Cozy and cute.
Meet the Hanukkah rom-com.
In this stand-alone companion to The Summer of Lost Letters (2021), Shira Barbanel is driven, intelligent, attractive, and the kind of rich that has a family mansion in Nantucket where extended family gathers for Hanukkah each year. She’s also lost, lonely, and socially awkward. This year, she wants a Hanukkah miracle of her own: to win the heart of her great-uncle’s intern—but she’s terrible at flirting. Shira works for her successes, so after spending the first night of Hanukkah snowed in with Tyler Nelson, her romantic nemesis and Nantucket neighbor, she strikes a deal: He’ll teach her to flirt in exchange for an intro to her media mogul great-uncle. It’s a rom-com, so readers will know what’s coming next—and the book delivers. Contemporary Jewish life, complete with a loving but fractious extended family (the triplet cousins are comedy gold), Chinese food on Christmas, and a little bit of history (researching a mystery box hidden in the attic), underpins the story, and while Shira is a bit shallowly drawn, watching her grow serves as a nice leitmotif for this cocoa- and snow-dusted holiday classic: If there was a Hallmark Hannukah movie tradition, this would be optioned in a heartbeat. The previous book establishes Shira and family as Sephardic; Tyler is White and Christian.
Cozy and cute. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-34975-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
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
Exactly what the title promises.
A grieving teen’s devotion to romance films might ruin her chances at actual romance.
Liz Buxbaum has always adored rom-coms, not least for helping her still feel close to her screenwriter mother, who died when she was little. Liz hopes that her senior year might turn into a real-life romantic fantasy, as an old crush has moved back to town, cuter and nicer than ever. Surely she can get Michael to ask her to prom. If only Wes, the annoying boy next door, would help her with her scheming! This charming, fluffy concoction manages to pack into one goofy plot every conceivable trope, from fake dating to the makeover to the big misunderstanding. Creative, quirky, daydreaming Liz is just shy of an annoying stereotype, saved by a dry wit and unresolved grief and anger. Wes makes for a delightful bad boy with a good heart, and supporting characters—including a sassy best friend, a perfect popular rival, even a (not really) evil stepmother—all get the opportunity to transcend their roles. The only villain here is Liz’s lovelorn imagination, provoking her into foolish lies that cause actual hurt feelings; but she is sufficiently self-aware to make amends just in time for the most important trope of all: a blissfully happy ending. All characters seem to be White by default.
Exactly what the title promises. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6762-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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