Lea's mother is a quasifamous actress with a new role that has led the family to move back to Hawaii. Despite her mother's profession, they are hardly flush with funds, so it's a bit of a culture shock when Lea finds herself living in the guest house of an incredibly wealthy classmate, Whitney West, and attending a first-rate high school. Hemmings allows the action to deliberately unfold, letting Lea show readers what it's like to feel out of place in so many ways. Not only is she not as rich as those around her, she is also a hapa teen only part Hawaiian and is drawn to Whitney's brother despite the obvious chasm of difference between them. Friendship and romance brush cheek to cheek in a story that deals frankly with race, class, and culture while also managing to wonderfully portray the luminous, dreamlike setting of Hawaii. A perfect complement to the shelves of readers who follow Jenny Han and E. Lockhart.--Howerton, Erin Downey Copyright 2015 Booklist

Lea Lane, daughter of a single mother and B-list actress, is a self-conscious and mostly unnoticed junior at the prestigious Punahou Prep School in Hawaii. When the Wests, a wealthy family with longtime ties to Lea's mother, offer the use of their gorgeous guest house rent-free, Lea balks, especially since the West children, Whitney and Will, also attend Punahou. Though daunted by their affluence and social power, Lea grows attracted to Will and befriends Whitney, who reveals a side Lea has never seen at school. Lea's confidence increases, but so do her concerns about these new relationships-and how much of herself she should abandon to pursue them. Set against a lush Hawaiian backdrop, Hemmings's (The Descendants) first YA novel holds few surprises. The Wests are a stereotypical pretentious family, while Lea's "I'm not good enough" mantra gets to be repetitive. By book's end, Lea has gained some perspective and a better sense of who she is, but some readers may wish she had gotten there sooner. Ages 14-up. Agent: David Forrer and Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Moving to Hawaii and enrolling at prestigious Punahou midyear, Lea feels isolated and, despite her island roots, uncertain where she fits in the complex cultural mosaic; everything changes when her mother, Ali, accepts Eddie and Melanie West's offer of their guesthouse in upscale Kahala. Lea misses easygoing, windward Oahu, where her longtime summertime friend, Danny, Punahou senior and, like her, part-Hawaiian, lives, but it's hard to argue with free housingschool fees eat a big chunk of her mother's TV-acting income. As her friendship evolves with the Wests' kids, Will and Whitney, also at Punahou, Lea benefits from Whitney's status at school, but she's unsettled by Whitney's rapport with Dannyand unbalanced by her own attraction to Will, who has a girlfriend. Eddie, Ali's old flame, takes a perplexing interest in Lea, while Melanie makes adroit social use of Ali's celebrity, dragging her to parties and wangling access to her co-stars. As in The Descendants (2007), Hemmings turns her plot on intergenerational family complexities and contradictions, secrets and revelations. Appealing and volatile, Lea's a quintessential teen, by turns hypersensitive and hypercritical, impulsive and cautious, insightful and clueless. Hawaii, Hemmings' closely observed home turf, is more than interesting wallpaper; details of island life (including tensions among natives and newcomers, locals and vacationers) resonate with theme and plot. Wryly funny, generous-hearted, garnished with sun, surfing, and shave icea genuinely literary beach read. (Fiction. 14 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

New girl in school Lea is surprised when she bonds with rich Whitney and Will West, whose parents own the Hawaiian cottage where Lea and her mom are staying. But Lea learns that living in this privileged world comes at a cost. Despite an awkwardly rendered romantic conflict, the novel is appealing, in part because of its vivid, exotic setting. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 10 Up-Attending an elite private school and having a semifamous actress for a mother don't keep Lea Lane from feeling like an outsider. She is part Hawaiian, part "mainlander," and living in the guest cottage of the wealthy West family only complicates her life further. Lea carefully maneuvers through evolving relationships with her childhood friend Danny, her mother, and especially their benefactors, the inscrutable West clan. Hemmings's writing is expressive and poignant, accurately portraying the oppressive confusion, desire, and self-doubt a teenage girl can face. Jorjeana Marie is always clear and understandable, but her unusual enunciation and breathy tone can sometimes be distracting. Readers will enjoy experiencing a bit of native Hawaiian language and lifestyle, and many teens will identify with Lea's stress as she navigates the high-stakes world of high school dating and friendship. VERDICT While this would be a highly recommended purchase for any library serving a significant population of Hawaiian teens, it does not stand out in the overcrowded category of general teen fiction to be recommended as anything other than a supplemental purchase for most teen libraries. ["Recommended purchase for collections where contemporary teen fiction flies off the shelves": SLJ 8/15 review of the Putnam book.]-Tara Hixon, Piedmont Public Schools, OK © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.