A sweet high school sports romance whose engaging leads will draw readers in.
High school juniors Lacey Kerr and Vaughn Collins seemingly couldn’t be more different, but when romance blossoms, they must decide what’s most important to them.
Lacey is the ever-optimistic cheer captain who’s trying to finish her late mom’s bucket list as a way of connecting with her. Vaughn is the serious, brooding captain of the soccer team who’s obsessed with making it to the state championships. When Vaughn fails an algebra test, his coach, who’s also his famous soccer star dad, benches him until he can get his grades up. Lacey resents Vaughn for the way he dumped her best friend, Claire, but she reluctantly agrees to tutor him for the sake of the team’s success. The last thing the white-presenting duo expect is to fall in love, but their attraction builds as they discover their hidden similarities. Jenshak authentically portrays the struggles of balancing a relationship with academics, athletics, and parental expectations and commitments. The dynamic characterization and adorable romance are the story’s highlights, but the fast-paced soccer scenes boost the pace. Vaughn, in particular, shows genuine growth. This dual-perspective novel works as a stand-alone, but fans of the series’ opener, Stealing for Keeps (2024), will be delighted by glimpses into the ongoing relationship between Claire and Austin, the leads of the earlier story.
A sweet high school sports romance whose engaging leads will draw readers in. (high school bucket list, reading group guide) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9781464230646
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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 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
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