The upbeat ending that resolves many of Lawrence's struggles is unsurprising and fits well, but there are major flaws here...
A stoner in the process of reforming is pressured to act as a mentor for a new, younger student at his high school in this comedic novel.
First-person narrator Lawrence is the privileged son of two successful but neglectful parents who can't even be bothered to attend a meeting about his possible expulsion from school. His lawyer father does, however, write a threatening letter to the principal, which keeps Lawrence enrolled. He’s assigned by his school counselor to help Spencer, who’s from Norway, as a means to show his good faith to follow the rules. Lawrence is also newly sober, after using pot constantly for years, and begins to somewhat reluctantly fall for a girl who marches to her own drum. Lawrence's back story—he fell in with friends who valued getting high more than they valued him in an effort to shed an earlier geeky image—feels genuine, and readers will feel sympathy for him. A fair amount of his self-conscious humor is funny. However, many other elements played for laughs fall flat—such as Lawrence’s mild unease with gayness, a glaringly stereotyped Latina housekeeper, and a Vietnamese-American villain who accuses others of racial profiling when she's caught out. Characters of color are specified, leaving readers to infer that Lawrence and the rest are white.
The upbeat ending that resolves many of Lawrence's struggles is unsurprising and fits well, but there are major flaws here that will turn readers off. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-239939-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A dark and gripping feminist tale.
A young woman faces her past to discover the truth about one of her nation’s heroes.
When Effy Sayre, the only female architecture student at her university in Llyr, wins the competition to design Hiraeth Manor for the estate of the late Emrys Myrddin, national literary figure and her favorite author, it is the perfect opportunity to leave behind a recent trauma. She arrives to find the cliffside estate is literally crumbling into the ocean, and she quickly realizes things may not be as they seem. Preston, an arrogant literature student, is also working at the estate, gathering materials for the university’s archives and questioning everything Effy knows about Myrddin. When Preston offers to include her name on his thesis—which may allow her to pursue the dream of studying literature that was frustrated by the university’s refusal to admit women literature students—Effy agrees to help him. He’s on a quest for answers about the source of Myrddin’s most famous work, Angharad, a romance about a cruel Fairy King who marries a mortal woman. Meanwhile, Myrddin’s son has secrets of his own. Preston and Effy start to suspect that Myrddin’s fairy tales may hold more truth than they realize. The Welsh-inspired setting is impressively atmospheric, and while some of the mythology ends up feeling extraneous, the worldbuilding is immersive and thoughtfully addresses misogyny and its effects on how history is written. Main characters are cued white.
A dark and gripping feminist tale. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780063211506
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With a refreshingly original concept, this substantial fantasy, the first in a duology, is an undeniable page-turner
In Tiny Pretty Things co-author Clayton’s solo debut, beauty comes at a price.
On their joint 16th birthday, Camellia and her five sisters are sent out to restore beauty to Orléans, where everybody is born gray and ugly. They’ve been training for this their whole lives. As Belles, the sisters can use their magic to transform the citizens of Orléans from their original states. For the right price, Belles can grant any desired look. When Camellia secures the coveted spot of Her Majesty’s favorite, it seems as if her dreams have come true. As the most powerful, sought-out Belle, she is in charge of the royal family’s looks. However, the princess is insatiable in her quest for beauty and will do anything to get it—even if it means endangering the Belles and the kingdom—and Camellia may be the only one who can stop her. Not only that, but Camellia finds herself slowly uncovering the secrets of the Belles’ origin, and it’s not as pretty as she was taught. With wonderfully descriptive language, Clayton builds a grand and lavish world, carefully chipping away at the veneer to reveal its dark, sinister interior. In a world where anyone can change their skin color as often as they can change their hair color, race is fluid. Camellia is brown, and her sisters are various shades of brown and pale.
With a refreshingly original concept, this substantial fantasy, the first in a duology, is an undeniable page-turner (. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2849-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Freeform/Disney
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
SEEN & HEARD
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