An endearing novel that gives hope to those who know what it’s like being different.
A gay high schooler contends with romance, college, and racial/sexual self-acceptance in this entertaining coming-of-age dramedy.
Remy Cameron is determined not to have a relationship this year. After the heartbreak of his last breakup, all he wants is to do well in AP Lit, get into Emory’s Creative Writing Program, and avoid anything remotely resembling love. Remy’s best-laid plans are thrown into chaos when Ian Park, a Korean American senior, moves back from California and comes onto his radar. Add to that some friends wanting to increase LGBTQ representation on the homecoming court and his lit teacher’s assigning an essay about what identity defines him, and Remy’s junior year is set to be anything but peaceful. In his sophomore novel, Winters (Running With Lions, 2018) fills a Georgia high school with characters so rich and realistic that readers might expect to bump into them in the school hallways. The racial and sexual diversity that pervades this novel feels refreshingly authentic, and Remy’s struggles with being black, adopted, and gay demonstrate the author’s skill as a storyteller and his respect for the weight of the issues at play. The relationships among the members of the mixed-race Cameron family (Remy’s parents are white) and between Remy and his friends are nuanced and reflect a hopeful future for America.
An endearing novel that gives hope to those who know what it’s like being different. (Fiction 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-945053-80-1
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Duet
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
Deeply romantic and utterly magical.
An aspiring alchemist and a talented sharpshooter team up to hunt an ancient beast.
When the hala appears each autumn, New Albion’s Halfmoon Hunt soon follows. Teams consisting of a marksman and an alchemist hunt the creature in pursuit of fame and fortune. Though the Katharist church condemns the hala as a demon, 17-year-old Margaret Welty has been taught by her Yu’adir father that it is a sacred creation of God. Legend even has it that the hala’s alchemized carcass could be forged into the philosopher’s stone. If Maggie wins the hunt and kills the hala, her alchemist mother, gone for months, may finally return home to stay. Weston Winters, son of Banvish-Sumic immigrants, has been fired from every apprenticeship he’s charmed his way into. Being taken on as Evelyn Welty’s student is his best chance at becoming an alchemist, but when he arrives at Welty Manor, Maggie immediately dislikes him. However, after they ultimately come to understand each other’s personal motives, they rely on one another to achieve their dreams. This atmospheric, emotionally driven story focuses on the slow-burn romance between two outcasts who yearn to belong and who face discrimination for their cultural and religious backgrounds. Characters are cued as White, and New Albion is reminiscent of early-20th-century America: the Banvish-Sumic, Katharist, and Yu’adir people read as fantasy-world corollaries of Irish Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish immigrants, respectively.
Deeply romantic and utterly magical. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-62365-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
A thrilling, heart-racing mystery with a page-turning budding romance at its center.
After a woman is shockingly murdered during a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., two teens team up to find the real shooter before someone they both care about takes the fall.
Cooper King, a Black teen, has been directionless since the death of his mother, which is why he reluctantly agrees to help his mentor, Jason, loot stores during an anti–police violence protest, even though it goes against everything he was raised to believe. Cooper desperately wants to hide his involvement in the theft from his childhood friend and secret crush, Monique, a young poet, activist, and high-achieving student. But she becomes involved nonetheless after Jason, who’s her brother, is arrested for the murder. The pair are sure that Jason is innocent and resolve to clear his name by finding the culprit. Their investigation reveals a conspiratorial web of lies and relationships that complicates the potential motive and exposes the racial inequities, political corruption, and social unrest in their city. Each new clue and twist is revealed through Cooper’s and Monique’s alternating points of view, as they gradually piece together answers to an increasingly dangerous and high-stakes whodunit, all while falling in love. Brooks deftly explores the everyday growing pains of Black boyhood and girlhood alongside the threats of racial injustice and police violence faced by youths, often drawing parallels to real activists and movements.
A thrilling, heart-racing mystery with a page-turning budding romance at its center. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781250359933
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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