Grab a box of tissues and prepare to ride an emotional roller coaster.
Debut novelist Vinuesa pens a story of star-crossed teens in this dual-narrative novel.
Born with multiple heart defects, foster kid Mia has always known she’s living on borrowed time. Determined to find the biological mother who left her as an infant, Mia meticulously plans an 18th-birthday trip to her mother’s home country, Spain. But when Noah, her friend and travel partner, dies suddenly and Mia’s health deteriorates, she accelerates her timeline. Noah’s best friend, Kyle, blames himself for the crash that killed Noah and grievously injured Josh, another friend. Traumatized and depressed, he plans to end his own life as penance. After Mia interrupts Kyle, preventing him from carrying out his plan, she guilts him into accompanying her to Spain. The two set off on a whirlwind trip—Kyle begrudgingly and Mia enthusiastically. While the days fly by in a haze of lush scenery, delicious food, and meetings with possible birth mothers, the teens grow closer, though both are keeping secrets they fear may destroy their budding relationship. But just as Kyle’s heart starts to heal, Mia’s starts to fail, and neither may end up getting the closure they so desperately desire. Major characters are coded white; Mia’s foster sister has a cognitive disability. The heartbreaking but hopeful narrative flows beautifully, with easy banter and enticing exposition, and the characters are well-written and easy to root for.
Grab a box of tissues and prepare to ride an emotional roller coaster. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593705131
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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