For readers who like a light serving of mystery with a side of romance.
Murder turns would-be romance novelist Emmy into the heroine of her own romantic mystery.
The worst Emmy Danvers, a white 16-year-old, has faced is the long string of losers her mom has dated since her dad left them while her mom was still pregnant and the tension of unrequited feelings for good white friend Ben. But while she’s working on another story idea for a romance in a coffee shop, an unknown elderly man warns her that she—along with her absent father—is not safe before covertly handing off an encrypted high-tech tablet and promptly dying right on top of her. As in the improbable scenarios of her stories, Emmy, not knowing which adults to trust, brashly accepts the offer of the murdered man’s rich, white teenage grandson, Sebastian, a self-described “Certified Bad Boy,” to attend elite Emptor Academy on a scholarship. Although this is nominally a murder mystery, the suspense is mild, as Emmy spends more time navigating her new high school (particularly interactions with mean girls) and reconciling her feelings for both Ben and Sebastian (this is a romance, after all) than trying to track down her missing father, access the tablet’s hidden contents, and stay out of danger. The author adds diversity through Emmy’s circle of new and old friends and Emptor’s instructors. A heightened conclusion with unresolved answers sets the scene for a sequel.
For readers who like a light serving of mystery with a side of romance. (Mystery. 14-17)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4405-9585-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Merit Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
Several yards short of a touchdown.
A transgender boy starting over at a new school falls hard for a popular cheerleader with a reputation to protect in this debut.
On the first day of senior year, transgender boy Pony locks eyes with cisgender cheerleader Georgia. They both have pasts they want to leave behind. No one at Hillcrest High knows that Pony is transgender, and he intends to keep it that way. Georgia’s last boyfriend shook her trust in boys, and now she’s determined to forget him. As mutual attraction draws them together, Pony and Georgia must decide what they are willing to risk for a relationship. Pony’s best friend, Max, who is also transgender, disapproves of Pony’s choice to live stealth; this disagreement leads to serious conflict in their relationship. Meanwhile, Georgia and Pony behave as if Pony’s trans identity was a secret he was lying to her about rather than private information for him to share of his own volition. The characters only arrive at a hopeful resolution after Pony pays high physical and emotional prices. McSmith places repeated emphasis on the born-in-the-wrong-body narrative when the characters discuss trans identities. Whiteness is situated as the norm, and all main characters are white.
Several yards short of a touchdown. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-294317-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one.
Teens become astronauts in record time for an inaugural space mission.
After losing his family to “the greatest flood Rome has ever known,” skilled white Italian swimmer Leo Danieli would never have expected that in his darkest moment he would be drafted by the European Space Agency to attend the International Space Training Camp, where teens will train to terraform and colonize Jupiter’s moon Europa for human settlement. California native Naomi Ardalan, a second-generation Iranian-American, has also been chosen for her expertise in science and technology. During a period of violent climate change worldwide, Earth’s governments are desperate to draft teens for a space mission for which they have only a few weeks in which to prepare. Twenty-four teen finalists, many orphaned by cataclysmic natural disasters, have been chosen from all over the world to compete for this space colonization mission. Warnings come to Leo and Naomi that there is a more sinister aspect to this mission, especially after things go tragically awry with other candidates during the training. The relationship that develops between Naomi and Leo feels forced, as if their meeting necessitates speedy deployment of a romantic cliché. The use of predictable plot devices, along with the fundamentally ludicrous premise, undermines any believability that would make a reader invest in such an elaborate space journey.
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one. (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265894-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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