A relaxing and romantic summer tale that would have benefitted from greater depth.
City girls go back to nature, where they bond with locals, let go of stress, and gain new perspectives.
The adventure begins with a post on social media. When Spider’s family wants to sell their summer home in the Adirondacks to ease their financial worries, she convinces her grandmother to allow her to list their extra rooms for rent. Three Southern girls respond—each in dire need of relaxation, each escaping something different, and each needing a summer to regain her footing in life. Drama queen Britta, whose mother can’t seem to see what a creep her new boyfriend is, comes up with the plan. Her classmate Meredith, an honor student with an intensely ambitious mother, follows along. Kate, a wealthy debutante whose father is in trouble with the law, shows up at his suggestion. Four very different young women break down barriers and forge new relationships: By challenging who they think they can befriend, they see themselves anew and are permanently changed. Flinn (Beheld, 2017, etc.) knows her teenage characters: their cultural interests, their pop references, their witticisms and speech patterns. However, the novel covers a lot of territory without offering readers earth-shattering emotion or insights. The setting is evocative, but the characters lack a rich internal life that would move them beyond types. Whiteness is assumed for all apart from Cuban-American Britta.
A relaxing and romantic summer tale that would have benefitted from greater depth. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-244783-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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