This steamy and delightfully explicit exploration of teen sex and emotional growth begs to be passed from friend to friend...
A heterosexual teen girl experiences the ups and downs of first love and first sex.
High school junior Janey King has never been in love. She’s never had a boyfriend, and she’s never been kissed. She has enough on her plate with friends, schoolwork, the debate and track teams, and her parents’ recent split. Then sexy, athletic, popular Luke Hallstrom asks Janey out. Despite Janey’s insecurity—why would someone like Luke be attracted to a nobody like her?—things quickly heat up both physically and emotionally, and soon they’re having the sex talk: should they, and when? Throughout most of the novel, Janey carries the damaging notion that she needs Luke to validate her. However, Janey’s growth is most evident when she reflects that she doesn’t want to feel complete only when she has a boyfriend, that she wants to feel confidence on her own merit. She credits Luke with giving her the power to allow herself to feel validated without any boy’s approval—a rather dubious conclusion. Her best friends, “fast” girl virgin Sloan, whose nickname is “E.B.” because she’ll do “everything but,” and Danielle, who has a boyfriend with whom she regularly does the deed, both have frank and funny advice about having sex and not having it. Janey’s immediate circle at her La Jolla high school seems to be a largely white one.
This steamy and delightfully explicit exploration of teen sex and emotional growth begs to be passed from friend to friend under cover of the cafeteria table. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-328-66378-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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