Satisfying fare for fans of romantic and family dramas.
Paige’s irresponsible behavior results in her being sent away; her road to redemption is paved with emotional minefields.
As the youngest of five kids, Paige feels overlooked. When she finally lives up to family expectations and makes the National Honor Society, her parents don’t attend the ceremony. Hurt, Paige starts vandalizing structures in town. She lets bestie-turned-boyfriend Griffin take the blame when she’s busted, but her parents still send her away from Seattle to her older sister’s home in Texas for the summer, hoping for a change. Despite her resistance, Paige begins to enjoy new activities plus a burgeoning romance with boy-next-door Joey. But worry over her father’s health (he has Crohn’s disease) plus concerning health symptoms of her own threaten to tip her back into self-destruct mode and send her ping-ponging between Griffin and Joey. The reveals about family dynamics are well paced. Paige is filled with pain and lashes out when confronted with additional challenges: Initially self-centered and difficult to like, she ultimately learns to take responsibility and work to resolve relationships rather than blow up. Slowly, her interpretations of events and reactions to them evolve and mature. Grief and heartache are not minimized, but the story shows that a fresh start is possible. Most of the cast is White by default; Joey’s mom is from Brazil.
Satisfying fare for fans of romantic and family dramas. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73643-003-3
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Sword and Silk Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
A sweet, undemanding summer read.
The summer before her senior year, 17-year-old Avery unexpectedly finds romance on a family vacation.
Avery’s family spends their summers away from Los Angeles, enjoying the outdoors; this year it will be two months at a remote resort in the California woods. Her 15-year-old sister, Lauren, an outgoing video blogger, is distraught by the camp’s lack of internet access while go-with-the-flow Avery is just hoping for no drama, upset after having found out her best friend kissed her ex-boyfriend. An initial miscommunication makes things tense with handsome camp staff member Brooks—until Avery agrees to help him write songs for a band competition in exchange for his helping her step out of her comfort zone. Of course, staff aren’t supposed to fraternize with campers, which leads to much sneaking around, though Avery and her sister attend several staff parties thanks to befriending lifeguard Maricela and drummer Kai. Avery learns to find her voice, both metaphorically—she feels her parents don’t take her seriously—and literally, as she must overcome her stage fright when asked to step in for the vocalist in Brooks’ band when they compete in the festival. Avery’s complicated relationship with her family feels underdeveloped, though the love story with Brooks hits all the right notes. Fans of West will enjoy this watered-down Dirty Dancing tale, with its swoony romance and uncomplicated plot. Most characters are White; Maricela is implied Latinx, and Kai is Polynesian.
A sweet, undemanding summer read. (Romance. 12-16)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-17626-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
Unabashedly didactic, but moving nonetheless.
A slacker learns life lessons from a slam-poet classmate in an inspiring if overly optimistic school story.
Grunge-rock devotee Sam has been trying to avoid the attention of teachers and other students ever since his mom left town two years earlier. Then the equally quiet Luis Cárdenas arrives in Sam’s English class, and meddlesome Ms. Cassidy seats the two of them together. Rumors fly about Luis: His brother is an infamous gangster, and there is a mean-looking scar on Luis’ neck. Sam doesn’t see Luis’ true colors until Ms. Cassidy announces that the class will have a poetry slam. Luis not only throws himself into creating a poem, he inspires Sam to do the same. The boys’ sudden, unmitigated enthusiasm for a school project may be hard to swallow, but there is something infectiously hopeful in Luis’ devotion to poetry, as well as in the inspiration Sam takes from old footage of Kurt Cobain. When Luis disappears after a gang fight, Sam, once a loner, teams up with classmates, teachers, neighbors and old friends to find out what has happened. Short, punchy sentences, paragraphs and chapters give the novel’s prose a sense of motion, and Luis’ poems, interspersed with the narrative, give readers added insight into Luis’ character.
Unabashedly didactic, but moving nonetheless. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9514-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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