Slow to develop its promising premise.
When 17-year-old Jasper loses his parents within months of each other, he finds himself lost in a conspiracy that forces him to choose whether to run, kill, or die.
As the only living descendant of Benedict Arnold, Jasper becomes a target of the Libertines, a group composed of descendants of America’s original revolutionaries. After an attempt on his life, Jasper is shipped off to a run-down school in Vermont run by the titular league, the descendants of famous American traitors. There he must learn the dueling code because, as he learns, as soon as he turns 18, he will begin receiving challenges from Libertines. And the only options are to duel and win or duel and die. Jasper’s inheritance also includes his father’s research, which he hopes will provide another way out. But further attacks and a budding romance are constant distractions. Witty banter, a clever premise, and the constant threat of danger keep the pages turning despite the story’s lack of momentum. Characters grapple with the issues of honor and responsibility. Others are forced to deal with the deaths of friends and family and the guilt of taking a life. Unfortunately, while the story unpacks some little-known moments in American history, the pacing will make this only slightly more interesting than reading a textbook. And like most U.S. history textbooks’, the cast is a largely white one.
Slow to develop its promising premise. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-0735-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant romance hindered by some curious choices.
Opposites attract after tragedy strikes.
Autistic white teen David Drucker spends every lunch period eating alone. When Indian-American popular girl Kit Lowell joins him one day she’s just looking for a quiet place to sit. It’s been one month since Kit’s father, a white dentist, died in a terrible car accident, but Kit is still flailing. As the two teens get to know one another and eat lunch together each day, they find themselves bringing out their own best qualities. Slowly but surely, romance blooms. There’s a warmth and ease to their relationship that the author captures effortlessly. Each chapter alternates perspective between Kit and David, and each one is fully rendered. The supporting characters are less well served, particularly Kit’s first-generation-immigrant mother. There are two major complications in Kit’s story, both involving her workaholic mother, and the lack of development defuses some potential fireworks. The central relationship is so charming and engaging that readers will tolerate the adequate tertiary characters. Less tolerable is a late-in-the-game reveal about Dr. Lowell’s accident that shifts the novel’s tone to a down note that juxtaposes poorly with everything that came before. The author pulls out in the final few pages, but it still leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
A pleasant romance hindered by some curious choices. (Romance. 12-16)Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-53568-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
An enjoyable, if predictable, romantic holiday story.
Is an exuberant extended family the cure for a breakup? Sophie is about to find out.
When Sophie unexpectedly breaks up with her boyfriend, she isn’t thrilled about spending the holidays at her grandparents’ house instead of with him. And when her grandmother forms a plan to distract Sophie from her broken heart—10 blind dates, each set up by different family members—she’s even less thrilled. Everyone gets involved with the matchmaking, even forming a betting pool on the success of each date. But will Sophie really find someone to fill the space left by her ex? Will her ex get wind of Sophie’s dating spree via social media and want them to get back together? Is that what she even wants anymore? This is a fun story of finding love, getting to know yourself, and getting to know your family. The pace is quick and light, though the characters are fairly shallow and occasionally feel interchangeable, especially with so many names involved. A Christmas tale, the plot is a fast-paced series of dinners, parties, and games, relayed in both narrative form and via texts, though the humor occasionally feels stiff and overwrought. The ending is satisfying, though largely unsurprising. Most characters default to white as members of Sophie’s Italian American extended family, although one of her cousins has a Filipina mother. One uncle is gay.
An enjoyable, if predictable, romantic holiday story. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-02749-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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