Wistfulness embodied.
What if you could go back and relive memories of a lost love?
Tia Cruz Adlon is living a stagnant existence in New York City. Ever since dropping out of Columbia 16 months ago, she’s been working at a dog boarding kennel, regularly escorting her charges through Central Park. Meanwhile, Columbia film student Razor Ford wants to step out of his celebrity father’s shadow by winning a short movie competition for students. He just needs to find the exact right actor to play the girlfriend for his own character, and the second he sees Tia in the park with her canine pack, he knows she’s the one. But Tia, who’s Filipino and implied white, is skeptical. And when she discovers Huddlestone Arch, a stone tunnel “suspended only by gravity and pressure,” she has other priorities. Somehow, the arch can take her back in time to her Long Island hometown and the summer before college, when she and awkward, adorkable Nathaniel “Natty” Poole thought they had their whole lives ahead of them. Peñaflor manages the time jumps well in this tale that considers the nature of all-consuming grief and loss. The work is artistically executed, with the science-fiction elements functioning as a well-orchestrated metaphor for regrets and preoccupation with the past. Like Razor’s film, which he hopes will evoke “a Reiner/Ephron autumn,” the story has a lovely, fall-in-the-city vibe that matches its emotional tone. Natty and Razor present white.
Wistfulness embodied. (Speculative romance. 15-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9798347103935
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Sarah Barley Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
Exactly what the title promises.
A grieving teen’s devotion to romance films might ruin her chances at actual romance.
Liz Buxbaum has always adored rom-coms, not least for helping her still feel close to her screenwriter mother, who died when she was little. Liz hopes that her senior year might turn into a real-life romantic fantasy, as an old crush has moved back to town, cuter and nicer than ever. Surely she can get Michael to ask her to prom. If only Wes, the annoying boy next door, would help her with her scheming! This charming, fluffy concoction manages to pack into one goofy plot every conceivable trope, from fake dating to the makeover to the big misunderstanding. Creative, quirky, daydreaming Liz is just shy of an annoying stereotype, saved by a dry wit and unresolved grief and anger. Wes makes for a delightful bad boy with a good heart, and supporting characters—including a sassy best friend, a perfect popular rival, even a (not really) evil stepmother—all get the opportunity to transcend their roles. The only villain here is Liz’s lovelorn imagination, provoking her into foolish lies that cause actual hurt feelings; but she is sufficiently self-aware to make amends just in time for the most important trope of all: a blissfully happy ending. All characters seem to be White by default.
Exactly what the title promises. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6762-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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