A life-affirming story of friendship, love, and faith.
A life-altering incident sets two ex–best friends on a collision course.
Best friends and next-door neighbors Hannah and Emory haven’t spoken since the fight when they both said things they can’t share and can’t take back. In alternating chapters, Emory focuses all her energies on theater and her boyfriend, Luke, while Hannah, the daughter of a pastor who is also the principal of her Christian high school, questions her faith as the result of the things Emory said to her that day. Their paths collide unexpectedly when Hannah finds Luke unresponsive at the wheel of his car late one night. Though he miraculously survives his injuries, he finds that he cannot move forward in the aftermath of the accident and turns to Hannah to confide the truth behind his near-death experience. When his story reaches a wider audience, things spiral beyond their control and the rift between Hannah and Emory threatens to grow even wider. Though Luke’s spiritual experience brings him and Hannah closer together and threatens to drive him and Emory apart, these characters are clearheaded and sympathetic, and the narrative avoids typecasting them or straying into melodrama. Emory and Luke share a notably sex-positive relationship, and Hannah experiences a forbidden attraction that neither ends in scandal nor distracts from the central plot. Hannah, Emory, and Luke are white.
A life-affirming story of friendship, love, and faith. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6821-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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