Rose, Elle Gonzalez. Caught in a Bad Fauxmance. Random House/Joy, 12/23. 320pp. Fiction. Trade $18.99. 978-0-593-64579-6. GRADES 8–12. ADDITIONAL.
Two feuding families gear up for high-stakes competition during winter break at their lakeside homes in Florida. Trouble ensues when their teen sons enter into a faux relationship (“fauxmance”) that turns serious. Julian, whose mother is Korean and father Cuban American, and Devin, who is Latino, are well-developed characters whose fraught, sometimes humorous, relationship forms the book’s emotional core. Less convincing are some of the secondary characters, including both dads, whose actions seem unnecessarily cruel and capricious given the overall tone of the story. Devin’s dad, for example, acquires pig blood to fill water balloons for a Christmas Day prank, and he uses the family’s beloved vacation home as collateral for a trivial bet with his rival. The story veers from rom-com to something darker, with the misdeeds of the fathers never fully addressed.
Jenny Andrus—Independent