Some heavy-handedness, but the awesome ending thrills with potential.
With a beginning and ending that pack hefty punches, this introduction to a dystopic future promises an exciting series.
Tally is almost 16 and breathlessly eager: On her birthday, like everyone else, she’ll undergo extensive surgery to become a Pretty. She’s only known life as an Ugly (everyone’s considered hideous before surgery), whereas after she “turns,” she’ll have the huge eyes, perfect skin, and new bone structure that biology and evolution have determined to be objectively beautiful. New Pretties party all day long. But when friend Shay escapes to join a possibly mythical band of outsiders avoiding surgery, Tally follows—not from choice but because the secret police force her. Tally inflicts betrayal after betrayal, which dominates the theme for the midsection; by the end, the nature of this dystopia is front and center and Tally—trying to set things right—takes a stunning leap of faith.
Some heavy-handedness, but the awesome ending thrills with potential. (Science fiction. YA)Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-86538-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2005
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Highlights with painful honesty the process of moving forward following trauma.
In this follow-up to 2016’s The Way I Used To Be, a high school senior comes to understand that surviving rape is only the first part; what comes next is hard, too.
Eden is learning how to live after coming forward and publicly naming her rapist following three years of self-loathing and destructive behavior. In counseling, she’s working to understand who she is now, while also maintaining relationships with friends who don’t know what happened and family members who are dealing with guilt and anger in their own ways. Others’ reactions often leave Eden feeling like her honesty was more burdensome than helpful. She awaits the trial and reconnects with Josh, the boy she loved even when she couldn’t love herself and the only person outside her family who knew the truth. While Eden and Josh want love to be enough, both come with emotional baggage that must be dealt with before they can truly give themselves to each other. This emotional story about learning to take back control explores the fraught journey back to self for survivors and those who love them most. It is well paced and well executed and effectively shows how the legal system can make victims feel pressured and lonely. Readers need to be familiar with the first volume to fully understand this one. Main characters are cued white.
Highlights with painful honesty the process of moving forward following trauma. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781665947107
Page Count: 432
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet romance of introspection and renewal.
Two rival hockey players in Pennsylvania learn from each other—on and off the field.
Evelyn Feltzer, a white-presenting 17-year-old field hockey captain and goalie at Heathclef Prep, has a plan: Get a sports scholarship to attend Duke University (where she’d be a legacy student) and then go on to play professionally, fulfilling a promise she made to her late mother. There’s one thing standing in the way, though—her academic record isn’t stellar; but she’s eligible for a scholarship if her team wins the high school nationals. The situation intensifies when Heathclef’s rival, the Van Darian girls’ boarding school, brings in a new forward, a professional recruit from New Mexico named Rosa Alvarez. Beautiful, agile Rosa, who’s Chicana, distracts Evelyn so completely that Van Darian wins the homecoming game, putting Heathclef’s position in peril and devastating Evelyn. After Van Darian fans trash Heathclef’s playing field, Evelyn confronts Rosa—but the girls end up practicing together, forming a friendship that leads to romance. Evelyn begins to question whether fulfilling the promise to her mother is her only path forward. The story’s exploration of identity throughout is refreshing and realistic. The girls delve into their budding relationship, helping each other distinguish their true selves from the expectations they face. As Rosa observes, “You don’t have to be anything…Just follow your heart and be open to whatever.”
A sweet romance of introspection and renewal. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593898451
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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