A solid but unexceptional coming-of-age story for reluctant teen readers.
In this novel in verse, a teen girl finds herself at journalism camp in the city.
The summer before senior year, Teegan is devastated when she discovers her best friend, Maria, is going on a road trip to look at colleges without her. Used to following in Maria’s shadow, shy Teegan realizes she needs to pursue her own dreams, and her parents plan for her to spend two months at journalism camp in New York City. At camp, she’s partnered up with Marcy: They’ll be assigned a new beat each week to cover, writing stories that culminate in a newspaper final project at the end of the summer. Teegan is wowed by bold recent high school graduate Marcy, who introduces herself as bisexual and explains that she plans to go backpacking through Europe when camp is over instead of to college. As the summer passes, Teegan comes out of her shell and realizes she’s attracted to Marcy—but what will happen to their relationship when the summer’s over? Even though the sparse verse stays close to Teegan’s emotional first-person perspective, the character growth and romance feel sudden since, unfortunately, the adventures in New York City happen mostly off the page. The sweet discovery of sexuality redeems this otherwise ordinary story. Despite the diverse urban setting, characters default to White.
A solid but unexceptional coming-of-age story for reluctant teen readers. (Verse novel. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-9785-9562-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: West 44 Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
Fluffy and not particularly memorable.
A teen finds himself sharing a room with the boy who broke his heart.
Charlie von Hevringprinz has achieved his dreams of transitioning and attending Valentine Academy for Boys, located in Au Sable Forks, a tiny town in “middle-of-nowhere upstate New York.” When he arrives, he’s appalled to find that even though he requested and paid for a single room, he was assigned a roommate: Jasper Grimes, the handsome poet who broke Charlie’s heart when they were at Shakespeare camp before his transition. Charlie comes off as intellectually snobby and frustratingly lacking in self-awareness; meanwhile, Jasper’s terrible boundaries do nothing to subvert the first impression of him as an entitled rich boy. Unfortunately, their character development doesn’t do enough to add vulnerability or depth to these initial impressions, making it hard for readers to feel butterflies over their romantic drama. The Saint Valentine–themed private boarding school setting is a classic of the genre, however, and as a backdrop, it contributes to an enjoyably campy vibe. The writing is pleasantly readable, but the plot is reminiscent of clichés from internet fandom, something reinforced by the title, which references an old meme. If fans of queer young adult romance make it to the second half, they’ll find that the story does become more interesting, ultimately ending on a sweet, romantic note. Charlie and Jasper read white, while the supporting cast contains racial diversity.
Fluffy and not particularly memorable. (map) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781250347657
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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
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