An emotionally rich coming-of-age love story.
The best of friends chart new territory during their sophomore year.
Hailey and Lima have always been two peas in a pod, but the times they are a-changing. After Hailey loses her virginity to an anonymous beach bum over summer break, she's got nothing on her mind but school hottie Nate and hanging with the cool kids. Lima finds herself increasingly left behind, hanging with the so-called "dangerous" crowd to fill Hailey's absence. Complications grow even larger once it's made clear Nate's got a thing for Lima and couldn't care less for Hailey. Some of the drama may be contrived, but the novel's heart is in the right place: beating hard and fast as the author examines the implosion of a long-term friendship. The emotional jump from middle school to high school is handled expertly here, creating a strong platonic love story between the two girls. Less interesting are some of the tertiary characters: The cool kids and alternative kids are both drawn pretty thinly, but that's almost beside the point. The two groups are used as provocative bits of narrative tissue, needling both of the protagonists and eliciting emotional, intellectual and sexual awakenings. By novel's end, both young teens are closer to the women they will eventually become. Whether or not their friendship endures is up to readers to decide.
An emotionally rich coming-of-age love story. (Fiction. 14-16)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4168-3
Page Count: 389
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking.
Sixteen-year-old Mandy considers herself the anti-Starfire: Unlike her scantily clad superhero mother, she doesn’t have superpowers, can’t fly, and doesn’t even own a bathing suit.
Mandy dyes her hair and dresses in all black to further call out how different they are. Mandy’s best friend, Lincoln, whose parents were born in Vietnam, insightfully summarizes this rift as being down to an intergenerational divide that occurs whether parents and children come from different countries or different planets. Mandy tries to figure out what kind of future she wants for herself as she struggles with teenage insecurities and bullying, her relationship with her mom, and her budding friendship (or is it something more?) with her new class project partner, Claire. Yoshitani’s vibrant and colorful stylized illustrations beautifully meld the various iterations of Starfire and the Titans with the live-action versions of those characters. Together with Tamaki’s punchy writing, this coming-of-age story of identity, family, friendship, and saving the world is skillfully brought to life in a quick but nuanced read. These layers are most strongly displayed as the story draws parallels between cultural differences between the generations as evidenced in how the characters address bullying, body positivity, fatphobia, fetishization and sexualization, and feminism. This title addresses many important concepts briefly, but well, with great pacing, bold art, and concise and snappy dialogue. The cast is broadly diverse in both primary and secondary characters.
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. (Graphic fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-126-4
Page Count: 184
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Frannie turned her demon boyfriend Luc into a human with her magical Sway in Personal Demons (2010). Now he's living in his...
A demon-turned-human, a lecherous succubus, an angelic—if bratty—brother, an "insanely beautiful" archangel; with all these mystical creatures in her life, no wonder Frannie's overwhelmed.
Frannie turned her demon boyfriend Luc into a human with her magical Sway in Personal Demons (2010). Now he's living in his own apartment while barely resisting Frannie's seduction attempts. Frannie divides her time between Luc, her summer job and her increasingly distant friends. Frannie and Luc's dating is complicated by the constant presence of Matt, Frannie's guardian angel, who was once her twin brother but died during childhood. Through alternating, brief first-person accounts, all three narrate the continuing saga of Frannie vs. Hell. Lucifer wants to punish Luc for his defection and gain control of whatever power turned him human; luckily, Hell doesn't know about Frannie's Sway. Meanwhile, Matt is distracted from his duties by uncontrollable feelings for Lili, a strange new girl in town. The protagonists pop in and out of Hell like there's no tomorrow; secondary characters are merely damned for all time. The battle against Hell is punctuated by frequent steamy encounters: There's "crippling desire," lust that’s "totally raw and all-consuming" and characters who "sink into the sheets, into each other." For all that sex, it's a shame that the sexuality of all the girls other than Frannie is subject to disturbingly intense slut-shaming.Pub Date: July 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7653-2809-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
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