A redemption story about loving both well and wisely that doesn’t coalesce.
Star-crossed lovers get a science-fiction spin in this time-travel tale.
It’s 2083, and having survived her attempted-suicide-by-knife, 18-year-old Juliet “Jules” Capulet is surly and scarred, unromantic but still reckless, while Romeo Montague remains in a coma. She and the other Settlers are squatting in a ruined London while the rest of humanity became Travelers, using pods to escape to the future. Meanwhile, Heathcliff Ellis is a Deadender, plucked from an imminent demise to save humanity and able to jump around in time. Tasked with waking Romeo and, circuitously, ensuring his own future/past, Ellis scrambles to save the reluctant Jules. Certainly not the first time-traveling or dystopian Shakespearean retelling, this melodrama delivers a grungy end-times aesthetic even as it suffers from shaky logic and repetition. Also wearisome is the gimmick that self-avowed Shakespeare-fan Jules is writing Romeo and Juliet to add to the classic canon. Barker crams in many quotes from across the Bard’s oeuvre, often without attribution and out of context; while readers who are ardent Shakespeare fans may recognize and appreciate them, for others it renders this futuristic tale unevenly archaic and disjointed. Romeo and Jules are cued as White; Ellis is black.
A redemption story about loving both well and wisely that doesn’t coalesce. (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-17410-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
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
A worthy second-chance romance.
In this follow-up to 2021’s Better Than the Movies, a 20-year-old college freshman gets a second chance at his dreams.
After the death of his father and his mother’s subsequent physical and emotional disappearance, Wes Bennett left behind all of his plans and the girl he made them with to go home and take care of Sarah, his younger sister. But now, Sarah has graduated, his mom is back on her feet, and by some miracle, Wes has an offer to pitch for UCLA’s baseball team. Liz Buxbaum, the girl he’s always loved, works for the university’s athletic department, taking photos and video of the team for social media, which means that maybe he can have a second chance at love, too. But since Wes left, Liz has made every effort to protect herself from ever feeling that broken again; there’s no room for love, because she doesn’t believe in it anymore. Or she doesn’t want to. This second-chance sports romance includes fake dates, quippy and quirky best friends, real heartache, and the sweet ache of first love. The clever dialogue keeps readers from drowning in the main characters’ emotional push-and-pull. Reading the first novel isn’t necessary for appreciating this one, although knowing the full history between Wes and Liz will only add to the ache and longing readers feel from and for them. Main characters are cued white.
A worthy second-chance romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665947138
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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