A fluffy romp with authentic teen dialogue, cardboard characters and a plot gone rogue.
As a key member of a spy family, 17-year-old Maggie Silver discovers that allowing BFF Roux and boyfriend Jesse to get swept up in her exciting lifestyle has unforeseen consequences, including getting her friends into some seriously dangerous situations.
Raised from the age of 4 as a master safecracker, spunky Maggie is a member of the Collective, an undercover Robin Hood–style organization that works to right wrongs and prosecute bad guys. Things go badly awry when Maggie attempts to thwart a Collective member who is maneuvering to have her parents discredited and removed from the organization. High shenanigans and chases through the streets of New York erupt, with stolen Fabergé eggs, gold coins, bomb blasts and sniper attacks adding to the confusion. Maggie and friends are summarily removed by their protectors to a Paris safe house, where they meet other Collective members who have been double-crossed by the corrupt organization. Various muddled plots unravel, culminating in a denouement in the Louvre, as spies and agents try to entrap the evil Collective member. While the spy story is good fun and Maggie’s quandaries will resonate with readers, the action at times slows to a crawl with her lengthy internal monologues, and characters tend to be flat.
A fluffy romp with authentic teen dialogue, cardboard characters and a plot gone rogue. (Thriller. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8027-3604-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 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 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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