A vibrant, twisty, and entertaining yarn about an unlikely transplant growing deep roots.
A newly orphaned Los Angeles street punk, deposited in the countryside, learns to love the land in this coming-of-age YA novel.
Fifteen-year-old Ry Kinkead hangs around drug dealers and sex workers and cultivates sardonic alienation in an LA slum, but when his mother, Evangeline, overdoses, he’s sent to live with his deceased father’s sister, Thalia Kinkead, and her husband, Pete—both complete strangers—on their Loam, California, ranch. Ry warily settles into a family seething with tensions between Thalia, who’s snobbish and racist; the sympathetic but beaten-down Pete; and their obnoxious teenage son, LG, who hates working the land. Ry does, too, but he grudgingly does “useless farm crap” on the family’s cattle and walnut ranch, dreams of LA, and hangs with two new classmates: Paulie, the son of Mexican farmworkers and a provider of decent cannabis, and Melissa, who helpfully criticizes Ry as their relationship deepens. Ry’s attitude changes when he encounters a runaway horse belonging to neighbor Frame Ellis. In exchange for riding lessons, he helps out on Frame’s organic farm; he has a conversion experience when he realizes that “everything underneath my feet was freakin’ alive….If there’d been a church devoted to cucumber worship, I would’ve joined.” Then someone is involved in a catastrophic accident, Ry’s horse faces unforeseen difficulties, and a mysterious letter reveals dark family secrets. Smith’s fish-out-of-water tale features colorful characters sketched through evocative details, as when Pete is described as moving “like a few bones were doing all the work and the rest were just kicked back for the ride.” The novel also offers a rich, fine-grained portrait of rural life seen through the eyes of an exasperated young outsider. Ry is an appealing Gen-Z Huck Finn, an urban wiseass who slowly grows a horse-whisperer’s soul: “It took me a couple of seconds of frantically holding on to the saddle horn to understand the beat of the ride….My hips moved with that, a rhythm shared with Cherokee while everything else fell away.” The result is a captivating read.
A vibrant, twisty, and entertaining yarn about an unlikely transplant growing deep roots.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
