A fascinating story of adolescent love and betrayal.
A teenage girl spends the summer doing penance for her romances with two boys. The problem was—and still is—they're brothers.
Molly's summer of 99 days looks bleak. Because of her indiscretions, her relationship with her best friend is strained, she's ostracized by her peers, and she feels like she's lost her second family, the Donnellys. She's also resentful of her fiction-writer mother, who spilled the beans by making a best-seller out of Molly's confession of impropriety to her. And now, after her senior year away at a boarding school, Molly's back in her hometown, trying her best to hide out before she leaves for college. The first night back, Julia Donnelly, protective sister of Molly's love interests, brothers Gabe and Patrick, eggs her house. Molly soon runs into Gabe and tentatively starts seeing him while trying her best to avoid run-ins with Patrick, whom she left brokenhearted. But when she sees Patrick with a girlfriend, she is discombobulated by her own feelings; she struggles with twin guilts: from hurting him as well as her own desires. Molly's emotional growth is the strong propeller of the plot; she's a totally engaging, multifaceted character. Kind and with a quirky sense of humor, she's also precociously stalwart in the face of Julia's unrelenting torment and others' constant scrutiny. Drama-filled flashbacks fill in the dots of the back story.
A fascinating story of adolescent love and betrayal. (Romance. 13 & up)Pub Date: April 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-221638-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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
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