A charming and delightful romance with dynamic characters.
An academically driven high school student discovers a new perspective on life—and a chance at love—when she signs up for dance lessons in this YA novel.
For Lily Bailey, the high school experience is all about preparing for the future. A senior at Brighton High in Texas, she plans to become class valedictorian, then attend Harvard University, her parents’ alma mater. When the pressure of trying to maintain a perfect academic record lands her in the hospital for stress, her father, Steven, decides she needs to spend her Saturdays focused on an activity other than studying. She signs up for dance lessons at Ilusiòn, a studio run by the mother of classmate and star football player Ágoston “Stone” Torres. After Stone helps Lily with her first salsa lesson, her father offers the athlete a substantial amount of money to be her partner at the studio and convince her to keep taking lessons. Stone is conflicted; he does not want to lie to Lily or his mother, but the studio is struggling financially, and he could use the money to help keep it open. As the lessons continue, an attraction develops between Stone and Lily. She attends his football games and enjoys a life outside of school. They soon fall in love; but the weight of Stone’s secret could jeopardize their relationship. Harris’ (The Nanny Arrangement, 2017, etc.) romance is a warmhearted, breezy treat bolstered by strong characters, an engaging and multilayered story, and sharp writing. Lily and Stone are winsome protagonists who initially seem to have little in common. As their relationship develops, they discover they share similar experiences. Lily’s mother died of cancer while Stone’s sister, Angéla, survived a battle with the disease. The chapters alternate between Lily’s and Stone’s first-person perspectives, an approach that allows the author to explore their romance and their relationships with their parents, particularly Lily’s bond with her father. Her mother’s death was difficult for them, and Lily discovers a new connection to her through the dance lessons. The compulsively readable narrative is crisp and incisive, with flashes of wit. For example, when describing her dancing ability, Lily says: “I have zero rhythm. Like, think of your favorite dancer, subtract every ounce of talent they have…take a little more, and then you’ll have me.” This tale may appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen.
A charming and delightful romance with dynamic characters.Pub Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-526-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.
In this YA graphic novel, an alienated Métis girl learns about her people’s Canadian history.
Métis teenager Echo Desjardins finds herself living in a home away from her mother, attending a new school, and feeling completely lonely as a result. She daydreams in class and wanders the halls listening to a playlist of her mother’s old CDs. At home, she shuts herself up in her room. But when her history teacher begins to lecture about the Pemmican Wars of early 1800s Saskatchewan, Echo finds herself swept back to that time. She sees the Métis people following the bison with their mobile hunting camp, turning the animals’ meat into pemmican, which they sell to the Northwest Company in order to buy supplies for the winter. Echo meets a young girl named Marie, who introduces Echo to the rhythms of Métis life. She finally understands what her Métis heritage actually means. But the joys are short-lived, as conflicts between the Métis and their rivals in the Hudson Bay Company come to a bloody head. The tragic history of her people will help explain the difficulties of the Métis in Echo’s own time, including those of her mother and the teen herself. Accompanied by dazzling art by Henderson (A Blanket of Butterflies, 2017, etc.) and colorist Yaciuk (Fire Starters, 2016, etc.), this tale is a brilliant bit of time travel. Readers are swept back to 19th-century Saskatchewan as fully as Echo herself. Vermette’s (The Break, 2017, etc.) dialogue is sparse, offering a mostly visual, deeply contemplative juxtaposition of the present and the past. Echo’s eventual encounter with her mother (whose fate has been kept from readers up to that point) offers a powerful moment of connection that is both unexpected and affecting. “Are you…proud to be Métis?” Echo asks her, forcing her mother to admit, sheepishly: “I don’t really know much about it.” With this series opener, the author provides a bit more insight into what that means.
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-55379-678-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HighWater Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Aspiring filmmaker/first-novelist Chbosky adds an upbeat ending to a tale of teenaged angst—the right combination of realism and uplift to allow it on high school reading lists, though some might object to the sexuality, drinking, and dope-smoking. More sophisticated readers might object to the rip-off of Salinger, though Chbosky pays homage by having his protagonist read Catcher in the Rye. Like Holden, Charlie oozes sincerity, rails against celebrity phoniness, and feels an extraliterary bond with his favorite writers (Harper Lee, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Ayn Rand, etc.). But Charlie’s no rich kid: the third child in a middle-class family, he attends public school in western Pennsylvania, has an older brother who plays football at Penn State, and an older sister who worries about boys a lot. An epistolary novel addressed to an anonymous “friend,” Charlie’s letters cover his first year in high school, a time haunted by the recent suicide of his best friend. Always quick to shed tears, Charlie also feels guilty about the death of his Aunt Helen, a troubled woman who lived with Charlie’s family at the time of her fatal car wreck. Though he begins as a friendless observer, Charlie is soon pals with seniors Patrick and Sam (for Samantha), stepsiblings who include Charlie in their circle, where he smokes pot for the first time, drops acid, and falls madly in love with the inaccessible Sam. His first relationship ends miserably because Charlie remains compulsively honest, though he proves a loyal friend (to Patrick when he’s gay-bashed) and brother (when his sister needs an abortion). Depressed when all his friends prepare for college, Charlie has a catatonic breakdown, which resolves itself neatly and reveals a long-repressed truth about Aunt Helen. A plain-written narrative suggesting that passivity, and thinking too much, lead to confusion and anxiety. Perhaps the folks at (co-publisher) MTV see the synergy here with Daria or any number of videos by the sensitive singer-songwriters they feature.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 1999
ISBN: 0-671-02734-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: MTV Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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