Summer meets love in both fantasy and reality in this anthology featuring renowned writers of both teen and adult fiction.
Punk-romance regret reigns in Francesca Lia Block’s rich-yet-minimalist “Sick Pleasures,” while the pressure of making life-changing choices underlies Libba Bray’s hilarious zombie horror “Last Stand at the Cinegore,” Veronica Roth’s “Inertia,” and editor Perkins’ heart-smart “In Ninety Minutes, Turn North.” In this summer companion to Perkins’ previous winter holiday romance anthology, My True Love Gave to Me (2014), characters are universally deftly drawn, and the language is typically distinct and compelling. Repeated themes include struggling with well-being, witnessing separation or divorce, or being left by one or more parents, as well as the impacts of those experiences on building trust and new relationships. While the collection holds variety in setting and genre, as well as in sexual orientation, the racial and ethnic diversity of characters isn’t as broad as one might hope. Yet this is a star-studded lineup that doesn’t disappoint, wisely capped by Lev Grossman’s brilliant “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things,” in which the protagonists experience time repeating in an endless loop—until it doesn’t.
An intelligent beach read with heart, soul, and sizzle. (Short stories. 12-18)Pub Date: May 17, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-250-07912-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION
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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
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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This tear-jerker will leave readers wanting to follow the next chapter in Darius’ life.
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Darius Kellner suffers from depression, bullying by high school jocks, and a father who seems to always be disappointed in him.
When Darius’ grandfather becomes terminally ill, Darius, along with his parents and younger sister, travels to Iran for the first time in his life. Iranian on his mother’s side and white American on his father’s side, Darius never quite fits in. He’s mocked for his name and nerdy interests at Chapel Hill High School in Portland, Oregon, and doesn’t speak enough Farsi to communicate with his Iranian relatives either. When he arrives in Iran, learning to play the Persian card game Rook, socializing, and celebrating Nowruz with a family he had never properly met before is all overwhelming and leaves Darius wondering if he’ll ever truly belong anywhere. But all that changes when Darius meets Sohrab, a Bahá’í boy, in Yazd. Sohrab teaches Darius what friendship is really about: loyalty, honesty, and someone who has your back in a football (soccer) match. For the first time in a long time, Darius learns to love himself no matter what external forces attempt to squash his confidence. Khorram’s debut novel is filled with insight into the lives of teens, weaving together the reality of living with mental illness while also dealing with identity and immigration politics.
This tear-jerker will leave readers wanting to follow the next chapter in Darius’ life. (Fiction. 12-adult)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-55296-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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