Heartfelt and moving, with enjoyable paranormal elements.
After losing her best friend, a teen who’s fascinated by the paranormal attempts to move on.
Natalie Nakada and her best friend, Imogen Lucas, used to spend summer vacations together at the Harlow Hotel, a popular haunted site in Estes Park, Colorado. Then, a year ago, Imogen passed away suddenly due to an undiagnosed congenital heart condition. Following lots of therapy, Natalie’s ready to tackle her senior project: filming an audition for the TV show Ghost Chasers: Teen Investigators at the Harlow Hotel. But she’s dismayed to learn that “killjoy” classmate Leander Hall—a New York transplant who insults everyone in his column in the school paper—will be there, too. For Leander, it’s personal. He reveals that his widowed mother was exploited by the hotel’s resident medium, Madame Althea, and manipulated into relocating to Colorado. Natalie agrees to help prove she’s a fraud, although she’s torn when Madame Althea can seemingly communicate with Imogen. Natalie also glimpses what might be Imogen’s ghost. Turk explores friendship, self-esteem, grief, and memory in a deftly paced narrative that toggles between flashbacks to Natalie’s history with Imogen and the present, in which romantic feelings begin to grow between her and Leander. Eventually, Natalie makes peace with her journey, coming to honor Imogen’s confident belief in her potential. Natalie was raised by her Japanese American mom; her biological father, a grad student from Scotland, isn’t in the picture. Imogen and Leander are cued white.
Heartfelt and moving, with enjoyable paranormal elements. (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780316703444
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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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