April 15, 2023
Just as former teen lovers reconnect, a natural disaster rips them apart. Five months after torching her relationship with Alfie Thanasis; running away from her parents, who divorced following a scandal; and giving up her spot at Sarah Lawrence College, 18-year-old Mia Clementine is crashing in her best friend Simi's college dorm room in San Francisco and looking for a job. She runs into Alfie in a coffee shop with another girl and flees--but later phones him only to have the call disconnect as a massive earthquake rolls through the city. Mia, initially joined by Simi, embarks on an epic quest through the rubble to find Alfie. As Mia meets people who influence both her physical and spiritual journeys, the trip starts to take on a mythic dimension, while, in alternating chapters, Alfie unspools the tangled story of their relationship. Although religious faith is an important part of the story, both Mia's parents' Evangelical Christianity and Alfie's parents' Greek Orthodoxy are treated one-dimensionally. It's initially hard to invest in Mia despite Simi's and Alfie's affection for her, so her gradual transformation into a more evolved and aware person isn't as believable and doesn't have the emotional impact it should. The tear-jerker ending adds to the overall sense that this is a book to elicit emotion rather than evoke it. Mia and Alfie are White; Simi is a Punjabi Sikh American, and supporting characters reflect the diversity of the setting. A teen melodrama without sufficient depth. (Fiction. 12-16)
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April 17, 2023
Eighteen-year-old, white-coded Mia Clementine must navigate sudden natural disaster to atone for past mistakes in Crossland’s enlightening debut. Following a public scandal involving her mother’s affair with her town’s pastor, Mia has spent the past five months running away from her strict evangelical Christian upbringing. She’s also been avoiding her sweet, accommodating white-coded ex-boyfriend, Alfie Thanasis. But after she runs into him at a coffee shop and flees, Mia yearns to make amends. She reaches out to him via phone call, and the two teens are tentatively reconnecting when a massive earthquake hits, separating them once again. As Mia sets out onto San Francisco’s devastated streets to find Alfie, she encounters strangers along the way who dispense advice that forces her to confront her isolating behaviors. Alternating chapters featuring Alfie’s second-person perspective as he lovingly recounts his and Mia’s relationship, while Mia’s reflective yet stubborn first-person voice drives the present-day timeline. The novel’s drawn-out pacing diminishes suspense, and Mia’s slim characterization makes some revelations feel unearned. Even so, the fully realized, intersectionally diverse supporting cast and fervent discussions about religion imbue this surreal-feeling character study with intensity. Ages 12–up. Agent: Mollie Glick, CAA.
June 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 Mia and Alfie were inseparable until Mia's family imploded, and Mia pushed everyone away. Five months later, Mia has given up her dream of attending Sarah Lawrence and is in San Francisco, sneakily staying in best friend Simi's dorm. A chance sighting of Alfie sends her into a panic attack, and she bolts. She decides to call him, only to have their conversation interrupted by a magnitude-7 earthquake. Once she's out of the building, Mia and Simi set out on an odyssey through the hellscape that is now San Francisco. They encounter others who serve as guides, especially for Mia. Eventually, she has to complete her quest alone. The chapters alternate between Mia's first-person present and Alfie's second-person past narratives. The sections are linked with a repeated phrase at the beginning and the end of each passage, subtly done and not contrived. Emotions enhanced by terror run high, leading to a draining, heartbreaking conclusion. Readers will undoubtedly love or hate the ending, indicating the depth and power of the narrative and the characters.
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