A romance steeped in an emotionally gut-wrenching tale of trauma.
While a Massachusetts teen navigates a budding relationship, family issues threaten everything she longs for.
Ever since her white American father died, Lourdes “Deedee” Walters has lived with her controlling Filipino immigrant mom, who seems to hate her and never talks about the Philippines. Deedee yearns for an escape. While out walking restlessly around the neighborhood one night, she meets Jay Hayes, her mysterious new white and Vietnamese American neighbor. They strike a deal: Deedee will tutor him, and Jay will give her driving lessons. Their secret midnight drives blossom into something more, but the closer they get, the more life tears them apart. As Jay helps Deedee uncover her mother’s past, and Jay reveals more about his own history, the family traumas they’re each dealing with may prove too significant to overcome. As they navigate their painful inheritances, Jay and Deedee must decide what’s best for them, both individually and together. Romance grows within a story that’s heavily rooted in the family issues that affect both teens’ thoughts, emotions, and actions. The central theme of love is depicted and explored through the lenses of suffering, sacrifice, money, friendship, and efforts to fix others. Deedee’s mother’s verbal abuse, often repeated in Deedee’s own self-hating thoughts, weighs heavily. Racism, microaggressions, and internalized racism are prevalent throughout; the teens live in a predominately white town and have family histories of war and immigration.
A romance steeped in an emotionally gut-wrenching tale of trauma. (content warning) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781368101936
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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
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