A half-funny, half-tired novel with a fine protagonist to half-root for.
A smart-aleck teenager who yearns to escape his dilapidated New Jersey town becomes a high school escort in Bloom’s debut novel.
Brooks Rattigan—a superficial yet hardworking letter carrier’s son in his final year of high school—is desperate to attain upper-middle-class comfort. After the white teen offers to take a schoolmate’s dateless cousin to homecoming and scores over 300 bucks from the girl’s grateful parents in the process, he decides to expand his impromptu dating service to secure his path to Columbia University. Soon, Brooks is in the stand-in business, offering himself to girls from affluent families for senior year’s most important social events. Complications come in the form of two girls: Celia Lieberman, a girl with overbearing parents, and Shelby Pace, a socialite goddess. Though the setup seems entertaining enough, the narrative fails to capitalize on its promise to dissect high-class society, underserving its satirical wit in favor of high-strung melodrama. As Brooks slips deeper into the evidently all-white world of the superrich, he finds it hard to balance his demanding, college-bound life with the lies he spins to fit in. Brooks starts off a likable character, but his progressively less-than-admirable behavior is exhausting after 200 pages. And that’s halfway through the novel.
A half-funny, half-tired novel with a fine protagonist to half-root for. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5124-1023-5
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Several yards short of a touchdown.
A transgender boy starting over at a new school falls hard for a popular cheerleader with a reputation to protect in this debut.
On the first day of senior year, transgender boy Pony locks eyes with cisgender cheerleader Georgia. They both have pasts they want to leave behind. No one at Hillcrest High knows that Pony is transgender, and he intends to keep it that way. Georgia’s last boyfriend shook her trust in boys, and now she’s determined to forget him. As mutual attraction draws them together, Pony and Georgia must decide what they are willing to risk for a relationship. Pony’s best friend, Max, who is also transgender, disapproves of Pony’s choice to live stealth; this disagreement leads to serious conflict in their relationship. Meanwhile, Georgia and Pony behave as if Pony’s trans identity was a secret he was lying to her about rather than private information for him to share of his own volition. The characters only arrive at a hopeful resolution after Pony pays high physical and emotional prices. McSmith places repeated emphasis on the born-in-the-wrong-body narrative when the characters discuss trans identities. Whiteness is situated as the norm, and all main characters are white.
Several yards short of a touchdown. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-294317-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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