Chad and Kara’s outcome is predictable from the start, but their time spent being creative and typical teens in the context...
Good things come to those who wait—and pray.
Since winning America’s Next Star, 17-year-old Chad Beacon is famous enough to call the shots when a network develops a clean, teen version of Saturday Night Live. Well, maybe Chad’s not calling all of the shots yet. Since he will be spending so much time with his female co-star, his (presumably evangelical) Christian parents want to choose a Christian as his companion. A compromise is made: The network will narrow the talent pool to 10 girls, who will live together for a month while Chad’s tutor (also described as a Christian) will serve as housemother and help with the selection. The third-person narration alternates between Chad and Kara McKormick, also 17 and a former reality-show star, who becomes one of the contenders. Although the two meet through mutual friends (including the president’s son) and form an instant attraction, neither has any clue that they may be co-stars. And despite Kara’s obvious distinction from her conniving fellow contenders, she may lose the role—and Chad—because she doesn’t believe in God. Suddenly surrounded by believers and frightened by her dad’s deteriorating health, a questioning Kara turns to God for support.
Chad and Kara’s outcome is predictable from the start, but their time spent being creative and typical teens in the context of their celebrity status keeps the narration fun for genre fans. (Christian chick-lit. 13 & up)Pub Date: July 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4016-8489-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
A dizzying, intimate romance.
Rowan teams up with her academic nemesis to win a citywide scavenger hunt.
Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals in a never-ending game of one-upmanship since freshman year. Now, on the last day of senior year, Rowan hopes to best Neil once and for all as valedictorian, then win Howl, a scavenger hunt with a $5,000 cash prize. She also hopes to sneak away to her favorite romance author’s book signing; no one’s ever respected her passion for the genre, not even her children’s book author/illustrator parents. But Rowan’s named salutatorian, and vengeful classmates plot to end her and Neil’s reign. At first their partnership is purely strategic, but as the pair traverse the city, they begin to open up. Rowan learns that Neil is Jewish too and can relate to both significant cultural touchstones and experiences of casual anti-Semitism. As much as Rowan tries to deny it, real feelings begin to bloom. Set against a lovingly evoked Seattle backdrop, Rowan and Neil’s relationship develops in an absorbing slow burn, with clever banter and the delicious tension of first love. Issues of class, anti-Semitism, and sex are discussed frankly. Readers will emerge just as obsessed with this love story as Rowan is with her beloved romance novels. Rowan’s mother is Russian Jewish and Mexican, and her father is American Jewish and presumably White; most other characters are White.
A dizzying, intimate romance. (author’s note) (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4024-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
A slow-moving but compelling tale of a queer Jewish boy battling antisemitism and the supernatural.
Young immigrant Alter Rosen lives in Chicago; it’s 1893, and the World’s Fair is in town.
Seventeen-year-old Alter longs to enjoy everything the White City has to offer him, but as a Romanian refugee in the United States, he feels it is his responsibility to earn enough money to bring his mother and his sisters over from Europe. Jewish people in the Russian empire have long been the targets and victims of government-sanctioned violence, and while life in the U.S. is still not ideal for Jews, it’s much safer. So, Alter tries his best to make an honest living and save his money. But when several Jewish boys from the tenements on Maxwell Street, where he has rented a room, end up missing or dead—including Alter’s own roommate and secret crush, Yakov—Alter knows he has to find out the truth about their fates. A highly detailed historical landscape paired with the fantastical element of the dybbuk from ancient Jewish folklore, one of whom possesses Alter, provide a solid base for the book’s leisurely paced and original narrative. Readers will become immersed in Alter’s world, rooting for his survival, hoping for his reunion with his family, and wishing for him to find the love that he deserves. An author’s note and glossary add valuable context. Main characters are White and Jewish.
A slow-moving but compelling tale of a queer Jewish boy battling antisemitism and the supernatural. (Historical thriller. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-335-40250-9
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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