Neither gender really wins in this modern Much Ado About Nothing.
Aurora’s saving her first kiss for a mythical, modern-day Prince Charming, until a school production of Shakespeare requires that she kiss a longtime nemesis.
Spoiler alert: Aurora ends up in love with her handsome, kindhearted, longtime admirer and playful rival, Hayden. Though this is a foregone conclusion, considering the novel is a retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, the silly antics required to unite these two white, beautiful foes generate decent romantic tension. But while the high school theater production does deliver laughs as the student cast attempts to co-opt the direction of the play from their exasperated theater teacher, Aurora and Hayden’s interactions are stilted by comparison. Her smug attitude about the general cluelessness of men (a view shared by her equally beautiful and seemingly privileged group of girlfriends, almost all white) often makes her seem more shallow than the males she mocks for their lack of chivalry. Aurora and her girlfriends design elaborate schemes to both garner and manipulate male attention, and they judge men almost entirely on their appearances. They repeatedly note their love interests’ hotness and worry that Aurora’s secret admirer may be, gasp, a nerd. And Aurora’s ongoing rejection of Hayden’s admiration makes it difficult to fathom how he understands that beneath her prickly exterior waits a lonely girl hoping for love.
Neither gender really wins in this modern Much Ado About Nothing. (Romance. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-250-04953-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin’s Griffin
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A smart, timely outing.
Two teens connect through a mysterious podcast in this sophomore effort by British author Oseman (Solitaire, 2015).
Frances Janvier is a 17-year-old British-Ethiopian head girl who is so driven to get into Cambridge that she mostly forgoes friendships for schoolwork. Her only self-indulgence is listening to and creating fan art for the podcast Universe City, “a…show about a suit-wearing student detective looking for a way to escape a sci-fi, monster-infested university.” Aled Last is a quiet white boy who identifies as “partly asexual.” When Frances discovers that Aled is the secret creator of Universe City, the two embark on a passionate, platonic relationship based on their joint love of pop culture. Their bond is complicated by Aled’s controlling mother and by Frances’ previous crush on Aled’s twin sister, Carys, who ran away last year and disappeared. When Aled’s identity is accidently leaked to the Universe City fandom, he severs his relationship with Frances, leaving her questioning her Cambridge goals and determined to win back his affection, no matter what the cost. Frances’ narration is keenly intelligent; she takes mordant pleasure in using an Indian friend’s ID to get into a club despite the fact they look nothing alike: “Gotta love white people.” Though the social-media–suffused plot occasionally lags, the main characters’ realistic relationship accurately depicts current issues of gender, race, and class.
A smart, timely outing. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-233571-5
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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