Review by Booklist Review
A transplant to the sleepy beach town of Verona Cove, California, Vivi would stand out anywhere with her Marilyn Monroe hair and effervescent personality. When she meets Jonah, still grieving his father's death six months ago and holding his family including five siblings and a mom that can't get out of bed together, Vivi infuses his life with joy, love, and adventure. But there's a dark side to Vivi's intensity, and when her bipolar disorder rears its ugly head, she is forced to face the truth about herself. Can she stay in idyllic Verona Cove or must she return to the mess her disease left behind at home? Through dual narrators, Lord sucks readers into the fully realized world of two teenagers and their messy, honest families. As much about the fragility of the human experience as it is about mental illness, this offers a refreshing perspective on a spectrum of mental health disorders. This love story veers away from tragedy, instead firmly entrenching itself in hope and possibility.--Barnes, Jennifer Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Filled with raw, descriptive truths and told through the alternating voices of the protagonists, this story takes place in the idyllic, picturesque setting of Verona Cove, CA. Small enough for everyone to know one another yet large enough to handle a summer tourist season, this background locale is a perfect nesting spot for the poignant love story between Vivi Alexander and Jonah Daniels. The collision between the teens crests and ebbs in what seems like a far too small window of time. Instead, the story dares to allow the action to rise and fall in an organic way. Teeming with in-your-face realism, the work exposes readers to the emotional ups and downs of Vivi, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and Jonah, who is trying to hold himself, his siblings, and the family restaurant together as his mother falls apart after the death of her husband. Vivi's struggles with taking medication, and her honest discussions of her brain's chemical issues are evenly balanced with her portrayal as an artist who wants to leave her mark on the world. Jonah's quiet strength as he steps into the role his father's death left vacant and his willingness to share a piece of himself with Vivi make this a powerful book for reader engagement. The ending will have readers hoping for a sequel, though one is not needed. -VERDICT An absolute tearjerker romance with a powerful message about weightier topics of grief and mental illness.-Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Vivi and Jonah's hot summer romance is marred by her rebellion against her diagnosis of bipolar disorder and his grief over his father's recent death. Artistic and outgoing, Vivi enjoys adopting various personas through vintage clothing and retro makeup, and she becomes immediately popular in the town where she and her mom are vacationing. When she meets handsome and serious Jonah, Vivi seems as interested in the possibility of acquiring him as a hot fling as she is in cheering him up. Jonah's shocked to find himself in the cross hairs of exotic Vivi, and he initially tries to protect their romance by hiding his stress over his mother's lingering depression. Vivi's beauty and exuberant attentions dazzle Jonah, and they largely explain his patience with her increasing capriciousness and the growing emotional distance that contradicts her demands for physical intimacy. But eventually Vivi's dismissals of Jonah's growing distress about his family strains their relationship. Readers understand that Vivi has secretly stopped taking her medication, but it's still difficult to watch her illness overshadow her interest in Jonah. Ultimately this is Vivi's journey, despite her sharing narration in alternating chapters with Jonah. Aside from a Japanese police officer and the Latino chef at Jonah's family's restaurant, the book's cast is largely white. An author's note supplies some resources on mental illness. Vivi's too precocious and world-weary from the start to make her relationship with practical Jonah ever feel like it has possibility beyond the end of the summer, regardless of her diagnosis. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
