Ninth-grader Coy doesn’t feel comfortable in his own skin. Neither does his best friend, Monroe.
Drawn together by their shared outsider status and a mutual love of 1980s pop culture, the two white teens help each other through the day-to-day craziness of middle school. Coy’s father died years ago, and his mother has been institutionalized for six months, leaving Coy to live somewhat awkwardly with his stepfather. The nickel in Monroe’s braces have given her a rash around her mouth, which spreads to become a life-threatening medical condition, throwing narrator Coy for a loop. Coy’s insecurities compel him to ridicule others, and it’s easy to trip over the slurs that come so easily to him, mostly variations on gay jokes: “It sounded so ghey I wanted to die,” “Fifty Shades of Ghey,” among dozens. Coy himself is a stereotype of a nerdy white boy who mindlessly disrespects others, from an Asian receptionist (“whatever the hell brand of Chinese or Vulcan she was speaking”) to the home-schooled (“They’re like the Amish, only even less deodorant”). While the story contains a lot of humor, it comes at a cost, as the hefty amount of teen slang threatens to overwhelm the plot. Still, Coy is a likable narrator who wears his vulnerability on his sleeve for readers to see. A witty, angst-filled drama that succeeds in spite of its flaws. (Fiction. 13-17)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9970207-0-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Leaf Storm Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
An emotional debut that celebrates the joy that comes from healing.
Two teens’ summer romance gets complicated by a long-kept family secret.
Jupiter Moon Ray Evans’ parents were in a car accident the day she was born—her father died, and her mom suddenly became both a widow and a mother. Ray is named after the dad she never knew, and his absence is a tangible part of her family. She hates that her birthday can never just be about her, but this year her best friend from boarding school is coming to Memphis, and they are celebrating at the roller rink, the one place Ray can get lost in her own world. While skating she meets Orion, and for both of them, it is love at first sight. Orion is also missing a piece of his family: Almost 10 years ago his little sister was hit and killed by a bus, and his happy family was destroyed. Orion finds a feeling of peace in swimming, which helps with his sensory processing disorder as well as providing an escape from his dad’s grief. Although the two Black teens will be in different states in the fall, they tentatively pursue a relationship. However, when a family secret that links them is revealed, they must decide if they can ever be anything to one another. Through a blend of prose and found poetry, this quiet novel thoughtfully explores the impact of absence on love.
An emotional debut that celebrates the joy that comes from healing. (Fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-42925-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Tackles deep subjects but misses the mark.
A complicated story of family dysfunction blended with a frothy romance.
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Schwartz’s drive masks the intense anxiety she’s carried since finding her beloved older brother dead six years ago. Her parents never mention Logan; her 5-year-old twin brothers don’t even know he existed. But on a family cruise, carefree Jules—an old summer camp friend who happens to be there too—tempts Olivia to put aside the science fair research that could get her a prestigious internship with a surgeon, drink alcohol to ease her social awkwardness (consider it “a trial run” for college parties, Jules says), and go after sexy fellow passenger Sebastian. Olivia’s deep repression starts to ease as she tries a more relaxed teen life for the first time, but when she opens up about Logan, Sebastian and Jules keep saying things about him that bother her, leading to an explosive revelation that shakes up Olivia’s understanding of her family. Wooden characters serve only to reflect and refract Olivia’s story, and the thin plot contrivances are distracting. The thematic disconnect is troubling: This is both a book in which addiction is a leitmotif and also one in which problematic drinking is normalized, as Olivia repeatedly asks for Jules’ flask to ease her emotional distress. Olivia is Jewish, and most characters read White; Jules is cued East Asian, and there is some diversity in race and sexuality in the supporting cast.
Tackles deep subjects but misses the mark. (Fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9780063230996
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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