Appealing characters and a warm, sparkly love story tinged with wish fulfillment.
In this YA paranormal romance, a teenage girl has just a few weeks to live—and now a handsome stranger needs her help or he’ll die too.
“I know how I die. I know when, too,” says Cassidy Jordan; not because she’s ill or suicidal but because she just knows, which isn’t the only unusual thing about her. Cassidy lived before, as an actress named Anna Merrick. That life had to end early due to a cosmic accident, but because The Life-After was beautiful and calm, she didn’t want to leave. As her supernatural helper, Noah, explains, though, first Anna must become a “second-timer,” reborn with a task to complete: help Riley Davis, 19, to have the life he was meant for. Then she can die and return. If she fails, Riley will become a second-timer after death instead of staying in The Life-After, and Cassidy will simply die and disappear with no afterlife at all. Helping Riley, however, requires Cassidy to open up—difficult because her first life left her with a “dead spot” inside that makes her avoid getting close. Riley, too, has grief issues. Noah advises Cassidy to nurture her spiritual energy and connection to The Life-After through meditation and yoga, but the countdown clock is ticking. Can Cassidy open up in time to save Riley and herself? Farwell (Rock Star’s Girl, 2015) writes with verve; for example, in reply to a flirtatious, open-ended question from Cassidy, Riley grins wickedly, saying, “Choose your own adventure.” Cassidy’s situation is both sympathetic (orphaned at 6, lonely, soon to die) and enviable—she’s beautiful, owns her own home in the Hollywood Hills, was accepted into Harvard, and easily charms Riley, who has his own place above his parents’ recording studio. While Farwell’s New Age–y eschatology may not resonate with all readers, Cassidy’s task is actually an age-old romance classic: “It’s your job to help him open his heart again,” Noah says. This notion could bear more scrutiny because girls tend to do the emotional heavy lifting in relationships.
Appealing characters and a warm, sparkly love story tinged with wish fulfillment.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62015-646-9
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Booktrope
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A compelling mix of action, drama and love.
Gray’s (A Delightful Arrangement, 2011, etc.) young-adult novel offers a unique twist on a classic.
Lizzie Egmont has her entire life planned out. A junior at the Jane Austen Academy, she plans to become managing editor of the school’s paper, graduate at the top of her class and receive an acceptance letter from Georgetown University—until her school goes coed, that is. When the first male student steps on campus, Lizzie’s dream scuttles off trajectory. Her classmates succumb to boisterous flirtations with the opposite sex, but Lizzie sees trouble. The academy has been sold and the owner’s identity carefully concealed by the new trustees and headmistress. When Lizzie overhears a conversation about plans to change the name of the school, she leaps into action. In the process, she discovers that the truth may cost her friendships and love. As expected from a “modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice,” the book retains the essence of its original cast: Lizzie is bold and beautiful beyond her own good; her love interest, Dante, is stunningly attractive and irresistibly brooding. Fans of Bingley, Jane and Wickham will not be disappointed since the author has taken great care to not only preserve their essences, but also relay them as believable, lovable and flawed teenagers. Dialogue is contemporary, hilarious and honest to Austen’s original characters—just reincarnated in 21st century California. Action and exposition fiercely move readers through a landscape of wealth and ambition, where literature comes to life as readers face contemporary YA issues of conformity, loyalty and identity. Despite its brevity, the novel presents a world just as resonating as those created in some novels triple the size.
A compelling mix of action, drama and love.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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