by Emma Berquist ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2019
Moody paranormal fare that lacks the spark of Berquist’s debut; consider this a sophomore slump.
A lonely teen must use her odd powers to track down a killer.
Eighteen-year-old Alexandra “Lexi” Ivanovich can tell how and when someone will die with just a touch and has an affinity with ghosts. If she tries to save someone from their fate, it only delays the inevitable and can have horrible consequences, a lesson she learned the hard way. Lexi keeps people at a distance, including her de facto family members, who all work for a Los Angeles club, Elysium, whose owner, Urie Porchowsky, offers lifetime protection to youngsters with at least “one foot in the unknown.” After one of their own goes missing, Lexi witnesses the gruesome murder of a local high school student named Jane, and her ghost is soon asking Lexi for help. The disappearances escalate, and Lexi must find the killer while battling her burgeoning feelings for Jane. Lexi and Jane’s tentative (and unusual) relationship is sweet, actually overshadowing the murder mystery, and Berquist (Devils unto Dust, 2018) effectively tackles the destructive nature of grief and loneliness, but the worldbuilding is rather slight. Lexi, Jane, and most of the Elysium crew are presumed white, but some diversity can be found in peripheral characters.
Moody paranormal fare that lacks the spark of Berquist’s debut; consider this a sophomore slump. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 21, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-264281-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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by Daniel Aleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2021
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
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by Kathleen Glasgow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 2016
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
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New York Times Bestseller
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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