Charmingly fun.
Three friends search for love on an auspicious Halloween night.
Legend says that every hundred years, magic awakens in the town of Moon Ridge, and this Halloween marks 400 years since the town’s founding. For Apollonia “Onny” Diamante, this is the perfect time to use her late grandmother Lola’s last gift: her notebook. It contains a recipe for a love potion that awakens the possibility of love. Onny hopes it’ll bring her together with her crush, Alexander Abernathy—if only she could stop getting sidetracked by her skeptic of a lab partner, Byron Frost. Meanwhile, her best friends, gifted with shares of Lola’s potion, are a little less sure of its magical efficacy. For shy Ash Lee, this night might spur him to make a bold move on his crush, Cassidy Rivera. Burned by an ex and a believer only in the concrete and rational, love is not on True Tandon’s agenda, but a meet-cute with uber-friendly Orion Parker, a paranormal phenomenon enthusiast, may test her (dis)beliefs. The authors imbue their characters with genuineness that makes the narration engaging and the romances a delight. The three intertwined stories, each following one member of the trio, play with beloved romantic tropes. By the end of the night, each protagonist has met their match and, more importantly, found confidence and a new outlook. Onny is Filipina American; Ash is cued as Chinese American, and True is biracial, with German and Indian heritage.
Charmingly fun. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-79723-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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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