An experimental story that teaches young readers that love takes courage.
Lucy “Lu” Butler is in heart-wrenching, agonizing love.
Lu believes there are only two kinds of love: “Never-Ending Pending Love” and “Happily Never After,” and she assumes that both end in heartbreak. Lu first pines for her English teacher, Ms. Hayes, but after a high-stakes chance encounter in the bathroom with her former best friend, Evelyn “Eve” Brooks, Lu’s feelings shift. Unfortunately, Miss Popular Eve is dating the school’s universally beloved Nate Gray, and Lu doesn’t know how to own and accept her sexuality let alone pursue a former friend. Lu’s senior year brings heartache, loss, and complication: an aging grandmother, an absent mother, an overworked father who spends more hours performing trauma surgery than at home, conflicts with her sister, and growing doubts about her long-held assumption that she’ll grow up to be a doctor too. Although Bonneau’s debut novel offers an unconventional lesbian romance and is narrated in original language, the confluence of young adult tropes feels slightly derivative: stress around prom, using drugs to escape, pining lust, and insurmountable familial conflict—none of which is explored in sufficient depth. The prose is highly stylized and evokes the mid-20th century: cigarettes are “tars,” friends are “apple-Jacks,” and girls are “betties.” The onslaught of invented slang is ultimately disorienting, distracting readers from the heart of the novel—a tender, queer coming-of-age story. All characters are assumed white.
An experimental story that teaches young readers that love takes courage. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 21, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-17093-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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