An uneven story of self-realization.
Amelia Hernandez wants more for her life than being constrained by the family curse to never find love.
Eighteen-year-old Amelia has grown up in Canton, Massachusetts, in a household of eight Puerto Rican women, including her mom, tias, and sisters. They all reckon with the 100-year-old family curse, which has doomed them to die alone and never find a life partner. The pressure to rely only one on another and join the family bakery weighs heavily on Amelia, who longs for love and adventure. When Perri, the girl she’s been dating for six months, breaks up with her, Amelia lets her family coach her in dating. Along the way, she reconnects with past love Leon, whom she dated for a year and planned to move in with—before he broke up with her over text and ghosted her two years ago. Amelia wonders whether she really can break the curse once and for all. The narrative relies heavily on Amelia’s internal monologue, which falls short of the clumsy charm it seems to be aiming for. Frustratingly, some interesting plot elements are introduced but dropped without being fully explored or resolved. Readers will appreciate the textured portrayal of the family relationships, however, and the story has interesting things to say about truly being seen, even though Amelia’s worthwhile journey of personal growth feels overwritten.
An uneven story of self-realization. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781665942515
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 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
BOOK REVIEW
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