No new literary ground is broken here, but readers seeking a sweet story of first love will sigh appreciatively.
Love blossoms between a summer boy and a local girl in a chaste romance set on the foggy coast of Maine.
Goofy out-of-towner Oliver sweeps the virginal, insecure Mandy off her feet with his warm smile and sketch pad. What follows is a whirlwind of blueberry hand pies, stolen kisses, and crafty high jinks to save the local lighthouse. Dalton's light prose sidesteps the current vogue for overwrought darkness in teen fiction; the only shadow cast on the romance is the inevitability of summer’s end, and the dramatic tension in their innocent attachment centers on Oliver’s wish for Mandy to find her voice and use it. Employing simple tropes—the misunderstood loner, the anxious-harridan mom, the beauty-queen best friend—Dalton imparts simple wisdom about being true to oneself and seeing beyond surface impressions of other people. The mildness of the story harkens back to an earlier era of teen romance, belying the ubiquity of cellphones and Internet connections. Readers titillated by the butt-groping clinch on the front cover may well be disappointed by the innocence within.
No new literary ground is broken here, but readers seeking a sweet story of first love will sigh appreciatively. (Romance. 11-14)Pub Date: May 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3609-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
This conclusion to the trilogy that began with Declaration (2007) carries two simple lessons: “Richard Pincent was the most evil man in the whole world” and “a world full of old people completely sucked.” The immortality drug Longevity might no longer be working. Though the dastardly Richard Pincent, owner of Longevity, spreads wild tales about Underground terrorists poisoning the Longevity supply, teenage revolutionaries (and Richard’s grandsons) Peter and Jude know it’s not true. But certainly something is killing Legal people, despite the drug that should be keeping them safe in their placid, middle-class boredom. Perhaps they rely too much on wicked medicine and not enough on Nature’s own beautiful circle of life? Peter and Jude frantically attempt to prove their heroism, but events are far beyond their control. Ironically, it’s not the young heroes but the generation of those who “outstay their welcome” who will bring about the new Eden: a nearly depopulated, post-pandemic, technophobic farming world. Any subtlety the earlier books may have enjoyed is lost in what is now a straightforward thriller. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59990-567-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
This suspenseful tale of two young women on their own in modern Afghanistan makes riveting reading. Having spent most of her 14 years in England, bookish Yasmine chafes at the restrictions forced on her when her idealistic, university-educated parents bring her to a secluded village. Though Yasmine does meet Tamanna, a friendly young neighbor, she is confined to the house and, until Taliban ruffians arrive to shut it down, a newly built school. Then both of Yasmine’s parents are shot in a drive-by and evacuated to Kandahar, leaving her—and Tamanna, whose brutal uncle has tried and failed to sell her into marriage—in serious danger. They resolve on a desperate stratagem, slipping away not toward Kandahar as their pursuers would expect, but cross country to the Pakistan border. Well stocked with credible cultural detail and enhanced by black-and-white chapter-head photos, their high-tension odyssey leads to a violent climax and an aftermath marked by surprising twists. Readers will be caught up—though it's so misanthropic that many will wonder how anyone, especially women, could tolerate living in that country. (glossary, timeline) (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55451-267-6
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
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