A clever and thoughtful investigation of teenage empowerment.
Two teenage girls turn the tables on high school misogynists in this YA novel.
Sixteen-year-old narrator Bethany Cummings lives in a swanky Chicago suburb where she doesn’t share the in-crowd’s values. Indeed, she has no close friends until her junior year, when she meets new female student Ash Bauer, who, like her, isn’t into coy flirting—although both still worry about how to please guys. After they encounter some jerkish male behavior, though, they realize that it’s time to reverse the dynamic. Bethany discovers a spreadsheet on her brother’s old MacBook evaluating various girls he dated, assigning them points for anything from a hug to a sexual act; when each girl reached 100 points, she got dumped. Bethany is disgusted and furious—but she also sees the perfect way to overturn the system. She and Ash develop a guy-rating spreadsheet that gives them new confidence and a measure of romantic success. But Ash becomes troubled by the new system, which hasn’t resulted in a jerk-free relationship and is, after all, ethically dubious. Bethany, who’s been gaining influence as a feminist activist, defends the new spreadsheet system, but her views are challenged when she meets a kind, respectful guy. Doyle, whose debut novel, Milked (2019), was written for an adult audience, here offers her first YA novel that tackles some mature themes. The spreadsheet proves to be a great hook for a story and a graphic way to capture the colder, more manipulative power dynamics of dating. That said, it’s never really acknowledged that people who are less attractive than Bethany and Ash might have some trouble adopting their tactics. The book’s humor is nicely balanced by moral complexity, and even Bethany’s brother, the inventor of the point system, is revealed to be a more complicated character than he first appears.
A clever and thoughtful investigation of teenage empowerment.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73395-034-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Lang Verhaal Company
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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