A dark, enthralling tale of truth, lies, and parallel lives.
A con artist gets in over her head impersonating a missing girl.
Jolene Chastain is a homeless teen scraping by through general thievery, using her social chameleon skills to pull cons. When a potential mark catches her eye, a little research leads Jo to the mysterious disappearance of 9-year-old Vivienne Weir, orphaned in the seven years since she vanished, and the wealthy Lovecrafts, Vivi’s legal guardians. Seeing a chance at attaining safety, belonging, and a way out of her desperate circumstances, Jo impersonates Vivi and is taken in by the Lovecraft family, finding luxury and love—or so she thinks. Her complex relationship with Vivi’s friend the mercurial Temple Lovecraft is so pivotal that Jo’s first-person narration is addressed directly to Temple in the second person—a choice that engrosses the reader in their dynamic. The deeper Jo is drawn into the Lovecrafts’ world, the more she learns why she’s been able to slip so easily into their lives and the twisted reasons she might not be able to get out alive. Without graphic details or titillation, mentions of rape and prostitution hammer in the plight of impoverished teens. Violence, however, strikes all socio-economic classes in this book. All major characters are white.
A dark, enthralling tale of truth, lies, and parallel lives. (Thriller. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-374-30800-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Necessary, important, honest, loving, and true.
A gut-wrenching look at how addiction affects a family and a town.
Emory Ward, 16, has long been invisible. Everyone in the town of Mill Haven knows her as the rich girl; her workaholic parents see her as their good child. Then Emory and her 17-year-old brother, Joey, are in a car accident in which a girl dies. Joey wasn’t driving, but he had nearly overdosed on heroin. When Joey returns from rehab, his parents make Emory his keeper and try to corral his addictions with a punitive list of rules. Emory rebels in secret, stealing small items and hooking up with hot neighbor Gage, but her drama class and the friends she gradually begins to be honest with help her reach her own truth. Glasgow, who has personal experience with substance abuse, bases this story on the classic play Our Town but with a twist: The characters learn to see and reach out to each other. The cast members, especially Emory and Joey, are exceptionally well drawn in both their struggles and their joys. Joey’s addiction is horrifying and dark, but it doesn’t define who he is. The portrayal of small-town life and its interconnectedness also rings true. Emory’s family is White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast, and an important adult mentor is gay. Glasgow mentions in her author’s note that over 20 million Americans struggle with substance abuse; she includes resources for teens seeking help.
Necessary, important, honest, loving, and true. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-70804-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
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
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