School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Phyre wants to be an actress. As such, she is dramatic and self-involved. She is popular, but has a reputation for being cold and aloof because she never dates any boy for long. The 16-year-old has one longtime best friend, referred to, in an obvious plot device, as "You." In her theater studies class, Phyre comes under the spell of Mia, the student teacher. She becomes obsessed with the pretty young woman and lives for the time she can spend with her, oblivious to the effect it's having on her best friend. The story is told as a screenplay, and although the format fits the action, it also hinders it. Readers get no description or details beyond the most superficial. Phyre's crush ends as quickly as it begins. Much of the action is highly unlikely: Mia starts teaching the first day, there is no appearance of a supervising teacher, and many of Mia's actions would end her career before it began. The LGBTQ hook is weak; Phyre's crush on her teacher, her first on a female, seems to cause her little soul searching, and the failure to reveal the gender of "You" at the end is irritating. Although this novel is an easy read, it has little appeal for reluctant readers. Drama enthusiasts or girls questioning their sexuality may find it intriguing, but its purchase is strictly additional.-Suanne Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Calin's first novel, a story of romantic entanglements and self-discovery, has a few tricks up its sleeve that help it stand out from the pack. First is the pseudo-screenplay format, which has dialogue appearing between prose sections written from the first-person perspective of 16-year-old Phyre, who comes across as the star, author, and director of her story. Calin's second hook is that Phyre's closest friend is referred to only as "You," and his/her gender is never identified, recalling Steve Brezenoff's Brooklyn Burning. Phyre and "You" are inseparable until Phyre develops feelings for the school's passionate new drama teacher, Mia. Acting class exercises unleash Phyre and You's emotions, and when Phyre is cast as the lead in the school play (which blatantly mirrors Phyre's situation) she becomes increasingly distant from You while remaining blind to her friend's romantic feelings for her. With Phyre's interior thoughts and descriptions taking the place of stage notes, the novel reads more like an extended monologue than a conventional screenplay, but readers will feel as if they are sitting beside Phyre on her emotional roller-coaster. Ages 12-up. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
