Year on Fire
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling author Julie Buxbaum explores the blinding power of lies, the tight grip of family secrets, and the magic of first love in this poignant novel about a trio of friends and the allure of romantic feelings that fractures their bond as they struggle to remain true to themselves while building back the grounding friendship on which they once relied.
It was a year on fire. They fell in love. Someone was bound to get burned.
The Spark: Just days before the start of junior year, a spontaneous kiss and then a lie shake the very foundation of the friendship between best friends Immie and Paige. Immie’s twin brother, Arch, knows something, only he’s not talking. Some loyalties run too deep to be broken by accidental betrayal.
The Fuel: Enter Rohan, new to Wood Valley High by way of London, who walks into school on the first day completely overwhelmed by his sudden move halfway around the world. When Paige calls dibs on him—he’s too cute to ignore—Immie is in no position to argue, certainly not after taking the fall for the disloyal kiss. Too bad for Immie that Ro feels like the best kind of familiar.
The Kindling: Former lab partners Arch and Jackson, Paige’s ex-boyfriend, have never considered themselves more than friends. But sometimes feelings can grow like flames fanned by the wind.
The Flames: When the girls’ bathroom at Wood Valley is set ablaze, no one doubts it’s arson. But in this bastion of privilege, who’d be angry enough to want to burn down the school? Answer: pretty much everyone.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Four 16-year-olds' emotionally tumultuous junior year is further complicated when their Los Angeles high school is targeted by an arsonist. Twins Imogen and Archer Gibson, cued white, and Paige Cohen-Chen, who is Jewish and Chinese American, have been best friends since seventh grade. But tensions rise between them after Arch kisses Paige's now ex-boyfriend, Jackson. In a desperate attempt to protect her brother, Immie claims the betrayal as her own and resolves to make it up to Paige. So after Paige expresses romantic interest in a new student from London, brown-skinned Rohan Singh, Immie steps aside. But when their school's east wing is set aflame and Immie and Ro's feelings toward each other intensify, the friends' relationships begin to implode under the weight of their combined lies and omissions, concealing acts of self-harm, domestic abuse, and further betrayal. Portrayals of healthy teen romance provide a hopeful backdrop as family trauma and insecurities come to light and the group works to rebuild their friendship. Told from four alternating perspectives, Buxbaum (Admission) employs a limited third-person narrative, illustrating often-striking differences between the teens' distinct internal monologues in this tender exploration of love and loyalty. Ages 12–up.
