A sweet love story with plenty of emotional heft...Fans of brainy romance will likely like this one.
06/19/2017
Aspiring filmmaker Linny Carson doesn’t expect to see Álvaro Herrera at a Miami Beach retirement community on her first day as a summer volunteer: the 80-something author has been missing for years and presumed dead. Linny is immediately drawn to Álvaro, confident that his story will provide insight into the disappearance of her own older sister. When 17-year-old budding astrophysicist Sebastian learns that the withdrawn Álvaro is his father, he impulsively leaves Los Angeles to volunteer at the retirement center, too. In distinctive alternating narratives, Linny and Sebastian begin to connect on multiple levels while working through their feelings regarding their parents (Linny’s expect her to follow a premed track at Princeton, but she plans to study film in California). The enigmatic Álvaro eloquently captures the lasting message of Sorosiak’s debut, an engrossing combination of romance and self-discovery: “Do not let anyone tell you that because you are young you cannot do things. That you cannot feel things. It is because you are young that you can feel everything.” Ages 13–up. Agent: Claire Wilson, Rogers, Coleridge & White. (June)
A uniquely dazzling love story—sunshine flows through every electric page, and into your heart. Carlie Sorosiak writes with neon prose.” — Harriet Reuter Hapgood, author of The Square Root of Summer
“Should resonate with fans of Morgan Matson, John Green, and Rainbow Rowell.” — Kirkus Reviews
“In this charming novel about love and missing persons, two quirky teenagers embark on personal quests but end up finding each other...will hook fans of John Green, Sarah Dessen, and Jenny Han.” — School Library Journal
“A sweet love story with plenty of emotional heft...Fans of brainy romance will likely like this one.” — Booklist
“An engrossing combination of romance and self-discovery.” — Publishers Weekly
A uniquely dazzling love story—sunshine flows through every electric page, and into your heart. Carlie Sorosiak writes with neon prose.
05/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—In this charming novel about love and missing persons, two quirky teenagers embark on personal quests but end up finding each other. Linny, whose older sister Grace slipped out one night and disappeared, spends her days chronicling famous cases of people who vanished and then came back. When she starts a summer volunteer job at a retirement community, Linny spots a well-known writer who famously disappeared three years ago and was presumed dead. Seventeen-year-old Sebastian, who's about to head to Caltech, detours to Miami Beach when he hears that the father he's never known may be there. As it turns out, Linny's writer and Sebastian's father are the same man, the enigmatic Álvaro Herrera. Linny and Sebastian bond over the respective holes in their lives, all the while pursuing Álvaro for his secrets. The romance between the two bright, mildly troubled main characters—told from both points of view, in alternating chapters—will hook fans of John Green, Sarah Dessen, and Jenny Han. Interspersed throughout, and sometimes too distracting, are details about Linny's missing persons, scenes from the screenplay she's writing about her sister, and Sebastian's thoughts on physics and philosophy. While the plot's central mysteries are perhaps too easily resolved, it's really the story of two sweet and likable teens finding love that makes this novel so appealing. VERDICT Purchase where YA romance and realistic fiction are popular.—Miranda Doyle, Lake Oswego School District, OR
2017-03-15
While both are volunteering at a Miami Beach retirement home, an aspiring astrophysicist and a young filmmaker befriend a famous octogenarian who's presumed dead. Ever since Linny's 18-year-old older sister, Grace, disappeared five months earlier, leaving nothing but a note to take care of her pet turtle, Linny has kept a journal about missing people who've reappeared after weeks, months, and years. Mixed-race Linny's Nigerian mother and "Viking" father fearfully keep a close watch on their remaining daughter and try to keep her focused on their goals of Princeton and med school. The summer before senior year, Linny is performing community service at a retirement community, where she spies 83-year-old Álvaro Herrera, the Cuban-born author of Midnight in Miami, a bestselling book adapted into a cult-movie classic. No one had seen or heard of Herrera in three years, and Linny believes if she discovers why he returned, Grace may as well. Cal Tech-bound science wiz Sebastian finds out that Álvaro is his long-lost father and immediately flies down to Miami to volunteer at the home in hopes of meeting his dad. Linny and Sebastian meet, adventure amiably around Miami on errands for Álvaro, and, predictably, fall in love. The author crowds the dual narration with occasionally distracting excerpts from Linny's journal, a work-in-progress screenplay about Grace, and quotes from Sebastian's favorite physics book. This familiar-feeling if slightly overlong debut should resonate with fans of Morgan Matson, John Green, and Rainbow Rowell. (Fiction. 13-18)
