A creatively told tale of emotional and personal growth.
A teenage artist struggles to balance new circumstances with old comforts in Woodburn’s YA novel.
High school sophomore Emma Mason, a talented artist, gets a scholarship to Wabash Academy in Indiana. She’s spent all her life in Buenaventura, California, and has great relationships with her parents; her best friend, Céline, whom she’s known since she was little; and a new boyfriend, Hunter Murray. After starting her junior year at Wabash, she experiences serious growing pains and wonders if her connection to faraway Hunter, which feels “strained and off-kilter,” and to Céline will survive the distance. When a shocking event occurs during Emma’s winter break in Buenaventura, the sensitive painter realizes that she must decide where her loyalties lie. The Before in the title seems to imply that the novel will include accounts of before Emma became Hunter’s girlfriend, but only one chapter, explaining their meet-cute, qualifies as such; it actually refers to Emma’s mindset regarding their relationship before the pivotal event. Woodburn helpfully clarifies this early on, alternating chapters between the Before and After timelines, with the life-altering event as the firm nexus. The After chapters progress chronologically forward while the Before chapters progress in reverse, ending when Emma and Hunter began dating. It’s certainly a clever conceit, and it adds a layer of complexity to the proceedings; however, it also adds a layer of fragmentation that jarringly ricochets the reader between time periods. In this charged tale of teenage romance, friendship, and identity formation, though, Emma’s tone of self-reflection and warm-heartedness keeps everything on track.
A creatively told tale of emotional and personal growth.Pub Date: May 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781958109489
Page Count: 333
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Rom-com fans will love this joyride through Philadelphia.
An entertaining romp reminiscent of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
High school senior Grace Barbour needs a break from school, and she’s pretty sure her best friends, Isabel Cruz and Everett Adler, do too. The student body president engages in some subterfuge (and begging) to get the pair to skip school and hit the road for the best day ever. Grace’s motives aren’t entirely altruistic—she has growing feelings for Everett, who’s Isa’s ex. She needs them to make up ASAP so she and Everett can move forward with their relationship. Isa, meanwhile, is keeping a secret from Grace—she and Grace’s brother, James, have feelings for one another (and James is hot on the trio’s trail). An unforgettable day unfolds, as the longtime friends, who are just a month from graduation, deal with their entangled bonds, reveal secrets, explore the city, and eat cheesesteaks. Despite a slightly slow start, Walther’s latest ramps up to become a lively and enjoyable read. The Philadelphia setting shines as the friends reminisce about their childhoods growing up just outside the city and the special bond their families share. Mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and grief, are dealt with sympathetically between capers. The multifaceted characters effectively deal with their problems through satisfying conversations. Isa is Latine, Everett is Jewish and cued white, and Grace, who’s bisexual, also presents white.
Rom-com fans will love this joyride through Philadelphia. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593813959
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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