Two teens on the cusp of adulthood find love in this British import.
Hannah and Sam have both finished their exams and are looking forward to spending their last summer before university with friends and pursuing the opposite sex. Hannah aims to lose her virginity with Freddie, an acceptably handsome classmate. Sam has spent the last year investing in a relationship that’s gone bust. Sam doesn't really know what to expect when his friends drag him to a party to celebrate the end of their exams. This party is where Hannah plans to hook up with Freddie, but circumstance puts Sam and Hannah in the same room, and thus begins a cumbersome courtship. In alternating first-person narration, the two move in and out of each other's lives for the next few months, the authors taking great delight in bringing them together only to pull them apart again. Hannah's perspective gives the book an emotional backbone with her evolving relationships with her circle of friends. Sam's provides most of the novel's humor, with welcome respites from Hannah's emotionally draining passages. The novel captures teen angst and lust, but it’s also funny, with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Both teens are white, judging by the amusing jacket art that sets the tone for the lightly Americanized text.
An engaging and endearing story of what it is to find your place in the world and a person to share it with. (Romance. 13-17)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-53732-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Girl meets magic. Hijinks ensue.
Shiori’anma, Princess of Kiata and eldest daughter of Emperor Hanariho, is the intrepid protagonist in this folktale retelling. About to turn 17 and be married off to a third-rank barbarian lord, Shiori desperately looks for ways out of the engagement. Her emerging talents in forbidden magic and a run-in with a young shape-shifting dragon help to pass the time before she is doomed to relocate to the cold North. Things take an even worse turn, however, when she uncovers her stepmother’s secrets. As a consequence, her six brothers are cursed into assuming the form of cranes by day. Shiori is whisked away and coerced into silence, for every word that escapes her lips will mean the death of one of her brothers. She must learn to survive on her own and use her wits and hard-won experience to save both her family and country. Readers here revisit the East Asian–inspired world established in Lim’s The Blood of Stars duology. Despite a few hiccups in the logic of the magic, the author cleverly maintains the basic structure of this well-known European folktale type while weaving in rich elements of Asian mythology, including dragon pearls and the goddess of the moon. The exploration of complicated family dynamics is a particular strength, especially the challenging of the evil stepmother cliché.
Part exciting adventure, part thoughtful coming-of-age novel, this story retells and overturns familiar tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 13-17)Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30091-6
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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Is an exuberant extended family the cure for a breakup? Sophie is about to find out.
When Sophie unexpectedly breaks up with her boyfriend, she isn’t thrilled about spending the holidays at her grandparents’ house instead of with him. And when her grandmother forms a plan to distract Sophie from her broken heart—10 blind dates, each set up by different family members—she’s even less thrilled. Everyone gets involved with the matchmaking, even forming a betting pool on the success of each date. But will Sophie really find someone to fill the space left by her ex? Will her ex get wind of Sophie’s dating spree via social media and want them to get back together? Is that what she even wants anymore? This is a fun story of finding love, getting to know yourself, and getting to know your family. The pace is quick and light, though the characters are fairly shallow and occasionally feel interchangeable, especially with so many names involved. A Christmas tale, the plot is a fast-paced series of dinners, parties, and games, relayed in both narrative form and via texts, though the humor occasionally feels stiff and overwrought. The ending is satisfying, though largely unsurprising. Most characters default to white as members of Sophie’s Italian American extended family, although one of her cousins has a Filipina mother. One uncle is gay.
An enjoyable, if predictable, romantic holiday story. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-368-02749-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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