Review by New York Times Review
EMMA SAYLOR PAYNE, the protagonist of Sarah Dessen's the rest of the story (Balzer + Bray, 448 pp., $19.99; ages 13 and up), is a girl of two first names, and of two lives: the one she lived with her mom, Waverly, an addict who died of an overdose when Emma was 12, and the one that came after. At 17, Emma has largely been shielded from her mom's past by her dad and grandmother, but she can't help remembering the stories Waverly used to tell about the big lake with the cold, clear water where she grew up. In the summer, the stars were bright and, as her mom told it, "everything was going to be O.K." Emma might never have gone back to the lake herself except that her summer plans went awry, and with her dad and his new wife heading off to their honeymoon in Greece, she needed somewhere to stay. Thus heralds her return to a place eerily frozen in her memory, just under the surface but coming back bit by bit. Suddenly she's surrounded by relatives she hasn't seen in years but who look just like her, not to mention the best friend she had as a little girl, a boy named Roo who's as grown up as she is, now. They all call her Saylor, which is what her mom used to call her. But that's just the beginning of what Emma - or is it Saylor? - starts to uncover. Of course, the deepest mystery of all, and the most important thing to discover, is about herself. There's no magic that lets us actually live in books yet, but plunging into the cold, clear waters of Dessen's slowly winding summer-spell, a tale of family lost and found, is pretty darn close. Lovers who surmount the odds have always been intense emotional fodder, but rarely have we seen a story like Meredith RUSSO'S BIRTHDAY (Flatiron, 336 pp., $18.99; ages 14 and up). Morgan and Eric have been best friends since, basically, the day they were born at the same hospital during a freak September blizzard in their Tennessee hometown. They've celebrated every birthday together since then, through the death of Morgan's mom, through Eric's dive into football, a strategic move to please his abusive father. But there's a secret Morgan is terrified to reveal to anyone, most of all the person he cares about the most: He feels as if he should have been a girl, and being in the wrong body is very nearly killing him. Russo is herself trans, and she brings her whole heart to a story laced with pain that, in the end, lifts with hope. The "birthday" structure could feel like a gimmick - she puts us in Eric's and Morgan's bodies, alternating perspectives, for each celebration from ages 13 to 18 - but it works thanks to her characters, especially Morgan, who is true and raw, haunting and undeniable. One of the great wonders of Y. A. fiction is its power to create new narratives that replace fear and hatred with empathy and acceptance, and to show young people a path for the future that's better than what we've seen. Russo's narrative expression of the need to live one's truth, and the option of choosing love through it all, is a valuable reminder of what really matters. "HERE'S SOMETHING YOU should know about me: I'm a terrible daughter," Chloe Pierce announces in the first sentence of Kristina Forest's debut novel, I wanna be WHERE YOU ARE (Roaring Brook, 272 pp., $17.99; ages 12 and up). It'S a great Opener even though it's hardly true - Chloe, "a 17year-old black girl living in the middle of nowhere, New Jersey," is a talented dancer who dreams of becoming a professional ballerina; she's the kind of good kid most parents would kvell over. But Chloe's dad died when she was 3, and her extra-protective mom has forbidden her from auditioning for a New York City dance company, which she has her heart set on. When her mom leaves for a tropical vacation with her boyfriend, Chloe comes up with a plan: Drive herself to the audition in D.C., try out, and get a spot. After that, her mom has to say yes ... right? A road trip is a satisfying catalyst in itself; the story is further sparked by Chloe's irritating neighbor, Eli, who blackmails her into taking him - and his dog, Geezer - along for the ride, and who has his own complicated emotional situation in the works. He's also cute, and they have something of a past, creating a highly shippable will-they-won't-they dynamic. But Forest's novel offers more than romance. This is a bighearted story about being brave enough to go for what you want, even when the rules tell you something different. IN MICHELLE RUIZ KEILS ALL OF US WITH WINGS (Soho Teen, 360 pp., $18.99; ages 16 and up), a 17-year-old named Xochi is adrift in the world. She's never known her Mexican father, and has led a peripatetic existence with her white mother, Gina, and her mother's abusive ex-boyfriend. But when Gina gets out of town, it's Xochi's turn to escape the man who has, in her mother's absence, abused her, too. She finds her way to an enchanting, musical, wild and weird San Francisco, where she meets an equally enchanting 12-year-old, the brilliant-beyondher-years Pallas, the daughter of rock stars who live with a troupe of their polyamorous band members and friends in a Victorian mansion. Xochi gets a job as Pallas's "governess," and moves in with the family. That's only the beginning. During an after-party at the mansion on the vernal equinox, a night charged with all sorts of energies (and a tongue-piercing), Pallas and Xochi accidentally call up two "waterbabies," fey creatures who emerge from a tub on a quest for justice. They're after anyone who's hurt, or who is currently hurting, Xochi. Keil's ambitious debut is jam-packed with twists and depth and froth and function - the world of this novel is real, but magical, too. At times you're even in the perspective of a kind bookstore cat. The lyricism skews heavy at times, and the many side stories and voices make for a slower read, but maybe that's the point: The effect is something of a transcendent journey. Those who keep with it (drug references and sexual trauma as well as a flirtation with an older man make it better for older teenagers or adults) will find a book about embracing everything - people, lifestyles, beliefs, experiences - and, in so doing, finding your own distinct power. The very first scene in Colleen AF Venable's graphic novel KISS NUMBER 8 (First Second, 320 pp., $17.99; ages 13 and up), drawn by Ellen T. Crenshaw, is of a car parked across from a house with a "Bush/ Cheney '04" campaign sign standing in its front yard. It's an important detail to remember. Venable follows an irrepressible main character called Mads, short for Amanda, a Catholic high school student who's almost as interested in finding out why everyone's so obsessed with kissing as she is with hanging out with her beloved dad. That is, until something weird starts happening at home. Her parents are lying to her, and whatever it is, it's big. What Mads ultimately finds out is more worldaltering than she could have imagined, causing her to question her friendships, her family history, her father's beliefs and her own sexual orientation. It's not easy, but it's a necessary process in becoming the person she truly wants to be. In a Q. and A. that follows the novel, Venable notes that 2004, when she started working on the book, "was a crazy rough time to come out as queer." Stereotypes prevailed, trans representation was negligible and gay marriage wasn't legal. Venable's frequently heartbreaking recollection of the abuse and torment that people went through for being "different" - and the fact that it still happens all too frequently - is a powerful reminder of how far we still have to go. JEN DOLL is the author of the young adult novel "Unclaimed Baggage" and the memoir "Save the Date."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 9, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
Emma Saylor Payne has always been Emma to her dad's side of the family. Her mom called her Saylor, but her mom, an addict who'd been in and out of rehab, has been dead for five years now and was divorced from Emma's father five years before that. But then a twist of fate leads Emma to spend the summer at her mom's childhood home North Lake. At North Lake, Emma though everyone here knows her as Saylor reconnects with the family she hardly knows and learns about the mother she can barely remember and the place where her parents met, which is divided sharply into two worlds: the wealthy vacation spot her father visited and her mother's working-class community. And she begins to realize that she's not the girl she or her father has always thought she was. With one foot in her father's world and one in her mother's, Emma Saylor tentatively navigates issues of class, addiction, and identity. Hers is a summertime journey of self-discovery, family secrets, and first love, and it's exactly where Dessen shines brightest.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Dessen, a reliable best-seller, a Margaret A. Edwards Award winner, an all-around big deal do you even need us to tell you?--Maggie Reagan Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Dessen explores her signature themes of family and romance in this layered contemporary novel driven by anxiety-prone protagonist Emma Saylor's curiosity about her late mother's life. Emma's mother, who succumbed to an overdose in 2011, left Emma and her father clinging to each other, her father deeply reluctant to discuss Emma's mother and her family. Years later, unexpected circumstances land Emma, now 17, on the shores of the lake her mother grew up on for a several-week stay with maternal grandmother Mimi. There, she finds two communities (one working-class, one wealthy), spends time with cousins she didn't know she had, and meets the handsome boy whose father was once her mother's best friend-all while hearing stories, seeing photos, and discovering long-held secrets about her mother's wild teenage years and a single, terrible loss. Dessen takes her time building Emma's life on the lake, developing each familial relationship from the ground up, and illuminating layers of newness and personal, familial, and class conflict as Emma searches for bits of her past. A rich, patient story about a teen girl who craves family and an understanding of her roots after suffering a tragic loss. Ages 13-up. Agent: Leigh Feldman, Leigh Feldman Literary. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up--Emma Saylor's sheltered life is jostled when her summer plans are canceled last minute and her father scrambles to find her lodging before heading out of the country. With no options left, Emma crashes with Mimi, her maternal grandmother, whom she last saw years earlier at her mother's funeral. Vacationing at Mimi's lakeside motel with unfamiliar family leads Emma to reconnect with relatives who may be the key to discovering how her mom's life, and addiction, impacted the whole family's history as much as her own. Dessen has a vivid way of exploring a character's features, feelings, and flaws that leaves readers wanting more. Emma's a deceptively simple narrator whose complex reality is revealed slowly as she uncovers a new side of her family tree. Emma collects stories of her mom's childhood and her parents' relationship, leading her to reevaluate all the ways a person can love someone. At the same time, her realistic struggle of how she deals with anxiety is undeniably relatable for teens today. Ultimately, it's the budding friendship with local boy Roo that pushes Emma to see that understanding your family's past can make all the difference in accepting the memories and identity of those you hold dear. VERDICT A beautiful addition to Dessen's repertoire, and an examination of conflicting social classes, strained familial relationships, and delightfully evolving romance that is unforgettable.--Emily Walker, Lisle Library District, IL
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A sudden change of plans finds seventeen-year-old narrator Emma Saylor Paynewhose mother died of an overdose years back and whose father has just remarriedstaying with her moms large, boisterous extended family, the Calvanders, for a few summer weeks at the motel they run. Emma has essentially no memory of North Lake; she was four the last time she spent time there. Nevertheless, the Calvanders and their tightknit community for the most part welcome Saylor (the name Emmas mother preferred) with open arms and hearts. Privileged, anxiety-prone Emma quickly acclimates to the working-class environs and bonds with her relatives, soon embracing a new, more laidback identity: Emma was the rich cousinwho organized things and worried. Saylor, well, she could be anyone. Theres some light romance with a suitor from the swanky resort across the lake and with kind, hardworking local boy Roo, but Dessens (Once and for All, rev. 9/17; and other swoon-worthy vacation reads) latest novel is largely about the ups and downs of family. As Saylor explores how her mothers troubled past affects the trajectory of her own life, she encounters heartwarming reminders of the inherent connections, despite time and separation, within families. While there are many affecting interactions and some intense revelations, the plot unrolls at a leisurely pacefitting for a story about a teen savoring a lakeside summer, the people shes spending it with, and the memories they help her create (and recover). katrina Hedeen September/October 2019 p.84(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Prolific author Dessen (Once and for All, 2017, etc.) spends summer at the lake.Seventeen-year-old Emma's dentist father has just remarried, 10 years after divorcing Emma's addict mother, who later died of an overdose. Between memories of her mother, her anxious father, and Nana, her wealthy, patrician, paternal grandmother, who helped raise her, Emma's grown up more than a little anxious herself. Unexpected complications mean she has to spend the three weeks of her father's honeymoon with her mother's side of the family in the resort town where they live. Emma's mother was raised there, but Emma hasn't visited in years. The family runs an inexpensive motel on the original, working-class side of North Lake; Emma's parents met when he taught sailing lessons at the more modern, highbrow resort area called Lake North. Emma finds a place in North Lake, working and playing with her idiosyncratic cousins and their friends, but her sense of belonging is disrupted when her dad returns and he and Nana force her to move to the rich side for two weeks. There's a mild romance, mild drama, and a large cast of teenagers having a good time. Most of the characters are reasonably well drawn, though Emma's anxiety never feels particularly acute. The rich kid/poor kid developments sometimes feel stereotypical, and excepting one secondary Asian American character, everyone defaults to white.Not earthshaking but pleasant and an easy read. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
