An entertaining teen romance with a problematic approach to consent.
Alice Dyson has spent her high school career perfecting the art of invisibility—until the day she unexpectedly befriends Teddy Taualai, and suddenly she’s all anyone can talk about.
A studious loner living under immense pressure from her mother’s unrealistic expectations, Alice avoids everyone except her best friend, May, whom she’s known since kindergarten. But then Teddy inserts himself into her life, and Alice finds herself opening up in ways she never has before, including romantically. Alice isn’t the only one changing: After years on the sidelines, May craves popularity and begins to act in ways Alice can’t understand. As Alice grows closer to Teddy and drifts away from May, she must make choices about who her friends are—and about the kind of friend she wants to be. Alice’s voice is charmingly open, honest, and kind, and her loyalty to her friends combined with her deep insecurity render her character fascinatingly layered. At times, Teddy’s pushiness feels toxic, and Alice’s willingness to return to him seems both unhealthy and out of character. While her relationships with May and Teddy are complex, Alice’s relationship with her parents is barely explored, leading to an ending that feels too tidy to be believable. Other than Teddy, whose name and dark skin may cue him as Samoan, most of the characters in the book are White.
An entertaining teen romance with a problematic approach to consent. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1478-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance.
A Connecticut girl and her best friend devise a series of plans in order to achieve their goals: following a dream and winning back an ex.
Eighteen-year-old Audrey Barbour has a Master Plan: attend Blue Ridge Glass School in North Carolina and someday turn her Etsy shop, Golightly Glass, into a thriving business. But her uber-wealthy parents insist that she instead follow in their footsteps and go to business school. So Audrey decides to go find the tuition money she needs with help from her best friend, Henry Chen. Henry needs a favor, too: He hopes that fake dating Audrey will help him win back his ex-girlfriend, and he points out to a reluctant Audrey that this could make her crush, Griffin, notice her. While Audrey’s parents vacation in France for three weeks, the pair rent out the Barbour mansion on the Long Island Sound. Soon romantic chemistry grows alongside their business partnership. Despite the pair’s great preparation and an abundance of secondary characters with connections and talents to help pull off their increasingly ambitious ideas, plans go awry, leaving Audrey and Henry scrambling and second-guessing their choices. The pacing is even, but the characters often take a back seat to the whirlwind of activity that drives the plot, with the emphasis falling on each person’s practical skills and their role in keeping the action moving over their emotional bonds. Audrey is white, and Henry’s surname cues him as Chinese American.
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593904794
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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