An overblown love story lacking nuance or depth.
Two rich teens—with one flaw each—fall in love in neighboring Los Angeles mansions.
When Lennon moves into her father’s sprawling home, she’s struggling with the lifelong OCD that worsened after her mother’s death. She finds her match in bad-boy-next-door Kyler, her partner for a class project on Romeo and Juliet. Like Lennon, Kyler is wealthy, white, a creative prodigy, and separated from hegemonic perfection by exactly one character-defining flaw: a scar from a long-ago house fire. Kyler insists he’s hideous and refuses to play with his band in public; Lennon is sure her OCD is what killed her mother. Both characters self-consciously mention their own privilege but seem incapable of imagining that anyone might have bigger problems than they do. Alternating-perspective chapters tell the story from Lennon’s and Kyler’s points of view in turn, but their voices are so solipsistic and melodramatic as to be interchangeable—readers could be forgiven for thinking they’ve each fallen in love with themselves. More disturbingly, Kyler shows tendencies toward coercive control over the women in his life, including his sister, whose eating habits he monitors; Lennon’s stock-villain stepsister, toward whom he uses misogynistic slurs and physical intimidation; and Lennon herself, over whom Kyler explicitly claims ownership. The hyperbolic voices of the protagonists are both vapid and laborious to read. All characters are white except for a barely-there dark-skinned girl who shows Lennon around school.
An overblown love story lacking nuance or depth. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-02396-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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
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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