Entertaining, witty, and often funny—but also oddly old-fashioned.
English best friends Kaz and Ruby, in post-breakup recovery mode (from Tom and Stu, respectively), head to Remix, a three-day music festival, to reboot.
White Ruby’s older brother, Lee, was supposed to look after them, but he’s distracted with world travel plans and his fracturing romance with Owen. Biracial Kaz knew Tom would be at Remix, but his new girlfriend, Lauren, is a surprise. Running into Stu distracts Ruby from her tough choice: whether to repeat a year at St. Felicity’s, in order to continue on a university-bound track with Kaz, or leave school and find a new path. The girls chase the guys and follow each other through chaotic hordes of campers and celebrity hounds at the teeming festival, where alcohol in vast quantities is the drug of choice. The hot, mainly male stars fans have come to see—and hopefully bed—are as much a draw as the music. Through ups and downs, the girls’ friendship is less about mutual empowerment than offering a shoulder to cry on or remedy for a hangover after getting dumped or drunk. Characterization is uneven. Stu and Ruby are a lively duo, but despite her multicultural surname (Asante-Blake) and hair, Kaz is culturally monochrome. Belying the contemporary setting and multitudinous references to snogging, condoms, and sex toys, the female characters’ passive to downright submissive behavior—and unsettlingly retro disparity in gender roles overall—seems drawn straight from the 1950s.
Entertaining, witty, and often funny—but also oddly old-fashioned. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9775-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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