A poignant reminder that love is not always enough.
Two teens struggling with mental illness fall in love, and it doesn’t end well.
Every day is a challenge for Stella Canavas—likely the same Stella from Yu’s debut novel, Four Weeks, Five People (2017)—who lives with depression. Her resolutions for junior year include hanging out with her best friends, escaping her parents’ arguments, listening to her therapist, and accepting people more. On the first day of classes, Stella is captivated by senior Kevin Miller, who is passionate about philosophy, longs to attend Columbia University, and also lives with depression. Stella feels as though she’s found someone who understands her, and after some serious discussion, they begin dating. Everything seems so perfect, but perfect often turns to tears and recriminations in an instant. As their relationship progresses, Stella’s grades slip, she distances herself from her friends, and she skips therapy sessions. The smallest disagreements between Stella and Kevin escalate to shouting matches that leave Stella feeling too exhausted and broken to pick up the pieces. Stella recounts their relationship in a nonlinear style, beginning her story with the end (their last fight) and scattering memories throughout. Yu genuinely portrays how the initial magic of a new relationship can spiral into something toxic and have a profound impact on one’s mental health. Characters are assumed white except for Stella’s friend Lin, who is Chinese-American.
A poignant reminder that love is not always enough. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-335-01536-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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