A potentially STEAM-y romance, but the code could use some debugging.
To escape her small town and attend a prestigious summer tech program, a Chinese American teen switches coasts.
In Chinook Shore, Oregon, Charise Tang’s life is at a standstill. Her stepfather has taken her savings, her white sort-of boyfriend persists in making microaggressive comments, and even Zach Torres, the valedictorian who escaped the town and its limited opportunities, has returned, on academic probation from Vanderbilt. After being accepted into an all-expenses-paid summer program at MIT for “the next generation of tech leaders,” Char tries to leave without telling her family. When she’s caught, her stepfather, a white Iraq War veteran, declares that she’s never allowed to return. In Cambridge, she has a quintessential meet-cute involving spilled coffee with Khoi Astor, a Vietnamese American boy who happens to be in the same program. Khoi and Char team up for the program’s hackathon, both hoping that the prize will provide Char with the financial safety net she desperately needs. Despite the sweet blossoming romance, the couple’s dynamic often feels imbalanced: Khoi feels overly perfect, while Char’s acerbic and bitter tone can become tiring. Khoi’s epilepsy mostly serves as a plot device. However, through Char’s Chinese immigrant mother and Khoi’s Vietnamese parents (one a refugee and one a transracial adoptee) the narrative effectively conveys the isolation experienced by many immigrants.
A potentially STEAM-y romance, but the code could use some debugging. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781534488519
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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 worthy second-chance romance.
In this follow-up to 2021’s Better Than the Movies, a 20-year-old college freshman gets a second chance at his dreams.
After the death of his father and his mother’s subsequent physical and emotional disappearance, Wes Bennett left behind all of his plans and the girl he made them with to go home and take care of Sarah, his younger sister. But now, Sarah has graduated, his mom is back on her feet, and by some miracle, Wes has an offer to pitch for UCLA’s baseball team. Liz Buxbaum, the girl he’s always loved, works for the university’s athletic department, taking photos and video of the team for social media, which means that maybe he can have a second chance at love, too. But since Wes left, Liz has made every effort to protect herself from ever feeling that broken again; there’s no room for love, because she doesn’t believe in it anymore. Or she doesn’t want to. This second-chance sports romance includes fake dates, quippy and quirky best friends, real heartache, and the sweet ache of first love. The clever dialogue keeps readers from drowning in the main characters’ emotional push-and-pull. Reading the first novel isn’t necessary for appreciating this one, although knowing the full history between Wes and Liz will only add to the ache and longing readers feel from and for them. Main characters are cued white.
A worthy second-chance romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665947138
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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