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THE QB BAD BOY AND ME

Despite its enjoyable characters and palpable passion, sloppy execution and overall predictability make this one to skip....

Peppered with dirty jokes and sentimental moments, this risqué debut follows a quixotic quarterback and a self-possessed cheerleader through their torrid romance.

Headstrong and vaguely anti-social, high school senior Dallas Bryan knows who she is and what she wants: She’s a dancer masquerading as a cheerleader who wants out of Castle Rock, Colorado, by way of CalArts. Uninterested in dating, she nevertheless finds herself embroiled with Drayton Lahey, Archwood High’s superhot, superrich star quarterback. Can their tenuous pairing survive past high school? The book is driven by two major commitment-related conflicts: Drayton battles with his parents over pressure to continue a family legacy of playing for Baylor University while Dallas must come to terms with her aversion to serious relationships. A forthright narrator, Dallas shares the always horny, often boozy highlights of the adventures enabled by Drayton’s bottomless wallet and selectively permissive parents. In one episode, an away-game liaison leads to a jaunt in California; in another, a CalArts campus tour guide shows up in Colorado and forces the not-quite-couple to acknowledge their bond—which, as an outcome of their ongoing romantic tension, will not come as a surprise to readers. Occasional narrative omissions prove disappointing, and linguistic slips by the New Zealand author are distracting. Most characters are assumed white; Dallas’ best friend is cued as black.

Despite its enjoyable characters and palpable passion, sloppy execution and overall predictability make this one to skip. (Romance. 15-adult)

Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-9936899-4-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Wattpad Books

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

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THE SMOKE THIEVES

From the Smoke Thieves series , Vol. 1

With expletives and violence that seem more for shock value than to advance the story, and plenty of action but an abrupt...

Five teenagers who have nothing in common—a hunter, a soldier, a servant, a princess, and a thief—soon find themselves at the center of a war thanks to new discoveries about demon smoke, an opiumlike drug.

King Aloysius is still bitter over the war he lost to Calidor and will stop at nothing to exact revenge: This is the catalyst for our five heroes’ journeys, whether they at first realize it or not. With each chapter told from a different character’s perspective, readers get a feel for the various worlds within the story but are still left sensing that something is lacking: Rather than an immersive fantasy world, it is a medieval world with a spattering of underdeveloped fantasy thrown in. Aloysius and his son are comically, mustache-twirlingly evil. The two love stories (one between two boys, and one a classic love triangle between a girl and two boys) feel halfhearted due in part to the relationships not being fully fleshed out. With so many characters, none get the full attention they deserve. Ethnic diversity, including multiracial identities (one major character has blue eyes, blonde dreadlocks, and brown skin), both mirrors reality as well as featuring fantasy races.

With expletives and violence that seem more for shock value than to advance the story, and plenty of action but an abrupt ending, readers will hope for more meat in the next volume. (Fantasy. 15-18)

Pub Date: May 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-425-29021-7

Page Count: 544

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018

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THE HANDSOME GIRL & HER BEAUTIFUL BOY

Suitable for fans of nonmainstream romances with larger-than-life characters.

Two teens—one girl, one boy—defy gender norms to discover their own brand of love.

When they meet, laid-back Zee and self-professed “biggest personality on the planet” Art are both sure they’re straight despite others’ assumptions that they’re gay because of how they present themselves. It’s infatuation at first sight for Art, who is certain that fellow “mythical creature” Zee will fall for him. Amid tumultuous family circumstances—Zee meets her estranged father after her mother dies of cancer, while Art’s parents’ marriage falls apart—the duo explores their confusing attraction to each other and what it means for their senses of self. This exploration includes sex (masturbation, blow jobs, nights in a motel room, and relationship drama involving other characters). The book’s strength lies in its first-person narration, which alternates between Zee and Art in uber-short chapters full of all-caps, exclamation points, and explanatory pie charts. The ultimate affirmation that love needs no labels or boundaries comes far too late for a story about sexual fluidity; throughout most of the book, Zee and Art subscribe to strongly binary views of gender, sexuality, and gender expression. Art and all other primary characters are presumably white. Zee, jarringly for the daughter of an Iranian father and a very light-skinned white mother, is described as having a very dark complexion.

Suitable for fans of nonmainstream romances with larger-than-life characters. (Fiction. 16-18)

Pub Date: May 8, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-62779-852-5

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018

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