A compelling tale that explores queerness, friendship, and love.
Coming out as bisexual? Not easy. Admitting you love your best friend? Potentially disastrous.
The summer before senior year, Claire Kemp totals her beloved car, Lars, her ticket to escaping her financially struggling family—mom, dad, and younger brother, Chris. Lars gave Claire the freedom to take aimless drives through the suburbs outside Philly and spend time with the person she secretly loves: her trans best friend, Sophia. Unsure whether Sophia, who dates boys, is attracted to girls too, Claire is afraid to reveal her feelings. Instead, she has her first queer sexual relationship with classmate Pen. To pay off the expenses related to her accident, Claire takes a job at a nursing home, where she befriends Lena, an 85-year-old lesbian who serves as a valuable mentor and guide. Claire also learns that Chris is closeted and gay, and the siblings’ journeys to embracing their sexualities are intertwined. Written in free verse, the first-person narration follows Claire’s inner experiences as she navigates queerness, shares her inner hopes and fears, and shows readers how to find true freedom. The story moves quickly, combining introspection with action, and is likely to appeal even to reluctant readers. Most characters read White by default.
A compelling tale that explores queerness, friendship, and love. (author’s note) (Verse fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9780374388430
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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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