School Library Journal Starred Review (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Gr 9 Up-A resplendent novel from the author of The Sky Is Everywhere (Dial, 2010). Fraternal twins and burgeoning artists Jude and Noah are inseparable until puberty hits and they find themselves competing for boys, a spot at an exclusive art school, and their parents' affections. Told in alternating perspectives and time lines, with Noah's chapters taking place when they are 13 and Jude's when they are 16, this novel explores how it's the people closest to us who have the power to both rend us utterly and knit us together. Jude's takes are peppered with entries from her bible of superstitions and conversations with her grandmother's ghost, and Noah continuously imagines portraits (complete with appropriately artsy titles) to cope with his emotions. In the intervening years, a terrible tragedy has torn their family apart, and the chasm between the siblings grows ever wider. Vibrant imagery and lyrical prose propel readers forward as the twins experience first love, loss, betrayal, acceptance, and forgiveness. Art and wonder fill each page, and threads of magical realism lend whimsy to the narrative. Readers will forgive convenient coincidences because of the characters' in-depth development and the swoon-worthy romances. The novel's evocative exploration of sexuality, grief, and sibling relationships will ring true with teens. For fans of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl (St. Martin's, 2013) and Melina Marchetta's realistic fiction. See author Q&;A, p. 152.— Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal

Voice of Youth Advocates

As twins, Noah and his sister Jude Sweetwine struggle with the gift of almost telepathic closeness and a parallel burden of jealousy and anger. Their viewpoints alternate in this richly plotted novel, with Noah telling the sections when they are thirteen, and Jude the parts where they are sixteen and she is a reluctant student at the California School of the Arts, which Noah had hoped to attend. Both are artistically gifted.Noah wrestles with his social insecurity, emerging homosexuality, and fear that Jude has ruined his only friendship with Brian, a new boy. Jude, although a popular, surfboarding daredevil, feels eclipsed by their mother's admiration for Noah's drawings. When a tragedy devastates their lives, the twins seem to switch personalities. About to lose her place in the highly competitive arts school, Jude inveigles a master sculptor to mentor her. She then tries to resist her attraction to the mentor's other protÚgÚ, a plot angle which adds a second set of well-drawn characters and back stories. The twins finally find the courage to admit a pair of guilty betrayals of each other after Jude discovers something Noah has known since they were thirteen.An intricate and absorbing work of art emerges from the details of the interlaced sections. Few novels about twins capture so well the rewards and challenges of Noah and Jude growing into Noah and Jude, or the way in which people who have loved us remain in our minds after their deaths.Katherine Noone.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Twins Noah and Jude are inseparable until misunderstandings, jealousies, and a major loss rip them apart. Both are talented artists, and creating art plays a major role in their narratives. Both also struggle with their sexuality-Noah is gay, which both thrills and terrifies him, while Jude is recovering from a terrible first sexual experience at age 14, one of two important reasons she has sworn off dating. Nelson (The Sky Is Everywhere) unravels the twins- stories in long chapters that alternate between their perspectives. Noah-s sections are set when the twins are 13, Jude-s at age 16, giving readers slanted insights into how their relationship deteriorated and how it begins to mend. The twins- artistic passions and viewpoints suffuse their distinctive voices; Noah tends toward wild, dramatic overstatements, and Jude-s world is wrapped up in her late grandmother-s quirky superstitions and truisms. Readers are meant to feel big things, and they will-Nelson-s novel brims with emotion (grief, longing, and love in particular) as Noah, Jude, and the broken individuals in their lives find ways to heal. Ages 14-up. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Sept.)

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

Starred Review When Noah's mom suggests that he and his twin sister, Jude, apply to a prestigious arts high school, he is elated, but Jude starts simmering with jealousy when it becomes clear that their mother favors Noah's work. Noah soaks up the praise, though a little callously, happy to hone his painting skills and focus on the guy across the street, who could be more than a friend. Fast-forward three years, and everything is in pieces. Their mother has died in a car crash, and Noah, who wasn't accepted to art school, has given up painting, while Jude, who was accepted but is no longer the shimmering, confident girl she once was, is struggling in her sculpture class. All her clay forms shatter in the kiln; is her mother's ghost the culprit? Determined to make a piece that her mother can't ruin, Jude seeks out the mentorship of a fiery stone carver (and his alluring model, Oscar). Nelson structures her sophomore novel brilliantly, alternating between Noah's first-person narrative in the years before the accident and Jude's in the years following, slowly revealing the secrets the siblings hide from each other and the ways they each throw their hearts into their artwork. In an electric style evoking the highly visual imaginations of the young narrators, Nelson captures the fraught, antagonistic, yet deeply loving relationship Jude and Noah share.

Horn Book

Jude (a girl) and Noah are fraternal twins; once very close, they now hardly speak to each other. The reasons for their estrangement gradually come to light over the course of the novel through the twins' alternating voices from different points in time (Noah at thirteen, bullied for being gay; and sixteen-year-old artist Jude). A compelling meditation on love, grief, sexuality, family, and fate.