High school student Gigi Wong knows she has what it takes to be the best, so it’s frustrating that no one seems to expect much from her.
Chinese American Gigi’s loving, protective parents set high standards for her older brother, but they are content with their daughter’s simply being herself. Her Great-Aunt Rose, a successful matchmaker training Gigi to continue the family legacy, is hesitant about Gigi’s attempts to digitize her business and advises Gigi to be cautious with using her Matchmaker 3000 app to make client matches. Her best friend, Kyle, who is Chinese and White, assures her that she’s already incredible, but Gigi—a top student at her elite New York prep school, co-editor of the school magazine, and volunteer peer mentor—is determined to prove herself, and she sees an opportunity through a statewide coding contest. Inspired by her Filipino mentee, Etta, who tells her how hard it is to make friends as a transfer student, Gigi develops Quizzlet, an app that matches users with potential friends based on compatibility. This contemporary retelling of Emma aptly shifts the focus of Austen’s well-meaning, occasionally thoughtless protagonist away from romantic meddling and toward personal achievement without losing the spirit of the original novel. The warmth of friendship and family closeness shine through banter-filled dialogue and the characters’ use of food as a love language, with a touch of romance to round out the end.
Effortlessly entertaining. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-11755-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
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BOOK REVIEW
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. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
31
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After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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