No More Us for You

December 1, 2008
Carlos is obsessed with red licorice candy; Isabel is haunted by the anniversary of her boyfriend 's death. One afternoon the two meet in an art gallery —introduced by Vanessa, a spunky, straight-talking mutual friend —where Carlos works as a security guard. Sparks don 't exactly fly, but there 's enough curiosity to promise the possibility of romance. The pair 's first double date with Vanessa and Carlos 's friend Snake, however, ends in tragedy. At its heart, Hernandez 's second novel is a peculiar one: It 's not exactly a page-turner, but it has enough simple appeal to thrill a broad readership. A complex patchwork of imagery, voices and allusions comes together easily, nearly mirroring one of the collages in the gallery where Carlos works. Death and the fear of it pervade the novel; both Isabel and her parents harbor a near-innate paranoia about their mortality. Meanwhile, hot brushfires scorch the California coast and the novel 's backdrop like a smoky, sunny afternoon in Hell. The smart, sophisticated, yet remarkably accessible writing melds everything together with slow-burn effects, and the characters are dead-on (so to speak). A smoldering read. (Fiction. YA)

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 1, 2009
Gr 9 Up-Carlos has a new job at the Long Beach Contemporary, a local art museum. His accounts of hanging with his friends Snake and Will at the bleachers, seeing a bizarre guy who pees on the floor at the museum, his girl tossing him aside for another guy she slept with, and meeting his coworker Vanessa are interspersed with Isabels, a girl he doesnt know, though she goes to his high school. Her chapters begin as she is preoccupied with her boyfriends death nearly a year earlier; later, they focus on her friendship with Vanessa, who pulls the two narrators into the same sphere. Aside from having loving parents, Isabel and Carlos seem to have more than their share of disappointment and tragedy when their first date at a Valentine dance ends with friends wrenched from their lives in a dreadful car accident. This slice-of-high-school-life captures reality, though Isabels voice doesnt read quite as true as Carloss. Readers will need to stick with the first half to get to a far more rewarding second half. Those who do may be touched by the hope the teens must garner to risk caring for one another in the wake of loss, a hope that Hernandez nicely embodies through skillful narrative structure and evocative language."Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Grades 9-12 Seventeen-year-olds Carlos and Isabel narrate in alternating chapters the story of how they are drawn together across several weeks. Set in current day Long Beach, California, the teens lives and friends are vividly and realistically portrayed through dialogue, plot-driven action, and the protagonists interior emotions. Hernandez provides credible voices and compelling personalities for all of the teens as well as for the few adults who pass through their awareness. A lotperhaps too muchhappens in the course of the short period covered: Isabel, who has already experienced a boyfriends death the year before, now loses afriend in the same car accident that places Carlos best friend in a coma; other incidents include another girls pregnancy and vandalism at the museum where Carlos works as a guard. While the pace of unfolding events leaves little time to reflect on the details, Carlos and Isabel remain engaging, and the tension created by their growing attraction is brought to a satisfying denouement. These are realistic characters that teens will easily recognize and respect.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)