Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Phoebe's cousin Leonard sports rainbow sneakers and offers makeover tips at Phoebe's mom's salon. Not everyone appreciates Leonard's individuality; he's bullied by a local thug and one day disappears. Characters rich with personality at the beginning are, in the end, overwhelmed by the book's too many big messages. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly
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Lecesne, the Academy Award-winning writer of the film short Trevor, turns out a stunner of a first novel, using a deliberately leisurely pace to develop a careful view of a smalltown New Jersey community-and then shattering it. Phoebe, the ruminative 15-year-old narrator, is appalled when the orphaned son of her uncle's ex-girlfriend moves in with her fatherless family: it's not just that 13-year-old Leonard shows up in pink-and-green plaid capris, a midriff-baring T-shirt, platform sandals and pierced ears-"I like different. I am different," Phoebe explains to readers-but "something about him seemed to invite ridicule. Like he was saying, go on, I dare you, say something." Soon Leonard wins over Phoebe's mother, who operates a hair salon, and her clients, as he prescribes exactly what they need to release their inner beauty. But before these characters harden into types, the mood blackens, not unexpectedly but nevertheless horrifyingly. Lecesne is an artist with small details, using them liberally both to heighten his characters' world and to plant material whose significance emerges only much later. A somewhat didactic ending does not dim this book's pleasures nor flatten its complexities; readers are still left to wrangle with ambiguities and unmeasured depths. Ages 12-up. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal
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Gr 8 Up-The small coastal town of Neptune, NJ, is thrown for a loop when flamboyant and flashy Leonard, 14, arrives to live with the Hertle family. His cousin Phoebe, 15, resents his inclusion and watches with annoyance as he proceeds to join the high school drama crowd and give her mother's beauty parlor clients makeovers of body and mind. When Leonard goes missing, Phoebe begins to realize that she had not been able to see beyond his six-inch platform sneakers; his love for others and his desire to be loved in return touched the people of Neptune more deeply than anyone had expected. As she struggles to make sense of his disappearance, she leans on Travis, her wrong-side-of-the-tracks boyfriend who had at an earlier time accosted Leonard. This novel touches on myriad sensitive topics, including incest, shoplifting, wounded veterans, abandonment, sexual identity, and hate crimes, giving the book something of a crowded feel. Still, the frank tone of Phoebe's narration and the tragedy of Leonard's abbreviated life will give readers plenty to ponder.-Nora G. Murphy, Los Angeles Academy Middle School (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Arriving on the Jersey shore, flamboyant Leonard Pelkey stomps into Phoebe's life on platform sneakers and complicates her disconnected family relationships. Befriended by blue-haired old ladies, Leonard's makeover enthusiasm garners him both friends and enemies. When Leonard's body is recovered after his sudden disappearance, Phoebe and her family must address their conflicted feelings about Leonard's murder and his absence in their lives. Armchair detectives, the Iraq war and sexual molestation all crowd their way onto the pages of this meandering narrative. Leonard's enthusiastic personality, though reminiscent of the fabulous Billy Bloom from James St. James's Freak Show (2007), never forges a similar emotional connection with readers and leaves them feeling exhausted. Electra's expositional 11th-hour speech concerning the nature of good and evil is a drastic departure for the character, and seems more pontificating than heartfelt. As a character and narrator, Phoebe's self-involved nature makes her entirely forgettable, and her improbable relationship with Travis, Leonard's killer, is another cheap manipulation. Lecesne's work on the Trevor helpline serves as a beacon of hope, but this bloated narrative clouds the issue of homophobia and teen sexuality. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.