A thoughtful and satisfying blend of magical realism and romance.
A teenage girl navigates high school and plans for her future while dealing with accidental trips back in time in Storms’ YA novel.
On the surface, Penelope Jane “PJ” Ellis is an ordinary high school junior: A diligent and dedicated student, she has a passion for running and is a member of her school’s cross-country team. But belying outward appearances, PJ suffers from severe panic attacks that periodically cause her to slip nine minutes and 53 seconds back in time and experience the same events with slightly different outcomes. As she describes it, “It’s like someone stole a bookmark from my book and returned it to an earlier chapter, so a chapter I already read ends up being overwritten somehow.” The only person who knows is her best friend, Mariana Salvadore, who gives PJ the nickname “Slip” for her ability to travel back in time. When a classmate named Ethan Morrow shows an interest in her, she experiences the joys and nervous excitement that come with a first crush. As their connection becomes romantic, she discovers that she does not slip as much in his presence. Despite her comfort with Ethan, however, her panic attacks and subsequent slipping do not completely disappear, leaving her to wonder if she will ever be able to have a normal relationship. Storms’ novel deftly balances magical realism with a sensitively observed portrait of a teenage girl struggling with debilitating panic attacks. PJ is an amiable and relatable protagonist who tries to maintain a normal life despite her extraordinary ability to slip back in time, and the supporting characters are equally well drawn. Storms is a natural storyteller who seamlessly integrates PJ’s time travel without breaking the narrative’s momentum, as exemplified in a scene early in the novel in which PJ slips back in time and rescues a girl from drowning. The fully dimensional characters and realistic portrait of high school life ground the fantastical elements in reality and bring the story to a strong conclusion.
A thoughtful and satisfying blend of magical realism and romance.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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