A tender, honest, heartwarming ode to platonic soul mates.
Enterprising teens moonlight as relationship assassins.
For the past two years, 18-year-old best friends August Mariani and Valentine Sharma have been successfully running their business, Summer Love, Inc., which specializes in breaking up toxic teen relationships at the request of concerned parents and friends. Business is booming, and, with dreams of affording Berkeley in the fall, the duo accept their most challenging—and potentially lucrative—case yet. The Beckers need August and Tiny to orchestrate a breakup between their daughter, Ella, and her controlling boyfriend, Justin, in less than four weeks. Pretending to be cousins, they infiltrate the inner circle of Ella’s prep school friends with a plan to help her see Justin for what he truly is and to realize she deserves better. But as August and Ella connect, the walls he’s carefully constructed after the death of his sister start to crumble—and suddenly, business gets a lot more personal. Not that he can tell Tiny, who for the first time is keeping secrets of her own. Told in alternating perspectives, the plot suffers from an occasional identity crisis; the two storylines don’t always flow harmoniously. Still, Mather’s deft hand at developing characters with rich emotional ranges will leave readers smiling through their tears as she explores themes of grief, family, friendship, and love. Most central characters are cued white; Tiny’s stepdad is Indian. Final art not seen.
A tender, honest, heartwarming ode to platonic soul mates. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9798212417525
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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
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
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