The frank depiction of female teenage sexuality elevates this series entry.
An Olympic-caliber swimmer seeks gold in romance in the latest of Kenneally’s interconnected Hundred Oaks series.
As a teenage swimmer who’s trying desperately to make the cut for the Olympic trials, Maggie’s life is swim, eat, sleep, repeat. The white high school senior’s only break is Friday nights at Jiffy Burger with her friends, including her childhood friend and teammate Levi, also white. Due to swimming, she’s missed a lot of high school experiences—something she feels very keenly when she visits Berkeley, where she will be going in the fall. Her primary swim rival, a white girl with a nose stud named Roxy, is also going to Berkeley, and it seems that Roxy has had plenty of time for romance, unlike Maggie. So she resolves to learn how to make out with a guy before starting college…and who better to teach her than her best friend? After a little coaxing, Levi agrees to show her what to do. As Maggie struggles to both beat Roxy and make the cut for the trials, what was only physical with Levi starts to become something more. Maggie’s present-tense narration is rich with the details of elite student athletics, and she is cleareyed in her exploration of her sexuality, including a look at college hookup culture that manages to be very funny.
The frank depiction of female teenage sexuality elevates this series entry. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: July 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3011-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing.
For the second time in her life, Leo must choose between her family and true love.
Nineteen-year-old Princess Leonie Kolburg’s royal family is bankrupt. In order to salvage the fortune they accrued before humans fled the frozen Earth 170 years ago, Leonie’s father is forcing her to participate in the Valg Season, an elaborate set of matchmaking events held to facilitate the marriages of rich and royal teens. Leo grudgingly joins in even though she has other ideas: She’s invented a water filtration system that, if patented, could provide a steady income—that is if Leo’s calculating Aunt Freja, the Captain of the ship hosting the festivities, stops blocking her at every turn. Just as Leo is about to give up hope, her long-lost love, Elliot, suddenly appears onboard three years after Leo’s family forced her to break off their engagement. Donne (Brightly Burning, 2018) returns to space, this time examining the fascinatingly twisted world of the rich and famous. Leo and her peers are nuanced, deeply felt, and diverse in terms of sexuality but not race, which may be a function of the realities of wealth and power. The plot is fast paced although somewhat uneven: Most of the action resolves in the last quarter of the book, which makes the resolutions to drawn-out conflicts feel rushed.
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing. (Science fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-94894-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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