A fast-paced Canadian reluctant reader series that spends too much time in the darkness.
When Sasha’s computer hacking reveals compromising information about the Russian president, her government minister father sends the Russian teen and her mother to Canada until things cool down—but trouble soon finds her in her new home.
The CREW, outwardly a popular all-girl do-gooder group, seems like the exact thing Sasha needs to turn her life around. But she quickly realizes that the gang is about making money, not giving it out. Schemes include scamming nursing home residents out of their bank information, entrapping pedophiles with seminaked photos, and creating a fake animal rights foundation. Martha, the leader, blackmails Sasha to keep her in line, forcing her to decide how far she’s willing to go to meet the group’s increasingly extreme demands. In Epic Fail, by Cristy Watson (Dead to Me, 2016, etc.), white teen Jared fails to warn his friend Kenzie about his brother and his violent friends. Her rape and subsequent torment continue to haunt him. In Saving Grad, by Karen Spafford-Fitz (Vanish, 2013, etc.), 17-year-old Vienna, who has some Métis heritage, takes advantage of her stepfather’s brief hospitalization to escape his domestic violence and get herself and her mother to safety. Sixteen-year-old Kanika, who is black, is abducted, gang-raped, and forced into prostitution in Ride or Die, by Wanda Lauren Taylor. The endings of these gritty books are, at best, mixed. Unfortunately, while the stories themselves are compelling, most end on notes of uncertainty that don’t indicate that any real healing took place or that perpetrators were fully held to account. In addition to the diverse protagonists, many secondary characters also bring diversity to the series, including a Chinese-Canadian adoptee, a gay high school student, and a young woman who uses a wheelchair.
A fast-paced Canadian reluctant reader series that spends too much time in the darkness. (Fiction. 16-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4594-1288-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: James Lorimer
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
An unflinching portrayal of the devastating effects of domestic violence.
After a horrific domestic violence incident, Zoey Ward and her family finally find their footing in Las Vegas only to have their lives overturned by a house fire.
Learning that her father has been recently released from prison, Zoey suspects he had something to do with the blaze. After their lives go up in flames, literally, Zoey along with her mom and her younger siblings, Kate and Cole, flee Las Vegas with the help of her older brother, Will, and his best friend, Tristan. They take refuge in California, where Tristan and his sister welcome them into a world where things seem hopeful and more stable than anything they have ever known. Yet the fear of being hunted down by her father consumes Zoey. The story is narrated from Zoey’s and Tristan’s first-person perspectives, and Gray (Run Away With Me, 2017, etc.) has masterfully captured the uncertainty and terror that come from domestic violence. Tristan and Zoey share a budding romance in which Zoey slowly but surely learns to love and be loved in a nondestructive, healthy way despite her fears and reservations. With everything she has been through, Zoey is the underdog readers will find themselves rooting for. Gray spares no detail in this intense tale. All characters are assumed to be white; Tristan is dyslexic, and there are several queer characters.
An unflinching portrayal of the devastating effects of domestic violence. (Fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4281-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
A sweet, slow-paced novel about a teen learning to love her body.
Greer Walsh wishes she were one person...unfortunately, with her large breasts, she feels like she’s actually three.
High school sophomore and math whiz Greer is self-conscious about her body. Maude and Mavis, as she’s named her large breasts, are causing problems for her. When Greer meets new kid Jackson Oates, she wishes even more that she had a body that she didn’t feel a need to hide underneath XXL T-shirts. While trying to impress Jackson, who has moved to the Chicago suburbs from Cleveland, Greer decides to try out for her school’s volleyball team. When she makes JV, Greer is forced to come to terms with how her body looks and feels in a uniform and in motion as well as with being physically close with her teammates. The story is told in the first person from Greer’s point of view. Inconsistent storytelling as well as Greer’s (somewhat distracting) personified inner butterfly make this realistic novel a slow but overall enjoyable read. The story contains elements of light romance as well as strong female friendships. Greer is white with a Christian mom and Jewish dad; Jackson seems to be white by default, and there is diversity among the secondary characters.
A sweet, slow-paced novel about a teen learning to love her body. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-1524-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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