Deft, page-turning, and fresh as the latest college admissions gossip.
Ripped from the headlines of the 2019 Varsity Blues admissions scandal.
Seventeen-year-old Chloe Berringer is the wealthy, white daughter of Joy Fields, beloved TV sitcom star. An indifferent student, Chloe attends private school and is stunned by the revelation that her entire application was doctored. Chloe wrestles with guilt, shame, anger, brutal social media responses, and frayed family relationships following the revelation of her parents’ cheating and bribery. The intersections of race, class, and privilege are explored primarily through Chloe’s relationship with her best friend, Shola, a Nigerian American girl on scholarship at the school. The chapters alternate between the present day, beginning when her mother is arrested, and the point leading up to the arrest, starting three weeks into her senior year. Knowing that there were dozens of real-life students coping with similar crimes and the deep betrayal of their trust in their parents makes Chloe’s tale both heartbreaking and thought-provoking. Believable subplots focus on her love interest (a biracial Asian Indian/white boy), undocumented immigrants (through Chloe’s mentoring of a young El Salvadoran boy), and the pain of drug addiction (through her older half brother). While not entirely one-dimensional, supporting characters who do not share Chloe's racial and financial privilege sometimes seem to be present as devices to support her awakening.
Deft, page-turning, and fresh as the latest college admissions gossip. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-984893-62-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Skillfully balances angst with fairy-tale romance.
A secret romance between a piano prodigy and a crown princess forces them both to confront difficult choices.
Daniela Blythe, a “shockingly pale,” blond teen from Boulder, Colorado, will be attending Bramppath, a girls’ boarding high school in the fictional Western European country of Henland, on a music scholarship. She’s anxious to fit in with her wealthy peers and even more terrified to play piano in front of anyone, especially after being targeted by a group of bullies at her old school who circulated videos of her performances online. Fortunately, Molly Kwon, who’s of Korean descent, is quick to take Danni under her wing. Soon Danni joins a social group that includes the inscrutable Princess Rosemary of Henland. Rose, who’s cued white, is running from the trauma of a tragic accident that damaged both her public image and her friendship with Molly. The desire to salvage her reputation puts extra pressure on Rose to be the model princess her parents and publicist want her to be. As Rose, who’s lesbian, and Danni, who’s bisexual, grow closer and reveal their true feelings for one another, they must choose who they want controlling the narrative of their love and their lives even as threats of exposure loom. The story, which has no shortage of heart-fluttering moments, effectively builds in suspense that will keep readers guessing along with an unflinching look at the effects of past trauma.
Skillfully balances angst with fairy-tale romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781250352491
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Highly imaginative and powerfully affecting.
Folklore, fantasy, and horror are interwoven in this story of a 17-year-old’s journey to save her brother set in 1836 Wisconsin.
The story unfolds as Catalina’s father dies and her brother, Jose Luis, is stolen by the Man of Sap, a monstrosity of bark and leaves. Pa ranted about the terror of the Man of Sap’s deadly apples before he succumbed to them, but when the monster disappears with Jose Luis, Catalina’s world falls apart. Taking a satchel of supplies, Mamá’s beloved book of poetry by Sor Juana de la Cruz—a treasure from her Mexican homeland—and a knife that belonged to her white Pa, Catalina sets off to find her brother and destroy the Man of Sap. Along the way, she finds friendship, terrifying creatures, whispers of magic, and the key to believing that love is not always lost. Surrounded by poetry, both that of de la Cruz and her own personal writing that she cannot finish, Catalina finds words are a redemptive force. Readers are thrown into an exploration of the heartbreak and loneliness following death and loss, and each character, whether human or otherwise, brings introspection and courage to the tale. Mesmerizingly told through the eyes of both Catalina and the monster, the book invites readers to travel with characters who are reckoning with greed, fear, and love as they consider what makes a monster—and whether monsters can be redeemed.
Highly imaginative and powerfully affecting. (author’s note) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781682636473
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Peachtree Teen
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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