A sweet romance with a dash of suspense.
Two best friends have the chance to reconnect at a school event after painful months spent apart.
Liberty Prep students Natalia and Ethan have been close since middle school, but they acted on the pact they made as freshmen to be each other’s firsts if they were both still virgins by senior year. Afterward, things changed, and they avoided each other all summer. Anxious Natalia is a scholarship student; she’s also Latina and white at a mostly white school. Ethan, who’s white, is dealing with family problems. Now school is about to start with Senior Sunrise, a 24-hour beach camping trip. The seniors all write private letters about their hopes, fears, and aspirations for the upcoming year, then ceremonially burn them at sunrise. The worst then happens: Spotting the unattended glass jar of letters and fearing someone might read hers (which is all about her complicated feelings for Ethan), Natalia tries to retrieve it but accidentally lets seven other letters blow away in the wind. It’s Ethan who unexpectedly comes to her rescue, and in their quest to keep the senior class’s secrets from getting out, they slowly find their way back to each other. Alternating between Ethan’s and Natalia’s points of view, this novel offers a classic friends-to-lovers storyline with an entertaining twist. The supporting characters are likable and real, all with their own set of confessions that will keep readers intrigued.
A sweet romance with a dash of suspense. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781250910554
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 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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