Potentially weighty explorations of relationships and responsibility are managed with a light touch in this pleasant romance.
A challenge unlike any she has experienced before awaits Jade this summer—staying in one place long enough to possibly fall in love.
Jade is the quintessential contemporary white hipster—vegan, independent, and just the right amount of nerdy. Her 17 years have been spent on the road while her mom’s successful rock band tours the globe. Rather than going to the same school with the same people, Jade has been home-schooled, exploring new cities and constantly making new friends. All that changes when Jade decides to stay in California with her aunt for a summer. To her mother she frames the decision as an opportunity to experience normal teen life, but her ulterior motive is to track down the father she’s never met. She is responsible, quietly confident, and accustomed to freedom; meeting gorgeous and slightly mysterious Quentin, who is also white, leaves the typically unflappable Jade flustered. As the two enjoy a protracted and playful summer flirtation, Jade can’t shake the feeling that there is something that Quentin isn’t telling her. Ancillary to the love drama are several subplots about family relationships, particularly fathers and daughters. Jade and Quentin are empathetic and enjoyable characters. Though their burgeoning relationship is the central story, Jade’s close connection with her unwaveringly supportive mother is perhaps the more interesting.
Potentially weighty explorations of relationships and responsibility are managed with a light touch in this pleasant romance. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-553-49881-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Several yards short of a touchdown.
A transgender boy starting over at a new school falls hard for a popular cheerleader with a reputation to protect in this debut.
On the first day of senior year, transgender boy Pony locks eyes with cisgender cheerleader Georgia. They both have pasts they want to leave behind. No one at Hillcrest High knows that Pony is transgender, and he intends to keep it that way. Georgia’s last boyfriend shook her trust in boys, and now she’s determined to forget him. As mutual attraction draws them together, Pony and Georgia must decide what they are willing to risk for a relationship. Pony’s best friend, Max, who is also transgender, disapproves of Pony’s choice to live stealth; this disagreement leads to serious conflict in their relationship. Meanwhile, Georgia and Pony behave as if Pony’s trans identity was a secret he was lying to her about rather than private information for him to share of his own volition. The characters only arrive at a hopeful resolution after Pony pays high physical and emotional prices. McSmith places repeated emphasis on the born-in-the-wrong-body narrative when the characters discuss trans identities. Whiteness is situated as the norm, and all main characters are white.
Several yards short of a touchdown. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-294317-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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