The best kind of tragic love story.
The first summer after Trixie’s death is a hard one for all the families who knew her, especially for her best friend, Lucy, and Trixie’s brother, Ben.
Though they were close when Trixie was alive, now that she’s gone they can’t seem to find a way to be together that doesn’t hurt. So the two white teens try to stay away from each other. But that’s not easy in their small Minnesota town, especially when they both work for the same family at a lakeside resort. Will they ever be able to find their way back to the comfort and love that existed between them before a bad case of survivors’ guilt made everything inescapably sad? Lucy’s cute new neighbor and Ben’s habit of using girls to distract him from his feelings make the situation even more complicated. Biren’s debut novel offers a tender look at a particular moment in the lives of two teens, a moment that feels real and uncontrived. Her book begins after the tragedy, and Biren proves deft at filling in the back story without overshadowing the problems of the present. New friends and young cousins provide some levity and comic relief that work well against the backdrop of raw emotion.
The best kind of tragic love story. (Fiction. 15-18)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2304-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fairly conventional new-adult romance perhaps best suited for die-hard fans.
After a traumatic event cleaves their bond in their early teens, two friends reunite in their early 20s.
Jake and Emerson were childhood BFFs who shared a love of hockey. When Emerson is assaulted in the locker room at age 13, she never plays again. Soon after, Jake suddenly leaves their small town. Seven years later, with a professional hockey contract and unresolved feelings for Em, Jake returns to win her back. Can Em forgive the past and let Jake back into her heart? The story is told in alternating chapters from Jake’s and Emerson’s viewpoints, also switching from the past and present, but their voices sound entirely too similar for the technique to work. True to genre, Jake, with his rugged, athletic looks and determined spirit, is a typical alpha-male archetype who, despite his own melodramas, is able to repeatedly save the day for Emerson. Gray’s secondary characters lack any real development, instead relying on unfortunate stereotypes for plot propulsion. Likewise, the narrative demands that its readers suspend disbelief when it depends on nearly inconceivable and all-too-convenient leaps. However, those willing to overlook the more preposterous plot points should delight in Jake and Em’s building romantic tension and sizzling sex scenes. Those seeking diversity in their romance may want to skip this; Gray’s offering focuses on two white, hetero, cisgender main characters.
A fairly conventional new-adult romance perhaps best suited for die-hard fans. (Romance. 16-adult)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9096-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
An author deftly mines his own experiences as a teacher to create diverse and relatable characters facing their first year...
Four ninth-graders navigate demanding teachers, family conflicts, and new relationships in a debut novel for young teens.
It’s the first day of school for four ninth-graders. Introvert Luke dreads it. Cocky athlete Marcus can’t wait to make his mark in a football game. Well-to-do Elly and hardworking Mia are eager to excel. The lives of the teens intersect in first period Honors English, and as the year progresses, all four narrate their own journeys through the highs and lows of teachers, family, friendships, and dates. Elly, a white girl, fears that she’ll never have a boyfriend because she thinks she’s “chubby.” When a first, clandestine date ends in a sloppy kiss, she worries she’ll never find real romance. Luke, also white, has internalized the low expectations of those who see only his poverty and dysfunctional family. His English teacher recognizes his potential; a science instructor makes him a target of ridicule. (Ingram, a high school English teacher, doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that some instructors don’t belong in the profession.) Black teen Marcus, from a well-off family, is used to being admired on and off the football field and doesn’t understand why his self-absorption is a turnoff. Mia, a second-generation Mexican-American, has faced prejudice and is determined to prove “I belong here.” A sweetly blossoming relationship between Luke, whose father is a bigot, and Mia, whose dad distrusts whites, seems destined to make them the Romeo and Juliet of the group. Ingram approaches this territory with a knowing and sympathetic eye, giving each teen an authentic voice expressed in a lively flow of alternating, journal-style chapters. (At one point Marcus muses: “I can’t believe Joshua’s attitude, it’s like he’s given up on pro football. It seems like everybody I was around last week had a negative attitude.”) For gritty content, readers should look elsewhere—no sex, drugs, or binge-drinking here. But these teens’ everyday interactions, doubts, and triumphs ring true, and readers should want to find out what happens to them next in Ingram’s upcoming second novel, Tenth Grade Angst.
An author deftly mines his own experiences as a teacher to create diverse and relatable characters facing their first year in high school.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-944962-34-0
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Secant Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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