An adorkable love story about being true to yourself.
Evie Whitmore has a lot of secrets.
She doesn’t need the allergy pills she keeps in her bag, she has no idea what she wants to do with her life, and she’s a die-hard fan and closeted cosplayer of the Elven Realms book series. When she goes on a senior class trip to Venice with her Art and Architecture Club, she knows she should concentrate on the project she’s doing with her reluctant, brooding partner, Gabriel Martinez, but Elven Realms, which is set in Venezari, an alternate Venice, has a secret fan club—and Evie’s determined to find it. She’s always been a rule follower, but sneaking out every night to find the club is worth the risk. When she meets a mysterious masked boy who’s on the same mission, they click. Evie attempts to balance her nightly escapades with daytime tours and research, falling for both Gabe and the mystery boy, all while trying to keep her fandom tendencies a secret. This solid if predictable love story will engage romance readers and cosplayers alike with its enjoyably nerdy capers. The logistics of the Elven Realms club, which is located in a formerly abandoned palace that the series’ author helped purchase and is run by volunteers who hold nightly events, requires some suspension of disbelief but adds to the overall magic of the sweet romance. Evie is cued white, and Gabriel presents Latine.
An adorkable love story about being true to yourself. (Evie’s Guide to the Elven Realms) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780593647875
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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