Promising start, disappointing conclusion (Science fiction. 13 & up)
An 18-year-old and her imaginary friend investigate her parents’ dark secrets.
Lily’s been home-schooled all her life, but she’s not lonely. She has friends: loyal Wyatt, punky Sylvie and Iris, the invisible girl who’s been speaking to her since she was 4. Aiming for college, Lily is ready for her life to change, but it changes too much when her father dies in a terrible accident. Friction worsens between Lily and her grieving, elderly mother as the tragedy exposes secrets Lily needs to understand. Why were her parents always so secretive? Why are there photos that look like Lily's in places she’s never been? Why is there a hidden violin in her father’s workshop—and why is Lily convinced she would be able to play it? Clearly it has something to do with her father's secret past in bioengineering; Lily has frightening and inexplicable memories of scientists. Meanwhile, an attractive stranger, new to their tiny mountain town, is courting Lily. Is Wyatt’s seething distrust mere jealousy, or does the stranger have nefarious plans? While the premise is science fiction, the science itself is hand-wavy. With the coming-of-age and love triangle taking center stage, rather than the science or its ethics, a nicely paced reveal of Lily’s mystery devolves to an anticlimactic, feel-good conclusion.
Promising start, disappointing conclusion (Science fiction. 13 & up)Pub Date: April 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-183460-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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
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