyone gets involved with the matchmaking, even forming a betting pool on the success of each date. But will Sophie really find someone to fill the space left by her ex? Will her ex get wind of Sophie’s dating spree via social media and want them to get back together? Is that what she even wants anymore? This is a fun story of finding love, getting to know yourself, and getting to know your family. The pace is quick and light, though the characters are fairly shallow and occasionally feel interchangeable, especially with so many names involved. A Christmas tale, the plot is a fast-paced series of dinners, parties, and games, relayed in both narrative form and via texts, though the humor occasionally feels stiff and overwrought. The ending is satisfying, though largely unsurprising. Most characters default to white as members of Sophie’s Italian American extended family, although one of her cousins has a Filipina mother. One uncle is gay.
An enjoyable, if predictable, romantic holiday story. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-02749-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
Bewitching.
A surly shopgirl, a kindly boy, and a girl who’s struggling with a curse forge an unlikely alliance.
After the death of her Da, 17-year-old Willow Stokes manages their family business, Edward Stokes’s Cabinet of Magical Curiosities, a store with precarious finances that sells purportedly magical items. When Brianna Hargrave arrives in Willow’s small village seeking a grimoire, the two, joined by Willow’s gentlehearted best friend (and possible love interest), Finlay Barrow, find themselves on a whirlwind adventure to save Willow’s shop and break Bri’s curse. Willow has a tough exterior, preferring to keep her feelings internalized, something that’s becoming increasingly difficult as she wrestles with her newfound feelings for Finlay. Bri, on the other hand, has a gentle demeanor, but she grapples with self-imposed isolation—if she touches anyone, she’ll imbue them with magic. Rutherford’s sweetly wrought fantasy is bespelling in itself, combining magic, witches, an enchanted dragon egg, a heist, and a swoonworthy friends-to-lovers romance. From a visit to a grimoire library to a tempestuous journey on the high seas, fantasy fans will find much to enjoy here, from the popular, recognizable tropes to the themes of found family and working through grief, all presented with a dash of wish fulfillment. Willow, Brianna, and Finlay are white, and there’s some racial diversity among the supporting characters.
Bewitching. (Fantasy. 13-17)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781250359889
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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