An overly introspective dive into the murky landscape of lies, love, and forgiveness.
A pair of queer small-town teens grapple with the loss of their friend.
As she begins her senior year, Beatriz Doughtery, who’s Irish and Colombian, is still grieving her dead boyfriend, Bryce, who took his own life when they were in ninth grade. His death hangs over Bea and her diverse friend group; to cope, Bea has distanced herself, hiding under her newly adopted goth look. When Santiago Espinosa returns to Vermont from California to look after his abuelo and finish high school, Bea’s furious. While almost everyone else welcomes him back, as far as she’s concerned, Santiago has been MIA since the funeral, leaving her to make sense of things without her childhood best friend. But Santi has been struggling, too: When he left town, he wasn’t on speaking terms with Bryce, and in the wake of Bryce’s suicide, that’s been an unbearable weight. Now, he’s seeking the connection with Bea that he’s lost. The story is told from both their perspectives, allowing readers further insight into Santi’s and Bea’s broken hearts. But the will-they, won’t-they drama of forgiveness drags as Beatriz and Santiago circle around each other, their collective guilt and formidable lies gnawing at them. The impact of Bryce’s suicide is prevalent throughout this novel, whose characters desperately try to reconcile themselves with their memories of a friend and urgently attempt to live in the moment.
An overly introspective dive into the murky landscape of lies, love, and forgiveness. (content warning, resources) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781250891389
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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