Juniors

July 13, 2015
Lea Lane, daughter of a single mother and B-list actress, is a self-conscious and mostly unnoticed junior at the prestigious Punahou Prep School in Hawaii. When the Wests, a wealthy family with longtime ties to Lea’s mother, offer the use of their gorgeous guest house rent-free, Lea balks, especially since the West children, Whitney and Will, also attend Punahou. Though daunted by their affluence and social power, Lea grows attracted to Will and befriends Whitney, who reveals a side Lea has never seen at school. Lea’s confidence increases, but so do her concerns about these new relationships—and how much of herself she should abandon to pursue them. 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. By book’s end, Lea has gained some perspective and a better sense of who she is, but some readers may wish she had gotten there sooner. Ages 14–up. Agent: David Forrer and Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management.

Starred review from July 1, 2015
Moving to Hawaii and enrolling at prestigious Punahou midyear, Lea feels isolated and, despite her island roots, uncertain where she fits in the complex cultural mosaic; everything changes when her mother, Ali, accepts Eddie and Melanie West's offer of their guesthouse in upscale Kahala. Lea misses easygoing, windward Oahu, where her longtime summertime friend, Danny, Punahou senior and, like her, part-Hawaiian, lives, but it's hard to argue with free housing-school fees eat a big chunk of her mother's TV-acting income. As her friendship evolves with the Wests' kids, Will and Whitney, also at Punahou, Lea benefits from Whitney's status at school, but she's unsettled by Whitney's rapport with Danny-and unbalanced by her own attraction to Will, who has a girlfriend. Eddie, Ali's old flame, takes a perplexing interest in Lea, while Melanie makes adroit social use of Ali's celebrity, dragging her to parties and wangling access to her co-stars. As in The Descendants (2007), Hemmings turns her plot on intergenerational family complexities and contradictions, secrets and revelations. Appealing and volatile, Lea's a quintessential teen, by turns hypersensitive and hypercritical, impulsive and cautious, insightful and clueless. Hawaii, Hemmings' closely observed home turf, is more than interesting wallpaper; details of island life (including tensions among natives and newcomers, locals and vacationers) resonate with theme and plot. Wryly funny, generous-hearted, garnished with sun, surfing, and shave ice-a genuinely literary beach read. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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August 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-Growing up part Hawaiian made visiting Oahu easy for Lea Lane-playing with childhood friends, seeing her Hawaiian relatives, and surfing all came so naturally. When Lea's actress mother moves them both to the state halfway through Lea's junior year to film a new television show, nothing can prepare her for navigating the posh lifestyle in which she finds herself. Will Lea stay in the shadows or change to fit their new life? Hemmings, the author of The Descendants (Random, 2007), in her YA debut creates an interesting take on the classic coming-of-age novel by offering an appealing look into the lives of the wealthy on Oahu and an exclusive invitation into one of the country's most prestigious private schools (President Obama is an alum). A well-paced plot, fully developed and authentic characters, and a multifaceted and integrated setting will pull in reluctant and avid readers, alike. Fans of realistic fiction will eat up the intensity of Lea's angst as she adjusts to her new lifestyle, new friends, and possible romance. Talk of drinking, drugs, and sex make this appropriate for older teens. VERDICT Recommended purchase for collections where contemporary teen fiction flies off the shelves.-DeHanza Kwong, Wahiawa Public Library, Hawaii

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