Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2015
320 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Wryly funny, generous-hearted, garnished with sun, surfing, and shave ice—a genuinely literary beach read for young adults.
Lea Lane has lived in between all her life.
Part Hawaiian, part Mainlander. Perpetual new girl at school. Hanging in the shadow of her actress mother's spotlight. And now: new resident of the prominent West family's guest cottage.
Bracing herself for the embarrassment of being her classmates' latest charity case, Lea is surprised when she starts becoming friends with Will and Whitney West instead - or in the case of gorgeous, unattainable Will, possibly even more than friends. And despite their differences, Whitney and Lea have a lot in common: both are navigating a tangled web of relationships, past disappointments and future hopes. As things heat up with Will, and her friendship with Whitney deepens, Lea has to decide how much she's willing to change in order to fit into their world.
"Starred Review. Wryly funny, generous-hearted, garnished with sun, surfing, and shave ice - a genuinely literary beach read." - Kirkus
"Set against a lush Hawaiian backdrop, Hemmings's (The Descendants) first YA novel holds few surprises. The Wests are a stereotypical pretentious family, while Lea's "I'm not good enough" mantra gets to be repetitive." - Publishers Weekly
"A perfect complement to the shelves of readers who follow Jenny Han and E. Lockhart. Grades 9-12." - Booklist
"Recommended purchase for collections where contemporary teen fiction flies off the shelves." - School Library Journal
This information about Juniors was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kaui Hart Hemmings is the author of House of Thieves, a collection of short stories, and The Descendants, a New York Times bestselling novel and Oscar-winning film for best adapted screenplay. Her most recent novel, The Possibilities, has been optioned for film by Jason Reitman.
Kaui lives in Hawaii with her family.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
