Three 15-year-old English boys use the distraction of a road trip to avoid dealing with their best friend’s suicide. Tough Sim, anxious Kenny and narrator Blake decide to take an impromptu trip to Ross, Scotland, with the stolen ashes of their mate (named Ross, of course), who recently died in a bicycle accident. On their way they lose money and bus tickets, go bungee jumping and race motorbikes, bicker and fall in love—all while trying to ignore the fact that Ross’s death may have been intentional. Gray’s characters strut, preen, pose and fret in a way that will instantly be recognized by any teenage boy, past or present. His text is full of both tender teenage rage and ribald bon mots: “ ‘So you should die when you’re on holiday or something?’...‘Yeah, or after you’ve just got a good look at Ross’s sister’s tits in the shower.’ ” Display this attitudinal British import between Don Calame’s gleefully gross Swim the Fly (2009) and Melvin Burgess’s Doing It (2003). (Fiction. 13 & up)
Pub Date: March 23, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-85843-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
An inclusive, optimistic message deepens this charming romance.
A life-changing summer in Europe brings two neurodivergent teens together.
Tilly, 18, has ADHD and a psyche dented by parental expectations she’s unable or unwilling to meet. Her parents have long held up Mona, her Yale alumna sister, as Tilly’s exemplar. Mona has relocated to London to start Ruhe, an environmentally friendly nail polish business, with Amina, her business partner and romantic prospect. Hired as their summer intern, Tilly’s thrilled to escape disempowering parental oversight that veers from infantilizing (“Are you being good for Mona?”) to rigid insistence on academic achievement. While flying to London, Tilly’s English seatmate, Oliver, also 18, witnesses Tilly’s ADHD symptoms firsthand (call it a meet-awkward). Handsome but distant, he’s Ruhe’s other intern, his considerable skills mediated by the impact of navigating the world as an autistic person. Traveling across Europe to market Ruhe, they share diagnoses and discoveries—each one struggles with hyperfocus—offering support as needed. Oliver adores colors, especially understanding and applying the science behind them. Writing is Tilly’s passion; with growing confidence, she finds an outlet for her spontaneous creative spirit, something Ruhe needs. Acting on their mutual attraction forces the teens to move out of their self-limiting comfort zones and take emotional risks. Eddings, who shares both characters’ diagnoses, brings clarity, humor, insight, and empathy to their challenges. An adjunct assortment of bright, variously divergent teens manifest kindness, affection, and acceptance. Most major characters appear White; Londoner Amina has “amber skin.”
An inclusive, optimistic message deepens this charming romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781250847065
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
A beautiful love story about finding one’s way back to one’s self.
A summer of lessons on love of all kinds, particularly self-love.
It’s the summer before senior year for Harlem resident Nala Robertson, a 17-year-old Black girl of Jamaican descent. Nala’s list of things she wants to accomplish over the summer includes hanging out with her best friends, Imani and Sadie, and falling in love. Nala soon discovers that life does not always go according to plan. While some surprises may turn out better than she imagined—like the entrance of her new crush, Tye—some of life’s twists have her questioning her dreams and herself, forcing her to face new and uncomfortable realities. Nala’s world is made up of family and friends who are mainly strong, inspirational Black girls and women of varying sizes, complexions, and complexities. Nala’s journey of self-love and acceptance comes with emotional bumps and bruises, and Watson’s well-paced writing puts readers in Nala’s shoes with a delivery that consistently feels like a warm hug, supported by a throughline of love. Touching on social issues like racism, environmentalism, and body positivity, this story will resonate with readers who have questioned who they are, tried to change themselves to fit in, or are seeking their own voices.
A beautiful love story about finding one’s way back to one’s self. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0060-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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