The Darlings in Love

December 15, 2011
"The Darlings"--Jane, Natalya and Victoria--return in this tumultuous tale of first love (The Darlings Are Forever, 2011). Having successfully navigated the transition to high school, the best friends now face their first serious relationships. Natalya gets a second chance at love when former crush Colin suddenly reappears in her life. Actress Jane embarks on a new romance with her stunning but mysterious co-star, Simon, while Victoria happily continues dating Jack. However, the façade of these seemingly perfect relationships soon starts to crumble, as love, like life, quickly becomes complicated. Kantor consummately conveys both the heartache and joy of first love. As the trio moves through the peaks and valleys of their relationships, they emerge slightly heartsore but infinitely wiser. Through the girls' dating dilemmas, Kantor contemplates such topics as honesty, personal integrity and the importance of maintaining one's own identity within a relationship. The strength of the tale lies in the girls' steadfast, mutual support: Their friendship endures through advice given and not taken, remaining solid when things go awry. While the girls may struggle with the complexities of life and love, readers will be confident that this resilient trio will prevail. (Fiction. 13 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2012

Gr 8-10-In this sequel to The Darlings Are Forever (Hyperion, 2011), three close friends with appealing and distinctive personalities support one another through the ups and downs of romance during their first year in high school. Victoria's boyfriend, Jack, has more in common with his friends than with her. Natalya has a crush on her chess partner, Collin. He seems to share her feelings even though he has a girlfriend who Natalya knows and likes. And drama queen Jane falls for the handsome boy who acts opposite her in Medea, but he isn't sure he's straight. The girls' stories are well defined, and they develop on parallel tracks. But until readers realize that the protagonists go to different schools, interactions among them can be slightly confusing. Realistically, they meet up and connect through texting, and it's their warm and lighthearted banter that makes this novel stand out. At the same time, these are strong characters, each of whom has developed a life away from the others. Secondary characters, too, feel worth knowing. In fact, Jane's classmate, Michael, the sometimes-irritating director of Medea, may be waiting in the wings for her. None of the stories ends predictably, and enough loose ends are left for readers to want to spend more time with such pleasant company.-Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
Grades 7-10 The three Darling friends may be at different schools, pursuing their own interests, but they are still there for one another when it counts. Natalya's crush on Colin might actually develop into something more, if she is reading his signals right. Victoria's relationship with Jack seems steady, but his involvement in a band means he's around an old girlfriend. Jane gets pushed by Mark to be in his cast of Medea, opposite the gorgeous Simononly Simon isn't sure if he is straight. The plot strategy of following one girl for a chapter, then switching to another girl with the next chapter, moves this sequel to The Darlings Are Forever (2011) along at a breakneck pace. The three girls are multidimensional (albeit sometimes shallow) and realistically drawn. Girls will see parts of themselves in at least one character. Fans of the Gossip Girl and Princess Diaries series will want more escapades.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)