A well-crafted YA novel about the various ways one makes it to adulthood.
In Mercer’s YA novel, a teenage girl’s life unfolds in parallel timelines.
Do you ever wonder how your life could have gone if just one thing had been different? In one version of Marin Greene’s life, her parents are divorced. She’s just received a car for her 17th birthday (from her dad, of course), and she’s planning to use it to spend as much time away from her overbearing mother as possible. Her best friend has been Hannah since the two of them stopped hanging out with their third musketeer, Whitney, as soon as the three got to high school. Marin’s biggest problem—other than deciding where to go to college—is that she and Hannah both have crushes on the same guy: a truck-driving, soccer-playing fellow named Sam Hanson. In another version of Marin’s life, her parents never divorced, though she still battles with her overbearing mother on a near daily basis. This Marin spends most of her time smoking cigarettes in the park with her boy-crazy best friend, Whitney, and working at a grocery store with Sam Hanson. Sam clearly likes Marin, though he’s also the No. 1 desire of her ex-friend, golden girl Hannah. Is it possible that the two different versions of Marin’s life could end up in the same place? The two timelines are demarcated through the use of different fonts, and the author does an impressive job crafting two distinct Marins—one bolder, one more timid—who nevertheless feel like the same person. The prose is always alive, as when Marin (who loves to dance in both timelines) shows Sam her moves: “I sank into the motions immediately. Lifting up, folding over, then up again. Swinging an arm out to the side, and most of my body with it, then the other. Spin, collapse, rolling up off my toes, reaching and reaching and folding and hurting—the song was about being trapped, trying to get out, get free….” The story compellingly demonstrates how human relationships are always multifaceted, no matter how history shakes out.
A well-crafted YA novel about the various ways one makes it to adulthood.Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9798987256725
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Bare Ink
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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