A sweet, slow-burn romance with a swoon-y payoff.
A quiet Nebraska cowboy and an unhappy California transplant are inexplicably drawn to each other in this wholesome enemies-to-sweethearts debut.
Seventeen-year-old talented artist Riley Thomas’ world has been turned upside down. Her parents’ new jobs require her family to relocate to small-town Nebraska from Southern California the summer before her senior year. Even worse, Mom and Dad are dragging Riley and her younger brother on a week of forced family fun with the Oregon Trail Adventure Co. Cowboy Colton Walker is the reigning 18-and-under solo lasso champion and the strong, silent type, whose family’s business is guiding wagon trains along the trail. When the teens first meet, they feel an instant mix of attraction and annoyance. But throughout the laid-back days and starry nights on the Nebraska plains, they’re drawn together as they begin to realize that there’s more to the other than meets the eye. Emmel does a beautiful, unhurried job of drawing out the transformation of Riley and Colton’s relationship from awkward tension to tentative friendship to budding romance. Readers will root for these two stubborn souls to let down their guards and get out of their own ways. The family relationships are realistic and nuanced, and Riley’s fury and frustration toward her parents is relatable to anyone who’s ever had to relocate against their wishes. Fans of Jenny Han and Kasie West will especially enjoy the innocent portrayal of first love. Main characters are cued white.
A sweet, slow-burn romance with a swoon-y payoff. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: July 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593708149
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A uniquely arranged bouquet of terrors, as disturbing as it is beautiful.
A family’s secrets rise to the surface as a young man investigates a suspected murder.
Evander, who’s 17 and lonely, never leaves his room in the manor on Hazelthorn Estate. He’s told he’s too fragile and is locked away “for his safety” while an elderly butler feeds him brain-addling “medicine.” But one night changes Evander’s life—and the manor’s future—forever. Byron Lennox-Hall, Evander’s billionaire guardian and the family’s patriarch, dies unexpectedly. Relatives descend upon Hazelthorn like vultures as a shocking twist reveals that Byron left everything to Evander alone. Without Byron around to keep his only grandchild and presumed heir, Laurence “Laurie” Lennox-Hall, away from his ward, Laurie and Evander become the unlikeliest of allies. When they were boys, Laurie attempted to kill Evander—but, maddeningly, Evander can’t stop thinking about him. He also suspects that someone murdered Byron. Drews’ latest starts off as a straightforward whodunit and turns into something that’s far more sinister—and delicious. From descriptions of moth-eaten decay to vivid floral imagery, Drews luxuriates in atmospheric prose. Their literary green thumb nurtures intertwining themes of monstrosity and abuse alongside yearning, first love, queerness, and mystery. The slow-burn romance at the root of this blend of gothic and body horror is as tender as it is unforgettable. Evander is cued as autistic, and main characters present white.
A uniquely arranged bouquet of terrors, as disturbing as it is beautiful. (author’s note) (Horror. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781250376299
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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