Hurricane Kiss

February 1, 2016
Two teens find themselves alone as a Category 5 hurricane threatens Houston. Jillian lives next door to River, her school's former football star gone bad. The two white teens flee the hurricane with River's father, but they're quickly stuck in gridlock, with all the other evacuees. With the storm looming, River and Jillian feel they are sitting ducks, so they leave his stubborn dad with the car and run back to Houston to shelter in their empty, sturdy high school. Once they break in, the two flash back on incidents that reveal their back stories. As the book alternates between the viewpoints of Jillian and River, readers slowly learn why River was sent to juvenile detention and how his authoritarian and abusive football coach inflicted such damage. However, he saves Jillian's life during the storm and finally tells her his story. Blumenthal uses the chaos and violence of the storm as an effective backdrop for River's story, and the aftermath of the storm, with its massive cleanup, reflects the beginnings of his recovery. Readers expecting a romance between Jillian and River will finally be satisfied, but the focus remains on the character development of the two teens. Exciting descriptions of the savage storm sustain the suspense nicely. A neatly wrought, effective survival tale. (Fiction. 12-18)

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March 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Jillian McKay and River Daughtry, two teens residing in Houston, quickly learn about what it takes to survive a storm-and life, for that matter. Jillian is not looking forward to spending time with River, the formerly popular and laidback quarterback who recently returned from a stint at juvie. Since they're next-door neighbors, they end up traveling together in River's dad's truck, running from a catastrophic category five hurricane. Nevertheless, River determines that the storm is arriving sooner than planned and resolves to take shelter back at their abandoned local high school. Waiting out the storm, Jillian and River reveal their secrets, including why River was sent to a juvenile detention center. Both confront their pasts and recognize that survival is about more than just staying alive-it's about fighting for yourself. A touching story mixed with breathtaking survival, the work was inspired by the author's real-life encounter with a terrifying storm. This will be a quick read for some reluctant readers. However, alternating points of view in flashbacks might confuse others-weakening the plot and prolonging the story. VERDICT A general purchase for school or public libraries in need of more young adult romance novels.-Krista Welz, North Bergen High School, NJ

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