Enjoyable enough but predictable and lacking in depth.
A Black high school senior on Long Island falls for her archnemesis.
Despite her mom and best friends insisting she should relax and enjoy the summer, Rochelle Coleman is determined to get her first job in order to round out her college application. She’s obsessed with attending the same Ivy League school as her ma and late dad. Rochelle is willing to do anything to get in—even rebuffing her childhood friend, Afro-Latine Amira Rodriguez, whose social butterfly personality feels too distracting. When Rochelle lands a job at Horizon Cinema, the local Black-owned theater, she’s surprised to learn that Amira not only works there but will be her boss. Rochelle’s prickly, competitive personality causes her to clash with her new coworkers and inadvertently hurt Amira’s feelings. But when a series of mishaps lead to the revelation that the Horizon is in financial trouble, the teen crew comes together to save the theater and find the culprit behind the pranks. All the while, Rochelle is trying to understand her growing feelings for Amira. The story contains several popular tropes, including an opposites-attract romance and a small-town business rescue, but it’s lacking in nuance and rich character development. The process of solving the mystery isn’t suspenseful and the guilty party’s identity feels obvious. The novel’s diverse cast of primary and secondary characters is both welcome and refreshing, however.
Enjoyable enough but predictable and lacking in depth. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9780063359949
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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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