A sweet story that combines realistic relationships with an intriguing, fantastical premise.
Drama between friends gets messier when a girl is brought back from the dead.
When 17-year-old Wilson Moss enters Welcome Back, the competition held in her hometown every decade that allows the winner to bring one person back from the dead, she never expects that she’ll win, but that’s exactly what happens. Wilson chooses Annie LeBlanc, her former best friend who died on her 18th birthday, to be resurrected. Complicating matters, Annie has only 30 days on Earth before she must return to the afterlife. Ryan, the third member of their formerly close-knit trio, is furious—she’s still angry about the falling out between the three of them prior to Annie’s death. For her part, Wilson is desperate to fix the trio’s friendship—she’s been incredibly lonely since their fight, and she thinks there might be a way to keep Annie alive for good. As the days to Annie’s second death rapidly count down, Wilson must navigate a complicated web of past hurts and lies to bring both friends back in her life. The story is fresh and well executed, simultaneously feeling both perfectly convincing and truly bizarre. Wilson herself acknowledges that her obsession with reuniting her friends can come across as off-putting, truthfully mirroring the challenges of navigating the ebbs and flows of teenage friendships. Wilson’s and Ryan’s queerness is thoughtfully written, and the romantic relationships are tender and believable. Main characters are cued white.
A sweet story that combines realistic relationships with an intriguing, fantastical premise. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781250290069
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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 lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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