Starts out strong, but ultimately fizzles out.
An insightful, if not entirely successful, exploration of the effects of trauma on memory and identity.
In the powerful opening pages, readers meet a teenage girl who has obviously been through some kind of trauma involving an explosion. Unsure what has happened or even who she is, the girl (eventually going by Blue) feels compelled to just keep moving in the direction she thinks is home, and so she does, eating whatever scraps she can scrounge and sleeping wherever she can find a safe enough bit of space. The chapters that describe her journey are labeled “Now,” and they are interspersed with chapters labeled “Before,” in which readers gradually learn about Blue’s story up until the moment of the explosion, including her foray into the world of dating and sex with the handsome, popular boy down the street and her parents’ decision to move across the country. In a strange addition to an offering that seems to be striving for emotional and psychological rawness, Blue meets an apparently magical dog named Shadow who impels people to do Blue favors by mesmerizing them with his eyes. The before-and-after structure ultimately undercuts suspense, as the narrative loses momentum, and readers become weary of waiting for Blue to arrive at answers they’ve long known.
Starts out strong, but ultimately fizzles out. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-618-95961-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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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