An honest, fresh, and thoughtful summer romance.
Childhood friends reconnect only to discover a new type of love.
Korean Americans Hannah Cho and Jacob Kim were the best of friends growing up. That is, until Jacob’s father died and he and his mom moved to South Korea. Now 18, Jacob is starring in a hot K-drama and feeling the pressures of fame. After Jacob is injured while trying to help a distressed fan, his mother decides they’ll escape to San Diego for the summer and stay with their old friends the Chos. Hannah, fresh from a breakup, is preoccupied with getting back together with her White ex-boyfriend, Nate, who is even more into K-pop and K-drama than she is. When Jacob and Hannah are thrown back together, years’ worth of unspoken hurt feelings—and affection—resurface. Despite their initial walls, Hannah and Jacob quickly realize how much they have missed their friendship. The two fall back into their friendly rhythm, and it turns into something more. The narrative alternates between Hannah’s and Jacob’s first-person perspectives, with third-person interludes following the pair’s mothers. The love story flows easily as Lee incorporates the trappings and obligations of life as a K-drama celebrity, such as fake dating one’s co-star, as well as humorous and occasionally frustrating incidents that come with the territory and affect the couple’s budding relationship. The novel also meaningfully examines issues around Korean American identity, code-switching, objectification of Asian culture and people, family dynamics, and finding inner strength.
An honest, fresh, and thoughtful summer romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-335-91578-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
A twisty thriller that asks: How much do you really know about your parents?
Four teens try to piece together a 35-year-old mystery.
In Canterstown in the present day, four close friends—Liam, Elayah, Marcie, and Jorja—dig up a time capsule that their parents buried decades ago and find, among a few harmless keepsakes, a bloodied knife and a note that reads, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill anyone.” Not long after, Elayah is attacked in her own home and almost dies. Though Liam’s dad is the sheriff and he says he’s on the case, the four friends begin harboring suspicions against their own parents when their excuses and backstories just don’t add up. Meanwhile, in 1986, the stories of Dean, Jay, and twins Marcus and Antoine unfurl, chronicling the lead-up to the burial of the capsule (and its murder weapon). As the contemporary amateur sleuths try to find answers, they risk endangering themselves further for a truth they might not want to hear. Though the novel is a bit bloated with its long list of characters and hefty page count, the central mystery and various twists will keep readers turning pages. Lyga does an excellent job of portraying a racially and sexually diverse cast, not shying away from the realities of having a marginalized identity but rather braiding those elements into the plot itself.
A twisty thriller that asks: How much do you really know about your parents? (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-53778-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Guaranteed to fly off the shelves.
Cliques writ large take over in the first of a projected dystopian trilogy.
The remnant population of post-apocalyptic Chicago intended to cure civilization’s failures by structuring society into five “factions,” each dedicated to inculcating a specific virtue. When Tris, secretly a forbidden “Divergent,” has to choose her official faction in her 16th year, she rejects her selfless Abnegation upbringing for the Dauntless, admiring their reckless bravery. But the vicious initiation process reveals that her new tribe has fallen from its original ideals, and that same rot seems to be spreading… Aside from the preposterous premise, this gritty, paranoid world is built with careful details and intriguing scope. The plot clips along at an addictive pace, with steady jolts of brutal violence and swoony romance. Despite the constant assurance that Tris is courageous, clever and kind, her own first-person narration displays a blank personality. No matter; all the “good” characters adore her and the “bad” are spiteful and jealous. Fans snared by the ratcheting suspense will be unable to resist speculating on their own factional allegiance; a few may go on to ponder the questions of loyalty and identity beneath the façade of thrilling adventure.
Guaranteed to fly off the shelves. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 3, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202402-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
