The adventure, possibility, and closure that wrap up the mystery-driven, music-fueled Exile series will leave fans satisfied...
Dangerheart band manager Summer has just revealed a secret to Caleb, her boyfriend and the band’s lead singer, that turns his world inside out; once again, there is a twist regarding the presumed-to-be-dead rock star Eli White, who is also father to Caleb and Dangerheart bassist Val.
The band faces major fallout after traveling across the country on a tour that was set up, in part, as a scavenger hunt to find the recordings of Eli’s missing songs before the record label Candy Shell can find them and claim ownership. Angry parents, band turmoil, and pushy music executives abound upon their return. It is in this chaos that new information surfaces about the potential whereabouts of Eli White’s third hidden song…and perhaps even the man himself. This prompts Summer, Caleb, and Val to take matters into their own hands, traveling to London to secure answers to the questions they’ve been chasing. The drama that propels this trilogy closer is more mature than the previous novels’. Rather than teen romance and band squabbles, the characters now find themselves treading the murky waters of family, forgiveness, and self-trust as their high school lives come to a close.
The adventure, possibility, and closure that wrap up the mystery-driven, music-fueled Exile series will leave fans satisfied and hopeful. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-213401-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Several yards short of a touchdown.
A transgender boy starting over at a new school falls hard for a popular cheerleader with a reputation to protect in this debut.
On the first day of senior year, transgender boy Pony locks eyes with cisgender cheerleader Georgia. They both have pasts they want to leave behind. No one at Hillcrest High knows that Pony is transgender, and he intends to keep it that way. Georgia’s last boyfriend shook her trust in boys, and now she’s determined to forget him. As mutual attraction draws them together, Pony and Georgia must decide what they are willing to risk for a relationship. Pony’s best friend, Max, who is also transgender, disapproves of Pony’s choice to live stealth; this disagreement leads to serious conflict in their relationship. Meanwhile, Georgia and Pony behave as if Pony’s trans identity was a secret he was lying to her about rather than private information for him to share of his own volition. The characters only arrive at a hopeful resolution after Pony pays high physical and emotional prices. McSmith places repeated emphasis on the born-in-the-wrong-body narrative when the characters discuss trans identities. Whiteness is situated as the norm, and all main characters are white.
Several yards short of a touchdown. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-294317-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one.
Teens become astronauts in record time for an inaugural space mission.
After losing his family to “the greatest flood Rome has ever known,” skilled white Italian swimmer Leo Danieli would never have expected that in his darkest moment he would be drafted by the European Space Agency to attend the International Space Training Camp, where teens will train to terraform and colonize Jupiter’s moon Europa for human settlement. California native Naomi Ardalan, a second-generation Iranian-American, has also been chosen for her expertise in science and technology. During a period of violent climate change worldwide, Earth’s governments are desperate to draft teens for a space mission for which they have only a few weeks in which to prepare. Twenty-four teen finalists, many orphaned by cataclysmic natural disasters, have been chosen from all over the world to compete for this space colonization mission. Warnings come to Leo and Naomi that there is a more sinister aspect to this mission, especially after things go tragically awry with other candidates during the training. The relationship that develops between Naomi and Leo feels forced, as if their meeting necessitates speedy deployment of a romantic cliché. The use of predictable plot devices, along with the fundamentally ludicrous premise, undermines any believability that would make a reader invest in such an elaborate space journey.
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one. (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265894-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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