No romance here, but copious ballet details and hard-won steps toward independence.
This verse novel debut follows a reticent Vermont girl through a scholarship-funded year at the elite Jersey Ballet school.
Sara’s always been the best dancer in the neighborhood teacher’s basement classes. The summer before junior year, she leaves Darby Station’s orchards and woodstoves behind. Adjusting to New Jersey is difficult; she’s older than the other dancers at her level and feels “like a hick.” She’s terribly lonely and shy, her voice “[a]n unflexed muscle.” Despite first-person narration, Sara’s withdrawn personality keeps her at bay from readers as well as characters. There’s little joy in her ballet-skill improvement or going to bed with her object of desire. Sara’s 16, and Remington is “God, maybe twenty-two” (an unsettling double meaning). She stretches naked in his apartment and becomes his choreography muse, but he casts other ballerinas—not her—to dance those roles in public. Sara tires of “endless auditions, eternal scrutiny” and “giving pieces of my body away.” As she finds agency, she offers conclusions that seem oversimplified given earlier ambivalence: that ballet was only ever “a dream others dreamed for her,” that sex was solely “a price to be paid / For company,” “in hopes / Of feeling my worth.” Her attitude about food, moreover, is an inconsistent point in the writing.
No romance here, but copious ballet details and hard-won steps toward independence. (Fiction. 13 & up)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-670-01319-7
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
An aching story of love, loss, and learning to look forward.
This companion to 2021’s bestselling You’ve Reached Sam explores first love, grief, and what remains after saying goodbye.
Nearly a year after the death of Sam, his best friend and secret crush, Oliver, a gay first-year college student, sends Sam one final text—only to receive a reply from the stranger who now has Sam’s old number. What begins as an accidental exchange evolves into a warm and unexpected connection, told in self-reflective first-person prose interspersed with text conversations. The prose blends dreamy flashbacks with present-day scenes showing Oliver’s loneliness, juxtaposing vivid memories of love unspoken with the tentative beginning of something new. The scenes move fluidly across time, showing prom, Halloween, a spring bonfire, and quiet cafe moments, all of which underscore the intensity of Oliver’s love and longing, while his banter-filled messages and blossoming rapport with the stranger he’s texting with offer glimmers of healing. His grief is messy and nonlinear, and the story doesn’t rush his recovery. Thao’s writing is intimate and vulnerable, balancing humor and heartbreak with emotional honesty. Touchstones like white roses, playlists, and quiet nights on campus recur throughout, grounding Oliver’s journey in sensory detail. This poignant story offers a nuanced depiction of grieving and embracing romantic possibilities. In the earlier book, Oliver presented white, and Sam was cued Japanese American.
An aching story of love, loss, and learning to look forward. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780593858479
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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