An entertaining adventure that blends several tantalizing ingredients.
In this YA novel, best friends collaborate in a Parisian baking contest while they track down the story behind a family photograph.
Book 1 of this series saw Jake McGreevy going on a treasure hunt in Ireland. In the sequel, Jake teamed up with friends to investigate his mother’s death and a missing masterpiece. Now, it’s spring break 2013, and Jake and his best friend, Ben Meyers, both 15, are flying to Paris to participate in an international televised baking contest for teenagers at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. They also hope to research an old photo likely taken in Paris that belonged to Jake’s mother. The search leads them to Esther Shneyer, a sister of Jake’s late grandmother. Esther tells them the family was separated during the Holocaust. Esther’s mother, Dahlia, sent her three girls to safety while she remained behind to hide the treasured possessions of families that had fled or been deported. The photo includes a clue to the hiding place, so the boys hope to discover the heirlooms’ whereabouts in between competitions. They gain some allies, including Esther’s granddaughter Sophie Lévy and Heather Baker, a fellow contestant, but face opposition from suspicious gendarmes. Will the boys’ ingenuity—as bakers or detectives—pay off? In his third series installment, Vogel offers several strong hooks. The story’s tragic historical background is dramatic and includes tales of inspiring heroism while also shedding new light on Jake’s complicated family, a throughline in the series. “I thought I was just Irish, and now I might be French and Jewish, too,” he muses. Suspenseful action scenes take readers through the sights of Paris while the baking contest is lighthearted fun, with mouthwatering descriptions of treats and some slapstick (Jake always manages to spill something on Heather).
An entertaining adventure that blends several tantalizing ingredients.Pub Date: May 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-9850814-3-0
Page Count: 171
Publisher: MB Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A poignant and romantic coming-of-age tale.
The boy she believed was the fated love of her life dies; now a 17-year-old girl must find a new future—and a new version of herself.
After the death of her boyfriend, Beck, and her military family’s latest move, Amelia Graham tries for a fresh start. On her first day at her new school, she nearly hits fellow senior Paloma with her car but ultimately finds a new friend in her. After months of being depressed and alone, Lia realizes she’s living again. And then there’s the boy. Although she feels an immediate connection, Lia stays away from him, trying to honor her love for Beck. But Isaiah is there when Lia needs support, and she’s increasingly drawn to him. As the past recedes, Lia realizes that who she was with Beck wasn’t all she’ll ever be. Told through Lia’s first-person point of view and moving between past and present, this story covers heartbreak, healing, and learning to live when the person you lived for is gone. Upperman’s writing is engaging, and although the emotions are heavy, an undercurrent of hope snakes through the narrative, growing brighter as Lia comes back to life and begins to see that the future holds multiple possibilities. Central characters present white; Paloma is cued Latine.
A poignant and romantic coming-of-age tale. (A Geographical History of Amelia Graham) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464217784
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
