A sweet, escapist romance that stumbles due to some inconsistencies.
A 17-year-old Black American girl is determined to have the best love-free semester in Paris possible with the help of her extensive bucket list and a grudging tour guide.
Aspiring triple threat Whitney Curry is finally living her dreams in Paris. Despite the city’s reputation for romance, she’s determined to eschew love in favor of sightseeing and doing research for her senior thesis, a one-woman play about the life of her idol, Josephine Baker. But the perfect start she imagined is immediately derailed. Whitney alienates her roommates, Belgian Nora and Swiss Sophie, clashes with her (unfairly) handsome and grumpy French tutor, Thierry, and finds her classes more intimidating than expected. So when Thierry rescues her from a sticky situation, Whitney sees her chance to salvage her semester with a deal: If he guides her around Paris, she’ll write the good tutoring review he needs to end his suspension from his soccer team. The added bonus? His grumpiness will make it easy to keep him at arm’s length—or so she thinks. Whitney and Thierry are easy to root for: Their romance is sweet, and the story is suitably escapist, reminiscent of ’90s rom-coms. But the imbalance in time devoted to their relationship versus Whitney’s project, combined with various underdeveloped themes, all results in a final act that feels rushed, confusing, and unearned. Several main characters are Black, including Thierry; Sophie is implied to be queer.
A sweet, escapist romance that stumbles due to some inconsistencies. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780593571545
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Joy Revolution
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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 heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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