A lightweight romance with a Hollywood ending.
High school senior Alexa wonders if love is a force of nature.
This novel follows Alexa Brooks as she rediscovers her lost love, Carson Knight. During their time at summer camp in junior high, before he was hot Hollywood actor Cayden McKnight, she fell in love with him. Alexa is haunted by the past and wants to make amends for embarrassing him years ago. Is she willing to leave a pretty nearly perfect life in which she envisions herself as a future valedictorian, cross country running star, and Boston College early decision admit to chase after Carson? She did everything possible to distance herself from the fun, spontaneous girl she once was, but now her inauthentic, predictable life appears to be crumbling. Love-struck Alexa does not think about the consequences of her actions and how they could negatively affect those around her. Her attempted indifference toward Carson’s career fails dismally when she needs to watch one of his movies for class, causing her to fall down the rabbit hole of his celebrity life and its attendant gossip. Alexa is determined to fix Carson’s bad-boy reputation with a few good deeds of her own, but her behavior skirts uncomfortably close to stalking and harassment. This predictable, paint-by-numbers novel unfortunately fails to generate tension. Alexa’s father’s repeated use of a homophobic slur is shrugged off. Characters are coded as White.
A lightweight romance with a Hollywood ending. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-38496-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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