Seasoned with luscious descriptions of Renaissance architecture and Italian food, a sure bet for fans of romance fiction and...
Her life already upended by her mother’s short illness and death, Lina, 16, moves to Tuscany to live with the father she’s never met.
Lina’s repulsed to discover that her father, Howard, is the caretaker of a World War II cemetery in Italy. She’s had enough of death, thanks, and doesn’t need to see all those crosses outside her bedroom window. Determined not to stay, Lina secures a promise from her best friend, Addie, to help her return to Seattle. But as readers probably know by now, Tuscany is irresistible. Soon Lina’s seduced by its rolling hills and Florence’s myriad beauties and attractions. Gelato and a guy play their parts. Lorenzo, known as Ren, a handsome, half-Italian, half-American neighbor, attends the school she’ll be enrolled in if she stays. He introduces her to classmates who welcome her into their close-knit posse, including a wealthy—and hot—Brit, Thomas. Howard proves both likable and an ideal parent—caring but not hovering. Why her mother never mentioned him until she became ill, and why Lina looks nothing like him, remain mysteries she’s determined to solve. The journal her mother mailed to Italy—detailing her own year in Florence as a photography student—holds some but not all the answers. Lina narrates in a breezy style, her mother’s journal entries interwoven to provide revelations at carefully paced intervals.
Seasoned with luscious descriptions of Renaissance architecture and Italian food, a sure bet for fans of romance fiction and armchair travel. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3254-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
Despite the well-meaning warmth, a wearying plod.
Can a 17-year-old with her first girlfriend prevent real-life folks from discovering her online fandoms?
Cass is proudly queer, happily fat, and extremely secretive about being a fan who role-plays on Discord. Back in middle school, she had what she calls a gaming addiction, playing “The Sims” so much her parents had to take the game away. Now, turning to her role-play friends to cope with her fighting parents, she worries that people will judge her for her fannishness and online life. To be fair, her grades are suffering. And sure, maybe she’s missed a college application deadline. Also, her mom has suddenly left Minneapolis and moved to Maine to be with a man she met online. But on the other hand, Cass is finally dating her amazingly cute longtime crush, Taylor. Pansexual Taylor is a gamer, a little bit punk, White like Cass, and so, so great—but she still can’t help comparing her to Rowan, Cass’ online best friend and role-playing ship partner. But Rowan doesn’t want to be a dirty little secret and doesn’t see why Cass can’t be honest about this part of her life. The inevitable train wreck of her lies looms on the horizon for months in an overlong morality play building to the climax that includes tidy resolutions to all the character arcs that are quite heartwarming but, in the case of Cass’ estranged mother, narratively unearned.
Despite the well-meaning warmth, a wearying plod. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-324332-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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