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 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
A great read offering entertainment, encouragement, and plenty to reflect upon.
A gay teen contends with time travel—and homophobia through the decades.
All Cuban American Luis wants is to be prom king with his boyfriend, but tiny upstate New York boarding school Antic Springs Academy, with its strict, Christian code of conduct, won’t even let them hold hands in public. After a disastrous prom committee meeting at which his attempt to make the event welcoming of queer couples is rejected by the principal, Luis gets quite literally knocked into the past—specifically, ASA in the year 1985. There he meets Chaz, a Black student who attended the school at the same time as Luis’ parents and who died under mysterious circumstances after being bullied for his sexuality. Luis now faces a choice between changing the past to help Chaz and preserving his own future existence. Fortunately, he has Ms. Silverthorn, a Black English teacher and beloved mentor, who offers him support in both timelines. The narrative explores the impacts of homophobia and being closeted, remaining optimistic without shying away from the more brutal aspects. Luis is a multifaceted character with an engaging voice whose flaws are confronted and examined throughout. The solid pacing and pleasant, fluid prose make this a page-turner. Luis’ boyfriend is cued as Chinese American, and his best friend is nonbinary; there is some diversity in ethnicity and sexuality in background characters, although the school is predominantly White.
A great read offering entertainment, encouragement, and plenty to reflect upon. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0710-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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