A well-balanced drama with plenty of heart.
In Tipper’s YA novel, a 14-year-old American girl on a trip to Greece is determined to make her big-time plans a reality—even if her mom and grandmother don’t approve.
After moving into a new, smaller house in New Canaan, Connecticut, with her family, Kat Baker has plans to train with her high school’s cross-country track team, become its star runner, and make the captain of the boys’ team, Mike Doherty, fall head over heels for her. But before her plans can come together, Kat’s mother whisks her and her younger brother to Greece to visit their grandmother, Yiayiá Sofia, with plans to stay for the whole summer. Kat’s arrival in the sleepy town of Paralia doesn’t bode well; the heat is oppressive, for one thing, and she can barely communicate with her Greek relatives, as she doesn’t speak their language. Kat decides on her first jet-lagged night awake to continue her cross-country training on local mountain roads, among other places. She runs along the Greek coast in the wee hours of the morning and discovers that the area has many facets; she encounters busy fishing harbors, men with misconceptions about American girls, and a single, attractive Greek teenager with his own dreams. Gradually, Kat comes to terms with her Greek American identity and learns to march proudly to the beat of her own drum. Tipper’s debut novel is imbued with classic and appealing coming-of-age story elements. As a protagonist, Kat is shown to be headstrong, sharp, and brave: “By the time she got back to New Canaan, she’d have trained harder than anyone on the team. Because by the end of the summer, she was going to be able to run to the top of this mountain.” Her life in Greece quickly becomes intriguingly messy; her interactions with family members who don’t quite understand her are fraught, and her encounters with certain strangers in the novel are palpably tense. But Kat’s adventures also include pleasant encounters, including a sweet friendship with her 12-year-old cousin, Yeorgia,and a finely calibrated first romance with young fisherman and aspiring artist, Theofilus.
A well-balanced drama with plenty of heart.Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781684633067
Page Count: 248
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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