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MORE OR LESS MADDY

This story would serve young adults dealing with mental health issues and anyone who seeks to understand them.

A diagnosis of bipolar disorder derails a young woman’s college experience.

Maddy Banks has just finished her freshman year at NYU when she has her first episode, seemingly out of nowhere. High school was a breeze, though she allowed her boyfriend to monopolize so much of her time that she graduated without friends. Then he broke up with her, and she spent the next year grieving instead of partaking in college life. When mania hits, Maddy believes Taylor Swift wants her to write her biography and Netflix wants to give her a comedy special. The lows involve cutting and suicidal acts. For the next year or so, Maddy, her mother, and her older sister try to adjust to a new normal that includes medication, hospital stays, therapy, sobriety, and mood check-ins—a two steps forward, one step back dance that trips them up more than it keeps them in sync. Genova has a great grasp of bipolar disorder and how it can manifest in daily life. The story is told from Maddy’s perspective, which provides a firsthand account of manic depression but also limits the book’s possibilities. Maddy grew up in an affluent Connecticut suburb, and she’s the definition of sheltered. The other characters, who might have provided a more rounded picture, have no depth. Maddy’s mother relishes her role as a trophy wife, her stepfather is a rich afterthought, and her older brother and sister are perfect, establishing Maddy as the black sheep of the family. The setup feels stale considering how much mainstream discourse around mental illness has changed in the last decade. Selena Gomez made a whole documentary about bipolar disorder, but Maddy doesn’t even seem to Google it. Genova makes Maddy’s interest in standup comedy a central part of the story, meaning she had to write some funny bits for her character; she clearly studied the subject and deserves kudos for taking the risk, but the novel stays firmly in the territory of after-school specials.

This story would serve young adults dealing with mental health issues and anyone who seeks to understand them.

Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025

ISBN: 9781668026168

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024

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THE ACADEMY

A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.

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A year in the life of the No. 2 boarding school in America—up from No. 19 last year!

Rumors of Hilderbrand’s retirement were greatly exaggerated, it turns out, since not only has she not gone out to pasture, she’s started over in high school, with her daughter Shelby Cunningham as co-author. As their delicious new book opens, it’s Move-In Day at Tiffin Academy, and Head of School Audre Robinson is warmly welcoming the returning and new students to the New England campus, the latter group including a rare midstream addition to the junior class. Brainiac Charley Hicks is transferring from public school in Maryland to a spot that opened up when one of the school’s most beloved students died by suicide the preceding year. She will be joining a large, diverse cast of adult and teenage characters—queen bees, jealous second-stringers, boozehounds young and old, secret lesbians, people chasing the wrong people chasing other wrong people—all of them royally screwed when an app called Zip Zap appears and starts blasting everyone’s secrets all over campus. How the heck…? Meanwhile, it seems so unlikely that Tiffin has jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the boarding-school rankings that a high-profile magazine launches an investigation, and even the head is worried that there may have been payola involved. The school has a reputation for being more social than academic, and this quality gets an exciting new exclamation point when the resident millionaire bad boy opens a high-style secret speakeasy for select juniors in a forgotten basement. It’s called Priorities. Exactly. One problem: Cinnamon Peters’ mysterious suicide hangs over the book in an odd way, especially since the note she left for her closest male friend is not to be opened for another year—and isn’t. This is surely a setup for a sequel, but it’s a bit frustrating here, and bobs sort of shallowly along amid the general high spirits.

A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025

ISBN: 9780316567855

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025

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CIRCLE OF DAYS

Vintage Follett. His fans will be pleased.

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A dramatic, complex imagining of the origins of Stonehenge.

In about 2500 B.C.E. on the Great Plain, Seft and his family collect flints in a mine. He dislikes the work, and the motherless lad hates the abuse he gets from his father and brothers. He leaves them and arrives at a wooden monument where sacred events such as the Midsummer Rite take place. There are also circles of stones that help predict equinoxes, solstices, even eclipses. This is a world where the customary greeting is “May the Sun God smile on you,” and everyone is a year older on Midsummer Day. Except for a priestess or two, no one can count beyond fingers and toes—to indicate 30, they show both hands, point to both feet, then show both hands again. Casual sex is common, and sex between women is less common but not taboo. Joia, a young woman who becomes a priestess, wonders about her sexuality. After a fire destroys the Monument, she leads a bold effort to rebuild it in stone. To please the gods, they must haul 10 giant stones from distant Stony Valley. Of course neither machinery nor roads exist, so the difficulties are extraordinary. Although the project has its detractors, hundreds of able-bodied people are willing to help. Craftspeople known as cleverhands construct a sled and a road, and they make the rope to wrap around the stones. Many, many others pull. And pull. Meanwhile, the three principal groups—farmers, woodlanders, and herders—all have their separate interests. There is talk of war, which Joia has never seen in her lifetime. Soon it seems inevitable that the powerful farmers will not only start one but win it, unless heroes like Seft and Joia can come up with a creative plan. But there is also the matter of love for Joia in this well-plotted and well-told yarn. The story has a lot of characters from multiple tribes, and they can be hard to keep track of. A page in the front of the book listing who’s who would be helpful.

Vintage Follett. His fans will be pleased.

Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025

ISBN: 9781538772775

Page Count: 704

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025

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