A well-drawn historical drama, but one with an antiquated sense of storytelling.
In Callender’s debut historical YA novel, two young people seem fated to meet in Jim Crow–era Alabama.
It’s 1940 in the Alabama town of Bessemer. Dee Deehas two goals for her first day of her senior year of high school: to look glamorous and to find her Prince Charming. She’s overcome a lot in recent years, including the death of her older sister. Now, she’s looking forward to enjoying her near-adulthood. Unfortunately, the young Black woman is quickly reminded of the dangers of the Jim Crow South when a group of White bullies threatens her and her brothers on the way to school. Meanwhile, a young Black man, Charles Stevens, has decided to leave his family’s peanut farm after a moment of inspiration at a tent revival: “I hope you can understand that I believe there’s something else out there for me to do,” he tells his disappointed father. With relatives and promising lead on a job in Bessemer, Charles hopes to ultimately find a career worthy of his curiosity—as well as a wife. As the two main characters circle each other, leading to their inevitable meeting, details of Black life in the South on the cusp of the World War II are brought to bear. Calendar’s prose is methodic and rich, summoning the language and personality of her characters with aplomb, as well as worldbuilding details: “At the store, I bought two pickles and gave one to Harriet,” narrates Dee Dee. “They were two for five cents. I felt I could splurge and use my ironing money, with this being the first successful day of school!” Callender dives deep into the family dynamics of both Dee Dee and Charles, and readers come to have a firm understanding of their psychologies. However, the book’s pace is as slow as Dee Dee’s five-mile walk to school, and the plot is a near-constant stream of digressions that, while often intriguing, keep the narrative from ever gaining significant momentum. Readers of YA fiction who are used to modern pacing may find this slice-of-life tale a bit too leisurely.
A well-drawn historical drama, but one with an antiquated sense of storytelling.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 371
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A familiar plotline delivers exactly what readers want: sweet, romantic fun.
Evie Clément unexpectedly finds herself up for the coveted title of Bellegarde Bloom while questioning her growing feelings for the boy who got her there as part of a wager.
Each year in Paris, the Court of Flowers selects the Bellegarde Bloom, the most desirable of the marriageable girls at the ball. Seventeen-year-old Evie, the daughter of a baker, is an unlikely candidate. But Beau Bellegarde has accepted a bet from Julien, his half brother, in exchange for Julien’s inheritance, which forms the bulk of their family’s estate. The challenge: that Beau can make any girl into the Bloom—and thanks to Beau’s secret interventions, Evie secures a nomination. What wasn’t in the plans? Their growing feelings for one another and the added complications of Beau’s dishonesty and a duke’s competing interest in Evie. The chapters switch between Evie’s and Beau’s first-person perspectives, helping readers become aware of feelings and plot points that other characters are not privy to. The pre-revolutionary, early modern setting is cued through mentions of Versailles, carriages, and fashions such as powdered hair. This fun and fluffy story wraps up with a satisfying ending. Most characters present White; Evie’s best friend, Josephine, and some other background characters are Black.
A familiar plotline delivers exactly what readers want: sweet, romantic fun. (Romance. 13-17)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780063238398
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
A purple page turner.
This sequel to Clockwork Angel (2010) pits gorgeous, attractively broken teens against a menacing evil.
There's betrayal, mayhem and clockwork monstrosities, and the Shadowhunters have only two weeks to discover—oh, who are we kidding? The plot is only surprisingly tasty icing on this cupcake of a melodramatic love triangle. Our heroes are Tessa, who may or may not be a warlock, and the beautiful Shadowhunter warrior boys who are moths to her forbidden flame. It's not always clear why Tessa prefers Will to his beloved (and only) friend Jem, the dying, silver-eyed, biracial sweetheart with the face of an angel. Jem, after all, is gentle and kind, her dearest confidante; Will is unpleasant to everyone around him. But poor, wretched Will—who "would have been pretty if he had not been so tall and so muscular"—has a deep, dark, thoroughly emo secret. His trauma puts all previous romantic difficulties to shame, from the Capulet/Montague feud all the way to Edward Cullen's desire to chomp on Bella Swan. Somehow there's room for an interesting steampunk mystery amid all this angst. The supporting characters (unusually well-developed for a love-triangle romance) include multiple compelling young women who show strength in myriad ways. So what if there are anachronisms, character inconsistencies and weird tonal slips? There's too much overwrought fun to care.
A purple page turner. (Fantasy. 13-16)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7588-5
Page Count: 528
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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