Henry is “not the girlfriend type of guy.” He enjoys crashing Sweet Sixteen parties with his buddies Duke and Nigel and conning gullible, pretty girls into sex. When he meets Garrett, though, Henry rethinks his boyfriend potential. Garrett desperately wants to be accepted at her new high school in her senior year, and the key to that is the “J Squad” clique. The admission price is to hook Henry and then publicly dump him in retaliation for how he’s treated them. Predictably, Henry falls in love with Garrett, and she develops feelings for him, too. Their mutual love of motion pictures draws them together, but in the end, Garrett breaks up with Henry, although not for the J Squad. Henry is heartbroken but has the expected epiphanies about relationships, sex, etc. Neither Henry nor Garrett is particularly well developed, despite alternating first-person narrations (occasionally punctuated by script-like dialogue), nor is either especially likable. The movie-fan angle gives some novelty to a familiar story but not enough to make it more than mediocre escapism. (Fiction. 14 & up)
Pub Date: June 8, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73580-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh story exploring timely issues.
Ariana Ruiz had a terrible evening.
She’s not sure she actually consented to having sex with Luis Ortega, which brings on horrible feelings, including dissociating for hours. Queer Mexican American Ariana is autistic “with a heavy dose of selective mutism,” and she’s starting to wonder if her silence is precisely what Luis liked. Shawni, Luis’ ex-girlfriend, told Ariana to stay away from him only to see them go into a room together at a party. So when Ariana texts Luis, and he agrees not to tell anyone what happened but everyone still seems to know, she assumes Shawni is to blame. Boys start harassing Ariana, and the situation spirals into hellish bullying. And then, she finds a note in her locker reading “me too.” The mystery writer and Ariana connect on Tumblr, although Ariana is initially against their suggestion of getting back at Luis. But after learning that he was even more deliberate in his exploitation of her than she realized, she goes to the appointed meeting place. There, she discovers she’s not the only one invited: It’s a support group for people whose reputations were ruined by Luis. Readers may find that the actual revenge they take feels flat against the violent trauma Luis put each of them through, but the group of teens, who are diverse across many dimensions and were previously socially isolated by Luis’ actions, forge new bonds and help each other heal.
A fresh story exploring timely issues. (author’s note, content warnings) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9780063060302
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A promising introduction to a witchy new series.
The destinies of a witch and a witch hunter become entangled against the backdrop of 16th-century witch trials.
It’s 1591 in Trier, part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the increasingly brutal persecution of witches has led to the destruction of Fritzi’s coven and the murders of her family members. The only other survivor is her cousin Liesel, a younger witch with a unique power who is taken by the hunters’ kommandant as part of a perverse plan. Determined to rescue Liesel, Fritzi follows a path that collides with that of Otto, an up-and-coming captain of the hexenjägers, or witch hunters. Otto has a secret: He is working from the inside to bring down an institution he despises for very personal reasons. As Fritzi and Otto learn to trust each other while venturing deep into the Black Forest, they unveil bigger truths about magic and witches (and the goddesses they worship). Romance, magic, and fantasy intertwine with the real history of Trier’s witch trials as the worldbuilding juxtaposes paganism and Christianity in a story that explores belief, fate, power, accountability, and revenge. The story grows from the initial, slow-moving setup, becoming a more complex, evolving, dual-perspective tale. While the overly fast romantic bond between Otto and Fritzi feels unearned, and the villain’s nefarious plan is a bit cartoonish, overall, the story engages and entertains.
A promising introduction to a witchy new series. (content warnings, historical note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781728272160
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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