Fans of Gayle Forman’s If I Stay (2009) and others will find hope and laughs amid tragedy.
Faced with death, one teen discovers life in this bittersweet debut.
Despite growing up in Disney World with parents who performed in the “Spirit of Aloha” at the Polynesian Hotel, cynical and loner Campbell Cooper (an Italian-Samoan–American) gave up on magic after her parents divorced, her father died and she developed neuroblastoma (a cancer with low survival rates in adolescence). Having exhausted Western medicine, her single mother suggests spending the summer after Cam’s graduation in Promise, Maine, a hidden town (with a secret entrance off of the Dunkin’ Donuts at Exit 33) known to have mysterious healing powers. While Cam’s mother and younger sister are awed by such anomalies as flamingos, snow in July and purple dandelions, the teen prepares for the inevitable by suppressing her wishes. But as she begins an unexpected relationship with Asher, whose family founded the town and thus feels obligated to stay so the magic won’t leave with him, she realizes the true meaning of friendship, family, love, living in the moment—and yes, even miracles. Exploring both sides of Cam’s heritage, the story unfolds through narration as beautiful as the sun’s daily “everlasting gobstopper descent behind the lighthouse.” Irreverent humor, quirky small-town charm and surprises along the way help readers brace themselves for the tearjerker ending.
Fans of Gayle Forman’s If I Stay (2009) and others will find hope and laughs amid tragedy. (Fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59514-368-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A coming-of-age narrative with no easy answers but in which hope blooms.
Pulled between her feelings of obligation to her family and the lure of her own dreams, Sol must find a way to straddle both political and personal borderlands.
Sol means sun in Spanish, and it embodies the effervescent young woman Sol strives to be. But her name is short for Soledad, which means solitude and represents not only the feast day on which she was born, but the isolation she has felt since her mother died. By virtue of her birth, she is the only U.S. citizen in her family, so she can attend a high school across the border from Tijuana—and even one day a U.S. university, something she has long dreamed of. For now, though, it also means she’s the only one eligible to work in the States. As her family struggles with grief, Sol shoulders the burden of supporting them financially. On the one hand, living with friends on the California side of the border opens up opportunities to cultivate new relationships and renew old ones. On the other hand, she misses seeing her family every day. The push and pull between her desires and obligations in both Mexico and the U.S. turns the border into a liminal space that represents the dichotomy and tension it requires to balance between being Sol and Soledad. Though outside tensions build to a climactic moment, the story’s heart lies within Sol’s first-person stream-of-consciousness narration.
A coming-of-age narrative with no easy answers but in which hope blooms. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-316-70447-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Summery fun and games with feeling.
A summer trip helps break 18-year-old Meredith Fox out of a haze of mourning.
Her cousin’s wedding means a return to Martha’s Vineyard, a well-loved destination but one filled with bittersweet memories. It’s been a year and a half since the sudden loss of Meredith’s sister, Claire, and the grief remains strong. Meredith, though, resolves to take this time to celebrate family and bridge the rifts resulting from ghosting friends. She didn’t plan on a meet-cute/embarrassing encounter with the groom’s stepbrother, Wit. Nor did she expect a wedding-week game of Assassin, a water-gun–fueled family tradition. What starts off as a pact of sharing strategic information with Wit grows into something more as the flirting and feelings develop. Only one person can win, though, and any alliance has an expiration date. To win and honor Claire, who was a master of the game, Meredith must keep her eye on the prize. Taking place over the course of a week, the narrative is tight with well-paced reveals that disrupt predictability and keep the plot moving. Early details are picked back up, and many elements come satisfyingly full circle. The short time frame also heightens the tension of this summer romance: What will happen when they leave the bubble of the Vineyard? The mix of budding romance, competitive hijinks, a close-knit circle, as well as dealing with loss make for a satisfying read. The main cast is White.
Summery fun and games with feeling. (family tree) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-72821-029-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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