Last Chance Books

April 1, 2021

Gr 9 Up-Madeline's last summer before heading off to college isn't going as planned. Her aunt Astrid's independent bookstore where she works is going out of business, she finds out that her crush, Jasper, manages the competing bookstore across the street, and her absent mom, Dahlia, is coming to stay at the worst possible time. Madeline spends the summer trying to save the bookstore while forging relationships that she would have never expected. Madeline is quick-witted, bright, and passionate about her aunt's business. Her creativity helps her come up with ideas for pranking Jasper and ways to raise money to save the bookstore, even when her own family no longer believes in it. Jasper's family is Japanese, Madeline's ethnicity is unspecified, and minor characters are of various backgrounds. VERDICT This lighthearted page-turner is recommended for all young adult collections.-Elizabeth Gold, Midwood H.S., NY

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2021
This enemies-to-lovers romance includes a business rivalry, a deadbeat mom, and a last-gasp attempt to save a family store. Recent high school graduate Madeline Moore has grown up working at Books & Moore, her family's bookstore, and she would love nothing more than to take over running it after college. She and Benny, her half brother, have been raised in Pennsylvania by their maternal aunt, Astrid, and Benny's father, Sterling, who lives in the area. Astrid manages the bookstore while the teens' flaky mother is off trying to become an actress in California. The store's livelihood is threatened when chain bookstore Prologue opens up across the street, quickly becoming Madeline's nemesis. After an encounter with maddeningly attractive local boy Jasper Hamada leaves Madeline swooning, she discovers that his family owns Prologue, and he works there--which leads to a series of sabotaging pranks between the two. Madeline's world collapses after her aunt announces that due to financial problems, the store is going to close at the end of the summer--and that her mom is moving back. The plot moves along briskly with romantic tension, sex-positive moments, comedic beats, and Madeline's determination to save the store. Madeline has been bullied for her weight and expresses internalized fatphobia. She, her aunt, and her mother are cued as White; Benny has brown skin (he and Sterling are of indeterminate ethnicity) and Jasper is Japanese American. A solid rom-com. (Romance. 14-18)

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April 26, 2021
Principled, passionate, implied white Madeline Moore, 18, has grown up in her aunt Astrid’s Pennsylvania-based bookstore, Books & Moore, where Madeline works alongside her 16-year-old brown-skinned half brother, Benny. After college, Madeline plans to take over the store, one of the only constants in her life since their unreliable mother, Dahlia, left more than a decade ago. But when Astrid announces the store will close at summer’s end, Madeline refuses to give up, attempting to attract customers and boost sales by hosting a local chef and food truck owner, partnering with her blonde booktuber best friend, Zelda, and landing a big author for an appearance. Meanwhile, Madeline’s partaking in an ever-escalating prank war with Jasper Hamada—the “artfully put together,” infuriatingly “hot” Japanese American supervisor of Prologue, a larger competing bookstore that has recently opened across the street—and navigating her unwelcome mother’s return to her life. Rodkey offers realistically mutable characterization; though prickly Madeline sometimes fails to fully consider the consequences of her actions, her choices deepen the impact of her growth. The You’ve Got Mail–style romance is well executed in this debut, only improved by Rodkey’s cognizant depiction of the financial struggles of bricks-and-mortar bookstores. Ages 13–up. Agent: Bridget Smith, JABberwocky Literary.