Gr 9 Up--Kyle's world is thrown into upheaval when he finds out, en route to a family gathering, that his mother is having an affair. He angrily retreats from his life, including his girlfriend and varsity baseball. As his extended family gathers repeatedly at the family farm and ultimately to say goodbye to the farm, Kyle works through his anger, leans on his cousins and sisters for support, and has tough conversations with his parents--eventually finding closure with all of his life changes. This book is an exploration of what it means to love people in spite and because of their imperfections--and how to reconcile those imperfections with our expectations. The themes explored are worthy and complicated, yet the writing falls short of Zarr's own standard. With a large cast of characters, Zarr provides a nuanced depiction of the adults and gives them rich inner lives; yet this is done at the expense of the teen characters, Kyle in particular. His character is defined entirely by circumstances and his obsession with his cousin Emily. VERDICT An additional purchase for teen-serving libraries where there is a high demand for realistic fiction.--Susannah Goldstein, The Brearley School, New York City

High schooler Kyle Baker has always been close to his large extended family--he looks forward to their reunions at his grandparents' Northern California farm and dreams of continuing the tradition with his girlfriend, Nadia. His ideas about family and tradition are shattered, however, when he finds out that his mother is having an affair. Kyle turns inward, ghosting Nadia and his baseball team; the only person he can confide in is his cousin Emily, but she lives miles away and has her own set of problems. Then Kyle gets another blow when he learns that his grandparents are going to sell their farm. In a story about broken dreams and unwanted change, Zarr (Gem & Dixie) skillfully conveys Kyle's emotional journey as his narrow view of reality shifts and expands. Using a third-person narrative, she explores Kyle's point of view while acknowledging other characters' concerns, including aromantic Emily's uncertainty about her sexuality, half-Mexican cousin Martie's acute awareness of prejudice within the white family, and Kyle's estranged older sister's anger at their parents. A moving slice of realism, this book shows how a family crisis impacts many aspects of one boy's life. Ages 14--up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Apr.)

Kyle's life is nice: perfect girlfriend, baseball buddies, nice house, nice family. But all that falls away when Kyle's dad mentions he's dealing with a secret: Mom is having an affair. Now it's Kyle's secret. Consumed by this, Kyle distances himself from his girlfriend, baseball, and friends. Trusting only his favorite cousin and confidante Emily, he texts everything that's on his mind and tells her the secret can't get out until after the family's final summer trip to his grandparents' farm before it is sold. Emily, miles north, is always a text away, but each time her response isn't immediate, his anxiety elevates. When the secret explodes at his grandparents', Kyle learns that family is more than the feelings and actions of one person. The farm beautifully represents both the joy and the sadness Kyle feels in life, making it the centerpiece of the story. Despite uneven pacing and Kyle's odd, near-romantic obsession with Emily, readers who have felt crippling anxiety or who bear the burden of a deep secret will want to read this.

How to pretend like everything is fine according to Kyle Baker. Divided into four parts, Zarr's (contributor: Life Inside My Mind, 2018, etc.) latest begins with Kyle bringing his first girlfriend, Nadia, to Thanksgiving on his grandparents' farm. Like any other family, the Bakers have their share of quirky members and nuanced relationships. But to Kyle, they are happy and normal--as normal as his family can be, at least. Then tragedy strikes in Part 2 when Kyle learns that his mother is having an affair and both of his parents instruct him not to tell anyone, including his sisters and girlfriend. Kyle emotionally shuts down, cutting class, avoiding Nadia's attempts at confrontation, and bailing on his baseball team. The one person Kyle longs to confide in is his cousin Emily, who is asexual and/or aromantic and who doesn't live nearby. While bearing the burden of his parents' secret, he discovers that his grandparents plan on selling their farm. Some readers may resonate with Kyle's difficulty at navigating frustration with his parents and loneliness within his own family, but his intense feelings of intimacy toward Emily, prompting his sister to joke about marriage between cousins, may prove off-putting, and his overall character arc is lacking in resolution. Most main characters are cued as white; some of Kyle's relatives are Mexican American, and there is implied diversity in the supporting cast. A lukewarm family drama. (Fiction. 13-17) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.