Insightful and emotionally resonant.
When 17-year-old Francine Zhang overhears her dying grandfather expressing regret at not having any direct male descendants, she comes up with The Plan: find a boy to be A Gūng’s (fake) honorary heir.
Classmate Ollie Tran is the perfect candidate: Like Francine, he’s Chinese Vietnamese American; he speaks enough Cantonese to chat with A Gūng; and their families have known each other since before they came to the U.S. It makes sense that he’d follow the old custom of assuming the role of male heir for a family that needs one to look after their ancestors. Ollie has no desire to get involved, however. He knows how devoted Francine is to her family but has kept his distance ever since an awkward incident in middle school. Ollie also has his own problem: His strategy of exerting the least amount of effort at school to produce decent results means he has little to show for extracurricular activities. With Francine’s help, Ollie joins the Multicultural Club, where he’s asked to host a booth at their annual fundraising event and showcase his family history, about which he knows little. Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, this story highlights the interweaving of family and tradition and how this impacts ways love is demonstrated. Francine and Ollie are appealing and three-dimensional characters with opposite personalities that turn out to be unexpectedly complementary when they team up to figure out solutions to each of their challenges.
Insightful and emotionally resonant. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780063038424
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A worthy second-chance romance.
In this follow-up to 2021’s Better Than the Movies, a 20-year-old college freshman gets a second chance at his dreams.
After the death of his father and his mother’s subsequent physical and emotional disappearance, Wes Bennett left behind all of his plans and the girl he made them with to go home and take care of Sarah, his younger sister. But now, Sarah has graduated, his mom is back on her feet, and by some miracle, Wes has an offer to pitch for UCLA’s baseball team. Liz Buxbaum, the girl he’s always loved, works for the university’s athletic department, taking photos and video of the team for social media, which means that maybe he can have a second chance at love, too. But since Wes left, Liz has made every effort to protect herself from ever feeling that broken again; there’s no room for love, because she doesn’t believe in it anymore. Or she doesn’t want to. This second-chance sports romance includes fake dates, quippy and quirky best friends, real heartache, and the sweet ache of first love. The clever dialogue keeps readers from drowning in the main characters’ emotional push-and-pull. Reading the first novel isn’t necessary for appreciating this one, although knowing the full history between Wes and Liz will only add to the ache and longing readers feel from and for them. Main characters are cued white.
A worthy second-chance romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665947138
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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