Routine stuff but for the intriguing setting.
This second installment in the Temptations trilogy deals with a girl who joins the Amish to be with the boy she loves.
In the first book, 16-year-old Rose left home to live with an Amish family, determined to formally join the community so she could marry Noah. She copes well with the work demands put upon her, but she struggles with the ultraconservative rules that keep her from Noah, and she doesn’t learn the German dialect spoken in the community. Worse, she and Noah have made serious enemies in the Amish community, especially “creepy” Levi. When she joins the church without her father’s permission, he arranges to take her home with police intervention. Will Rose and Noah be able to keep their romance going even after they have been separated, or can they both find others to love instead? Hopkins divides the chapters among spunky Rose, solid Noah and Sam, Rose’s overconfident brother, spending most of the time with Rose. Hopkins presents a mostly sympathetic view of the Amish, despite Rose’s difficulty with their harsh rules. She never caricatures them, depicting them with as many virtues and flaws as her non-Amish characters. A vivid childbirth scene and depiction of an Amish wedding add impact. Nevertheless, the book’s main focus remains on the romance plot rather than on the interesting portrait of the Amish culture.
Routine stuff but for the intriguing setting. (Romance. 12 & up)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-373-21081-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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