A love story with classic beats and a unique rhythm.
Reyna still has feelings for the hometown boy who left to become a global pop phenom—but now he’s back staying at her family’s hotel and nothing will ever be the same.
When Reyna’s Mummy got sick more than two years ago and passed, the Plumeria Hotel became a lovely yet suffocating weight atop Reyna and her future. Now 17 and without much help from her relatively carefree father, Reyna essentially runs the hotel, leaving no time for her friends, her art, or boys. But Aiden isn’t just any boy; he’s the Grammy-winning songwriter for the soca EDM trio DJ Bacchanal, and he has only gotten cuter in the years since he left Reyna and Tobago for life in the States. When Aiden, his band mates, and their glamorous friends book the luxury villa at the Plumeria, Reyna’s relentless focus on work won’t be able to protect her from potentially being hurt again. Dass uses flashbacks to build dramatic tension in the story as readers see past relationships develop and present ones frayed by the sense that Reyna’s future is both limited and lonely. Jane Austen fans will enjoy this reimagining of Persuasion while some readers may be frustrated by the will-they-won’t-they element. Reyna communicates and narrates with an earnest and relatable amount of self-doubt and a propensity to deny obvious truths. Most main characters are Afro-Caribbean.
A love story with classic beats and a unique rhythm. (playlist) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-301852-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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
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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