Discoveries of love, legacy, and self take center stage in this musical tapestry of a novel.
An ambitious teen reporter sees solving a superstar’s mystery as a way out of being stuck in her small Southern town.
Aspiring reporter Darren Purchase, a white bisexual 17-year-old, wants nothing more than to escape Mayberry, Arkansas, even if it means leaving the comfortable companionship of her neighbor’s front porch and no longer listening to country music legend Decklee Cassel with her mom. Recently deceased Decklee, who was from Mayberry herself, famously spent the last 50 years creating a time capsule to be revealed after her death—but when it’s opened, it turns out to be empty. Then the local radio station plays a prerecorded message from Decklee introducing a scavenger hunt to find the time capsule contents and claim a $3 million prize. Darren and Kendall Wilkinson, the brown-skinned boy she’s known since second grade and her gas station co-worker, team up to solve the mystery, embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip across the South. The chapters alternate between the evocative first-person perspectives of Darren in the present day and Decklee from the 1960s until shortly before her death; on the way, she climbs the ladder of the music industry and reckons with the personal cost of stardom. Lesbian Decklee, with her trademark curly blond hair and sequined costumes, navigates an unfair world and heterosexist expectations. The parallel narratives are richly vivid and expertly woven together into an unexpected conclusion.
Discoveries of love, legacy, and self take center stage in this musical tapestry of a novel. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593623398
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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