An enjoyable rom-com.
After creating a perfect boyfriend, Katie should be happy…shouldn’t she?
Disappointed that she hasn’t yet experienced her first kiss, 16-year-old Katie sculpts a clay figurine that represents her perfect man: He’s tall and well built, with blue eyes and floppy hair. Her best friend, Libby, mixes up a special potion to give him a soul. But after Katie falls asleep, voilà—the sculpture’s gone and there’s a naked teenage boy with no belly button in her bed. After overcoming her surprise, she realizes her parents won’t be happy with her keeping a boy in her room, so she enlists Theo, her next-door neighbor and longtime friend, to help hide this 6-foot-tall Adonis whom she’s named Guy. Eagerly claiming his role as her boyfriend, Guy wants nothing more than to adore her. His sweet attention is wonderful at first, but why is she still crushing on Declan, a popular soccer player at school? Interjections from Katie and Libby break the fourth wall and comment on the narrative, but their exchanges become wearisome and fail to elevate the otherwise predictable tale. Katie faces doubters who question her relationship with as attractive a person as Guy, but the story only dips a toe into interrogating beauty standards and the idea that everyone is deserving of love and respect. Most main characters are White; Libby is cued as Filipina, and the story includes queer representation.
An enjoyable rom-com. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: April 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68263-295-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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