Kiss Collector

October 1, 2018
High school girls kiss boys for fun without wanting anything more.It may seem shallow to challenge your closest female friends--all cheerleaders--to kiss and walk away from as many boys as they can over spring break. In fact, it might seem even sillier that it becomes a contest, but readers can't help but relate to Zae Monroe when she's mad at the world. Catching your boyfriend sleeping with another girl would set anybody off, but Zae is particularly touchy because her parents are splitting up too. When Zae discovers her father left her family for another woman, she goes on a tear, bringing her friends along for the wild ride. It would be easy to dismiss this book as trite, but Higgins (The Great Pursuit, 2017, etc.) draws characters that are interesting and nuanced. Zae's friends are girl power goals and a feisty handful of fun. Higgins has a deft hand with teen romance dialogue. Readers will find themselves rooting for Zae as she grapples with realistic issues surrounding her family, her future, and the many men in her life. The characters are refreshingly diverse, running the gamut of ethnicities and family structures: Zae's race is unspecified, and in her circle of close friends, Kenzie is biracial (white and black), Lynn is Chinese-American, and Monica is Latinx.A lighthearted high school romance that dives into the nature of men--as brother, father, and lover. (Fiction. 14-18)

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November 1, 2018
Grades 9-12 When Zae and her girlfriends discover their boyfriends have been cheating, they don't get sad?they get even. The determined quartet, led by alpha Zae, decides to target male classmates, plant each with a provocative kiss, and then coldly dismiss the guys, just to give them a taste of their own medicine. What starts out as a spirited, tables-turning tour de force evolves into a nuanced, thought-provoking tale about searching for emotional security and figuring out the world. Higgins captures kids' inner turmoil and avoids one-sided characters and situations. Guys can be good friends and allies, Zae realizes. She wants to be single yet also wants a boyfriend. Add to this Zae's parents' painful breakup, risky situations at many alcohol-soaked parties (school conduct codes?), and the exhausting overall intensity of the high-school scene, and readers will cheer for Zae's graceful survival of it all. There's lots to ponder in this highly charged girl-power romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)