Thrilling. Positively thrilling.
Queer teens get their James Bond moment—and then some.
After his latest foster mom betrays him, sophomore Nicolas Hall winds up in a conversion therapy prison in California called the Institute. As inmate Number Seventy, Nico narrowly (but cleverly) escapes, promising to come back and save his friend Bec. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, James Bond–obsessed Samuel Solomon gets dumped by his boyfriend. Since “007 got his heart broken once too,” Sam tries to be “Bond-tough.” But it’s harder than it looks, and Sam’s therapist encourages him to focus on One Good Thing. Fate eventually brings Nico and Sam together in Mexico at a resort—though both of them are using aliases. Their romance is swift and sweet, until it all comes crashing down. The two boys get separated, but not before Sam learns the truth about Nico’s situation. As the police close in, can the would-be boyfriends bring down the Institute for good even when they’re miles apart? Wind’s latest effectively channels the Bond canon while reflecting the flaws of its poster boy’s toxic masculinity. The alternating third-person narration keeps the pace moving while also building anticipation of the boys’ first meeting. As the teens overcome each obstacle with almost debonair ease, this roller-coaster ride to a happy ending feels like wish fulfillment. Nevertheless, it’s refreshing to see queer kids saving each other—and finding love. The main cast reads white.
Thrilling. Positively thrilling. (list of aliases, author’s note) (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781641609500
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Duet
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance.
A Connecticut girl and her best friend devise a series of plans in order to achieve their goals: following a dream and winning back an ex.
Eighteen-year-old Audrey Barbour has a Master Plan: attend Blue Ridge Glass School in North Carolina and someday turn her Etsy shop, Golightly Glass, into a thriving business. But her uber-wealthy parents insist that she instead follow in their footsteps and go to business school. So Audrey decides to go find the tuition money she needs with help from her best friend, Henry Chen. Henry needs a favor, too: He hopes that fake dating Audrey will help him win back his ex-girlfriend, and he points out to a reluctant Audrey that this could make her crush, Griffin, notice her. While Audrey’s parents vacation in France for three weeks, the pair rent out the Barbour mansion on the Long Island Sound. Soon romantic chemistry grows alongside their business partnership. Despite the pair’s great preparation and an abundance of secondary characters with connections and talents to help pull off their increasingly ambitious ideas, plans go awry, leaving Audrey and Henry scrambling and second-guessing their choices. The pacing is even, but the characters often take a back seat to the whirlwind of activity that drives the plot, with the emphasis falling on each person’s practical skills and their role in keeping the action moving over their emotional bonds. Audrey is white, and Henry’s surname cues him as Chinese American.
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593904794
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans.
Romantic complications between a trained killer and one of her captors drive this sequel to Watch Me (2025).
Appealing to readers who prefer their romantic dramas to be light on action and heavy on long passages of banter, bitter sibling arguments, and tortured reflections, Mafi continues the tale of Rosabelle Wolff, the flaxen-haired assassin from the dystopic Reestablishment, and magnetic, “impossibly stunning” James Anderson, her nemesis-turned-lover who’s still trying to take down the regime. Now desperate to accomplish several secret missions, Rosa easily escapes from one of The New Republic’s prisons, where she was left in the series opener, and, dressed in “a little kid’s cat onesie,” eludes all pursuers except for James, who can seemingly find her at will. Enigmatic Rosa responds unpredictably to many human contacts—including with violence, temporary death (one of her abilities), or a sudden panic attack. Along with the central pair of rivals and lovers, James’ older brother, Aaron, shares the narration. Bestseller Mafi tucks in several subplots, including, notably, a cameo from Juliette Ferrars, the protagonist of the original Shatter Me series, who’s undergoing a scarily difficult pregnancy. Amid the slowly simmering rising action, the author delivers a revelation and a twist that set up a potential series climax. Some ethnic diversity is present in the supporting cast.
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans. (Dystopian. 14-adult)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780063419056
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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