A teenager longs for his dead girlfriend.It's been one year since Adam's girlfriend, Marybeth, died in a freak drowning accident. Adam doesn't mourn alone. Marybeth was known to the world as "Sunshine," a singer/songwriter who touched the world with her melodies. Adam was her guitarist, joining Sunshine on stage and becoming famous as well, but that fame can't help him cope with his loss. When a mysterious agency shows up on Adam's doorstep offering to clone Sunshine and bring her back from the dead, Adam can't resist helping them reconstruct her memories. Adam soon finds himself on a mysterious Pacific island, surrounded by scientists all day and hanging out with a strange, young woman named Genevieve by night. The unfolding story has a repetitive nature: Adam enters a memory, has reservations, is reassured, repeat. There's a large valley in the middle where very little happens. As Adam helps rebuild Sunshine's memories, readers get peeks into the couple's troubled past, but there's not much to surprise them in it. The quandary surrounding cloning is poked at here and there, but the conclusion feels inevitable, and readers will get antsy as the author slowly marches toward it. The primary cast seems to be a largely white one. An overlong and under-thought sci-fi exercise. (Science fiction. 14-17)

Ten years in the future, scientists involved with the secretive Project Orpheus are bringing back the dead through cloned cells and preserved memories. After the famous singer Marybeth-known to her fans as Sunshine-drowns, 17-year-old Adam, her guitarist, onetime boyfriend, and confidant, is called into service so that his harvested memories can fill in the gaps to help her cheat death. Using this thought-provoking framework, debut author Koosis leads readers through a labyrinth of moral, spiritual, and emotional dilemmas explored through complex characters grappling with loss. Marybeth comes to life, so to speak, through Adam-s detailed recollections: their initial meeting in foster care, the patchwork family they created and lost in a bus crash, and the weight of coping with her death. Adam-s new friend Gen, daughter of Project Orpheus-s founder, becomes his lone ally, but the project itself is rife with paradox as Adam resists saddling the clone with the same heartbreak that contributed to the real Marybeth-s demise and characters question why only the wealthy get to play God. Koosis-s philosophical tale thoughtfully examines the ambiguity of what makes us who we are. Ages 13-up. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. (Oct.)

Gr 8 Up-When Sunshine died almost a year ago, the world mourned the singer. Adam Rhodes, Sunshine's boyfriend and backup guitarist, wishes he could process his grief in privatefor Sunshine and the girl she used to be when she was still called Marybeth and they were growing up in foster care. Instead, Adam settles for dulling his senses with alcohol. When Dr. Elloran shows up at his door, he expects her to be another reporter or fan. Instead, she offers Adam the impossible: Elloran plans to use cloning and Memory Archiving Port (MAP) technology to bring Sunshine back to prove to the world (and Elloran's investors) that Project Orpheus can resurrect the dead. If Adam plays alonghelping this new Sunshine remember the final days of her life and restoring other degraded memories—he'll have the chance to see Marybeth again. As Adam remembers the tragedy that led to his and Sunshine's fame, he is forced to confront painful memories of her death and begins to question if his decision is right for anyone. Simplistic and utilitarian world-building, including poorly explained technology, ground this sci-fi novel in 2026. A slow start and weak execution detract from a potentially intriguing premise. Koosis raises some interesting questions about cloning, depression, and suicide, but her prose falls short of insightful answers. VERDICT Short chapters will appeal to reluctant readers willing to go along with the often tedious plot. Possibly for readers looking for something in the vein of Adam Silvera's More Happy Than Not .— Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library

Musician Sunshine died a year ago in a tragic accident, and Adam, her guitar player and boyfriend, has been a mess ever since. When the mysterious Dr. Elloran knocks on his door and tells him that she can bring Sunshine back through state-of-the-art cloning and memory-implantation techniques, he jumps at the chance. Dr. E's only requirements are that he does exactly as she says and stops drowning his sorrows in alcohol. As he is forced to relive his painful memories while Dr. E studies them for implantation in Sunshine, he starts to wonder if Dr. E and he want the same thing. Dr. E wants the famous musician Sunshine, but Adam just wants Marybeth, the girl he fell in love with, the girl who was not famous for wearing a yellow dress, the girl who was not marred by tragedy.The premise of Resurrecting Sunshine raises deep, ethical questions that teens, especially those who have lost someone, will find interesting to contemplate. Adam is a conflicted character, torn between what he wants most in the world, and what might be best for the girl he loved. The reader is aware that Adam is hiding from something, and will feel for him as he struggles to rectify the overwhelming joy of seeing his lost love with the knowledge that he can protect her from her painful past, even if it means he loses her. If at times the plot twists are a bit predictable, it is easily forgiven since the tension involving Adam's choices is expertly crafted.Jen Baker.